Israel orders evacuation of four Gaza towns

Gaza | Jersusalem: Israel ordered civilians to leave four towns in the southern part of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, raising fears its war against Hamas could spread to areas it had said were safe.

In the north of the Hamas-ruled Palestinian enclave, Israel said its forces were still present at Gaza's biggest hospital, Al Shifa, but gave no further details of their operations since the previous day when they entered the facility culminating a days-long siege.

Reuters was unable to verify the situation at Shifa on Thursday morning, having lost contact with doctors inside it since Wednesday.


Leaflets dropped overnight from aircraft told civilians to leave the towns of Bani Shuhaila, Khuzaa, Abassan and Qarara, on the eastern edge of Khan Younis, the main southern city. The towns, collectively home to more than 100,000 people in peacetime, are now sheltering tens of thousands more who fled other areas. "The acts of Hamas terrorist group require the defence forces to act against them in the areas of your residence," the leaflets said. "For your safety, you need to evacuate your places of residence immediately and head to known shelters."

Residents said the area came under heavy bombardment overnight.

The United Nations says around two-thirds of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been made homeless, most of them sheltering in the south, since Israel began retaliation against Hamas for a deadly rampage in southern Israeli towns.