Israeli army orders Gaza City suburb evacuated, spurring new displacement wave

CAIRO - The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders to residents in areas of an eastern Gaza City suburb, setting off a new wave of displacement on Nov 24, and a Gaza hospital director was injured in an Israeli drone attack, Palestinian medics said.

The new orders for the Shejaia suburb posted by an Israeli army spokesperson on X on the night of Nov 23 were blamed on Palestinian militants firing rockets from that heavily built-up district in the north of the Gaza Strip.

“For your safety, you must evacuate immediately to the south,” the military’s post said. The rocket volley on Nov 23 was claimed by Hamas’ armed wing, which said it had targeted an Israeli army base over the border.

Footage circulated on social and Palestinian media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed residents leaving Shejaia on donkey carts and rickshaws, with others, including children carrying backpacks, walking.

Families living in the targeted areas began fleeing their homes after nightfall on Nov 23 and into the early hours of Nov 24, residents and Palestinian media said – the latest in multiple waves of displacement since the war began 13 months ago.

In central Gaza, health officials said at least 10 Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes on the urban camps of Al-Maghazi and Al-Bureij since the night of Nov 23.

Adding to the miseries of its 2.3 million people, most of whom have been repeatedly displaced, heavy winter rain flooded hundreds of tents across Gaza, spoiling food and sweeping away plastic and cloth sheeting that had protected them against the elements.

“We ran in the middle of the night, the rainwater flooded the tent, the food is gone, the kids screamed, and I am afraid they will get sick,” Gaza City resident Rami, 37, displaced at a former football stadium, said via a messaging app.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said thousands of displaced people were impacted by the seasonal flooding, and demanded new tents and caravans from aid donors to shield them.

Hospital director wounded

In north Gaza, where Israeli forces have been operating against regrouping Hamas militants since early October, health officials said an Israeli drone dropped bombs on Kamal Adwan Hospital, injuring its director, Dr Hussam Abu Safiya.

“This will not stop us from completing our humanitarian mission, and we will continue to do this job at any cost,” he said in a video statement circulated by the Health Ministry on Nov 24.

“We are being targeted daily. They targeted me a while ago, but this will not deter us,” he said from his hospital bed.

Israeli forces say armed militants use civilian buildings including housing blocks, hospitals and schools for operational cover. Hamas denies this, accusing Israeli forces of indiscriminately targeting populated areas.

Kamal Adwan is one of three hospitals in north Gaza that is barely operational, as the Health Ministry said the Israeli forces have detained and expelled medical staff, and prevented emergency medical, food and fuel supplies from reaching them.

In the past few weeks, Israel said it had facilitated the delivery of medical and fuel supplies, and the transfer of patients from north Gaza hospitals in collaboration with international agencies such as the World Health Organisation.

Residents in three embattled north Gaza towns – Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun – said Israeli forces had blown up hundreds of houses since renewing operations in an area that Israel said months ago had been cleared of militants.

Palestinians say Israel appears determined to depopulate the area permanently to create a buffer zone along the northern edge of Gaza, an accusation Israel denies.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 44,000 people, uprooted nearly all the enclave’s 2.3 million population at least once, according to Gaza officials, while reducing wide swathes of the narrow coastal territory to rubble.

The war erupted in response to a cross-border attack by Hamas-led militants on Oct 7, 2023, in which gunmen killed around 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. REUTERS