The IDF issued new evacuation orders to residents in areas of an eastern Gaza City suburb, setting off a new wave of displacement on Sunday, and a Gaza hospital director was injured in an Israeli drone attack, Palestinian medics said.
The new orders for the Shejaia suburb posted by the IDF spokesperson on X/Twitter on Saturday night were blamed on Hamas terrorists 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 IDF's post said. The rocket volley on Saturday was claimed by Hamas' armed wing, which said it had targeted an IDF 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 Saturday and into Sunday's early hours, residents and Palestinian media said - the latest in multiple waves of displacement since the war began 13 months ago.
Operations in Gaza
In north Gaza, where the IDF has been operating against regrouping Hamas terrorists since early last month, health officials said an Israeli drone dropped bombs on Kamal Adwan Hospital, injuring its director, Hussam Abu Safiya.
The IDF says armed terrorists use civilian buildings, including housing blocks, hospitals, and schools, for operational cover. Hamas denies this, accusing Israeli forces of indiscriminately targeting populated areas.
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 Organization.
Residents in three embattled north Gaza towns claim Israeli forces had blown up hundreds of houses since renewing operations in an area that Israel said months ago had been cleared of terrorists.
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.
The war erupted in response to a cross-border attack led by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, in which terrorists killed around 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages back to Gaza.