Israel launches airstrikes on areas east of Khan Younis after Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket attacks
July 2 (UPI) -- The Israeli military said Tuesday it had begun attacking targets east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, 12 hours after ordering tens of thousands of Palestinians to leave at least 13 municipalities and neighborhoods across a large area and move northward to a designated humanitarian zone.
In the joint operation with Israel Defense Forces Southern Command, Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck sites overnight from where around 20 rockets were fired at surrounding Israeli settlements on Sunday, IDF said in a social media post.
"Among targets that were attacked were a weapons warehouse, operational apartments and other terrorist infrastructures," IDF said.
"Before the attacks, the IDF took precautionary measures and allowed civilians to evacuate the area in order to reduce, as much as possible, harm to those not involved."
Residents and displaced people sheltering in the affected areas were sent messages to their phones telling them to move to a designated humanitarian zone to the north followed by a formal instruction on X in Arabic, accompanied by a map detailing exactly who should leave and to where.
"For your safety, you must evacuate immediately to the humanitarian zone," wrote IDF spokesman Avichay Adraee.
The airstrikes were in response to the largest rocket barrage on Israel in months with Palestinian Islamic Jihad claiming responsibility as revenge for Israeli "crimes," although no injuries were reported as most of the rockets were destroyed by Israeli air defense systems and those that did get through fell in open spaces in unpopulated areas.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said at least eight people had been killed in the Israeli airstrikes with another 30 injured.
The United Nations' Palestinian Refugee Agency condemned the evacuation order just weeks after people were sent back to the ruined city saying it meant an estimated 250,000 would have to flee.
Yet again, families face forced displacement. Even though nowhere is safe in Gaza," UNRWA wrote in a post on X.
Civilians were seen on the move throughout Monday and staff at the European Hospital to the southeast of Khan Younis began transferring patients and vital equipment out of harm's way to the city's Nasser Hospital amid confusion over the areas in Israel's sights.
The IDF clarified early Tuesday that the order did not cover the area European hospital.
"The call to move toward the Al Mawasi Humanitarian Zone does not apply to the patients in the European Hospital or the medical staff working there. There is no intention to evacuate the European Hospital in the Khan Yunis area," it said in a post on X.
