[Source: BBC NEWS]

The Israeli military has issued a sweeping new evacuation order for the southern Gaza Strip – the biggest since its offensive in the Palestinian territory resumed earlier this month.

The military instructed residents of the city of Rafah and parts of neighbouring Khan Younis to leave immediately for the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone, warning that its forces were “returning to intense operations to dismantle the capabilities of the terrorist organisations” in the areas.

Palestinians who had returned to their homes in Rafah during the recent two-month-long ceasefire between Israel and Hamas are now starting to flee.

About a fifth of Gaza is now covered by evacuation orders.

The UN Human Rights Office warned last week that the evacuations failed to comply with the requirements of international law, accusing Israel of not taking any measures to provide accommodation for those affected or ensuring satisfactory hygiene, health, safety and nutrition conditions.

Israel’s government said it was evacuating civilians to protect them from Hamas fighters, who it accused of using them as human shields in violation of international law. The Israeli military has also previously insisted it is doing everything it can to limit civilian casualties.

Israel renewed its air and ground campaign against Hamas on 18 March, blaming the Palestinian armed group for rejecting a new US proposal to extend the ceasefire and free the 59 hostages still held captive in Gaza. Hamas, in turn, accused Israel of violating the original deal they had agreed in January.

More than 1,000 people across Gaza have been killed since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.

The UN says food and medical supplies are also running out for the 2.1 million population because Israel has also blocked deliveries of humanitarian aid to the territory since 2 March.

Israel launched its first major operation in Rafah, on the border with Egypt, last May, leaving large parts of it in ruins.

However, tens of thousands of people returned to what was left of their homes in the city during the ceasefire.

During their previous operation in Rafah, Israeli forces seized a strategic buffer zone along the border with Egypt and did not withdraw from it as called for in the ceasefire agreement.

Israel said it needed to maintain a presence there to prevent weapons being smuggled into Gaza, and Hamas rearming.

Displaced Rafah resident Haifa Duhair said she was forced to flee on foot with her baby daughter and three other young children on Monday because no transport was available.

“We went home two months ago… even though the house is destroyed, with shrapnel in it and the windows broken,” she told Reuters news agency.

“[My] girl was born in the tent, and today they ordered the displacement for all of Rafah,” she added. “Half of our children walked in front of us and the other half stayed with us. May God help us.”

Meanwhile, further deadly air strikes were reported across Gaza as the Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas.

Eight people, including three children and two women, were killed when a house was hit in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City, in the north, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency.

Footage from a hospital in Khan Younis also showed a young boy among several people killed.

The Israeli military said troops carrying out operations to expand the “security perimeter” in northern and central Gaza had dismantled a 1km-long underground tunnel belonging to Hamas and eliminated more than 50 “terrorists“.

The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to an unprecedented cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

More than 50,350 people have been killed in Gaza during the ensuing war, according to the territory’s health ministry.

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