Israel orders evacuation of Khan Younis ahead of ‘unprecedented’ assault

Jerusalem: The Israeli military issued an evacuation warning on Monday for residents of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip ahead of what it called an “unprecedented attack”.

The order covered three towns in the Khan Younis Governorate: Bani Suheila, Abasan, and Al-Qarara, according to Avichay Adraee, a spokesman for the Israeli military, who posted the warning on the social media platform X. He said the attack would target militant infrastructure.

“The Khan Younis Governorate is considered a dangerous combat zone and has been warned multiple times,” he wrote, calling on residents to evacuate immediately westward to the al-Mawasi area.

He added that the evacuation order does not apply to Al-Amal and Nasser hospitals, Xinhua news agency reported. The Khan Younis area has already suffered intense Israeli strikes in recent days, including one over the weekend that hit the home of a pediatrician, killing nine of her 10 children.

Israel has repeatedly issued evacuation orders across the enclave, forcing the majority of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents to flee multiple times amid the 19-month offensive.

Meanwhile, Israel has rejected a new proposal aimed at halting its offensive in Gaza and securing the release of 10 more hostages, Israel’s state-owned Kan TV reported on Monday.

A senior Israeli official from the country’s negotiation team told Kan TV that US mediators presented the proposal overnight. It included the release of five living hostages and five deceased, the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, a 70-day ceasefire, and negotiations toward a permanent ceasefire, according to the official.

The official said Israel rejected the deal, describing it as a “surrender to Hamas.”

Israel has insisted on the so-called Witkoff framework, a deal proposal presented by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in early March, which calls for the release of additional Israeli hostages in return for a 50-day truce, and a promise to engage in talks on a longer truce. It doesn’t mention a withdrawal of Israeli forces or the release of Palestinian prisoners, two of Hamas’s key demands.

Another round of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas — aimed at ending Israel’s 19-month-long military campaign and securing the release of the 58 hostages still held in Gaza — ended on Thursday after Netanyahu recalled the delegation, Xinhua news agency reported. Israel ended a three-phase ceasefire agreement in March, following two months of truce during which Hamas released 33 Israeli hostages. It refused to proceed to the second phase and resumed its assault on Gaza.

Last week, Philip Lazzarini, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), called for a “meaningful and uninterrupted” flow of aid into the Gaza Strip.

Israel has long argued that much of the international aid to Gazans was diverted by Hamas, the armed de facto authority in the strip with tacit approval by the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees. The United Nations strongly denied the allegation.

IANS