CAIRO/GAZA: Israel issued fresh evacuation orders for Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip late Sunday, forcing more families to flee, and said forces intended to act against the militant group Hamas and others operating in the area. In recent days, Israel has issued several evacuation orders across Gaza, most since the start of the 10-month war, prompting an outcry from Palestinians, the United Nations and aid officials over the shrinking of humanitarian zones and the absence of safe areas.
The municipality of Deir Al-Balah says Israeli evacuation orders have displaced 250,000 people so far.
Israeli military strikes killed at least seven Palestinians on Monday, medics said. Two were killed in Deir Al-Balah, where about a million people were sheltering, two in a school in the Al-Nuseirat camp and three in the southern city of Rafah, near the border with Egypt.
The new orders forced many families and patients to leave Al-Aqsa Hospital, the main medical facility in Deir Al-Balah, where hundreds of thousands of residents and displaced people had taken shelter, for fear of bombardment.
The hospital is close to the area covered by the evacuation notice.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said in a statement on X on Sunday evening that an explosion about 250 meters (820 feet) from the Doctors Without Borders-supported Al-Aqsa hospital triggered panic.
“As a result, MSF is considering whether to suspend wound care until further notice, while attempting to maintain life-saving treatment.”
Of about 650 patients, only 100 remain in the hospital, including seven in the intensive care unit, it said, citing Gaza's health ministry.
“This situation is unacceptable. Al Aqsa has been operating far beyond capacity for weeks due to the lack of options for patients. All warring parties must respect the hospital, as well as patients' access to medical care,” it added.
DIPLOMATIC SUPPORT
Sawasn Abu Afesh said she and her children had now been displaced 11 times.
“I left half of my children behind near my furniture and I am now with my little ones and my daughter, only God can help us…I have no money for transport I am going to area 17 where my family lives on my foot .I took my children and three are left. No idea where, said the woman.
The escalation comes with little hope of an end in sight to the war, as diplomacy by mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States has so far failed to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas, whose leaders shifted blame over responsibility for the lack of concessions.
Neither Hamas nor Israel agreed to several compromises presented by mediators at talks in Cairo on Sunday, two Egyptian security sources said.
However, a senior US official described the talks as “constructive” and said they were conducted in a spirit on all sides to reach “a final and workable agreement.”
Hamas official Osama Hamdan said the group rejected new terms set by Israel during the talks, which the group did not participate in, adding that US comments about an impending cease-fire deal were false and aimed at serving electoral purposes.
US President Joe Biden and his administration have faced growing protests in the US over aid to Israel ahead of the November election.
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza's health ministry. The crowded enclave has been left desolate and most of its 2.3 million people have been repeatedly displaced and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say.
The war was sparked by Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7, which killed 1,200 people, by Israeli officials, with more than 250 taken hostage.
