In a message on X, the Arab-speaking spokesman for the Israeli army called on the inhabitants and Palestinian displaced people who are refuge in the Deir al-Balah region to evacuate the sector immediately.
Israel “extends her activities” around Deir al-Balah, “including in an area where she had never operated,” he said. He urged civilians to “head south, towards the Al-Mawasi area” on the coast “for their safety”.
The UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordination Office (OCHA) reported in January that more than 80% of the Palestinian territory ravaged and hungry by the war was covered by Israeli evacuation orders still in force.
Concern of hostage families
In Israel, the families of the hostages retained in Gaza were worried about the consequences of the expansion of the offensive, an association of relatives calling on the Israeli authorities to “urgently explain citizens and families to the combat plan and how it protects hostages”.
On the ground, the civil defense told AFP on Sunday that seven people had been killed overnight by new Israeli attacks in Gaza-Ville (North) and in the south of the Palestinian territory.
The Israeli army said it had intensified its land operations in Jabalia (North), where it claims to have killed “dozens of terrorists” and dismantled “hundreds of” terrorist infrastructures “, including tunnels extending to 2.7 kilometers at a depth of 20 meters.
Current talks
While Israel and Hamas continue their indirect talks for a truce, hundreds of people gathered on Saturday evening in Tel Aviv calling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump to release the hostages and end the war.
Of the 251 people kidnapped in Israel during the attack on Hamas who sparked the war on October 7, 2023, 49 are still hostages in Gaza, 27 of which were declared dead by the Israeli army.
The attack on October 7 led to the Israeli side the death of 1219 people, mostly civilians. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli reprisals left at least 58,765 dead, mostly civilians too.
