Palestinians fled eastern Gaza City yesterday under heavy bombardment as the Israeli military issued an evacuation order for the area it had previously declared clear of Hamas fighters.The flare-up in the northern Gaza Strip’s Shujaiya district, which witnesses and medics said caused numerous casualties, comes as fears grow of a wider regional conflagration involving Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah, a Hamas ally.In Gaza, fighting has ground on despite comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the "intense phase” of the war – now nearing its 10th month – was winding down.The civil defence agency in the Hamas-run territory and medics said Israeli strikes overnight and early yesterday killed at least five people in Gaza City and another in Beit Lahia, also in the north.In Gaza City, a witness said the situation was "very difficult and frightening” as Israeli military vehicles approached the area amid air strikes and shelling."Residents are running through the streets in terror... a number of wounded and martyrs lie in the streets.”The military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, told residents and displaced Gazans in the Shujaiya area to leave "for your safety”, in a message posted on social media.They were asked to head south, to a declared "humanitarian zone” about 25km away.
June 28, 2024 | 01:31 AM