Families flee after new Israeli evacuation orders in Gaza as ceasefire hopes dim
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A funeral on Aug 26 at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, for Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes.
PHOTO: REUTERS
CAIRO/GAZA – Israel issued new evacuation orders for Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip late on Aug 25, saying forces intended to act against militant group Hamas and others operating in the area, and forcing more families to flee.
In recent days, Israel has issued several evacuation orders across Gaza, the most since the beginning of the 10-month war, prompting an outcry from Palestinians, the UN and relief officials over the reduction of humanitarian zones and the absence of safe areas.
The Deir Al-Balah municipality says Israeli evacuation orders have so far displaced 250,000 people.
Israeli military strikes killed at least seven Palestinians on Aug 26, medics said. Two were killed in Deir Al-Balah, where around a million people were sheltering, two at 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 bombardments.
The hospital is close to the area covered by the evacuation notice.
Charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said in a statement on social media platform X on Aug 25 night that an explosion approximately 250m away from the MSF-supported Al-Aqsa Hospital had triggered panic.
“As a result, MSF is considering whether to suspend wound care for the time being, while trying to maintain life-saving treatment,” it added.
From around 650 patients, only 100 remain in the hospital, with seven in the intensive care unit, it said, citing Gaza’s Health Ministry.
“This situation is unacceptable. Al-Aqsa has been operating well beyond capacity for weeks due to the lack of alternatives for patients. All warring parties must respect the hospital, as well as patients’ access to medical care,” it said.
Diplomatic impasse
Ms Sawasn Abu Afesh said she and her children had now been displaced 11 times.
“I have no money for transportation (so) I will go to area 17 (on foot), where my family is staying... I took (some of) my kids and three were left behind. No idea where,” the woman said.
The escalation comes amid 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 close the gap between Israel and Hamas, with their leaders trading blame over responsibility for the lack of accord.
People grieving the loss of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes at a funeral on Aug 26 at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Neither Hamas nor Israel agreed to several compromises presented by mediators at talks in Cairo on Aug 25, two Egyptian security sources said.
A senior US official, however, described the talks as “constructive”, saying they were conducted in a spirit on all sides of reaching “a final and implementable agreement”.
Hamas official Osama Hamdan said the group rejected new conditions made by Israel
US President Joe Biden and his administration have faced growing protests in the US over aid for Israel ahead of November elections.
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The crowded enclave has been laid to waste and most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say.
The war was triggered by Hamas’ Oct 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people, with more than 250 taken hostage. REUTERS
