Israel orders central Gaza evacuations as ceasefire talks stall
The evacuation cuts access between the city of Deir al-Balah and the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis in the narrow enclave.
The announcement comes as Israel and Hamas have been holding ceasefire talks in Qatar, but international mediators say there have been no breakthroughs. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stressed that expanding Israeli military operations in Gaza will pressure Hamas to negotiate, but negotiations have been stalled for months.
Earlier this month, the Israeli military said it controlled more than 65 per cent of the Gaza Strip.
Also on Sunday, 65 Palestinians were killed, many while attempting to seek aid, according to local hospitals.
Shifa Hospital director Mohamed Abu Selmiyah told the Associated Press that the hospital since Sunday morning had received 48 people who were killed and 150 who were wounded while seeking aid from trucks expected to enter Gaza from the Zikim Crossing, on the northern border between Gaza and Israel. He confirmed that at least 40 people of those killed were fatally shot.
It is unclear whether they were killed by the Israeli army or armed gangs or both. However, that death toll is likely to increase, said Abu Selmiyah.
In southern Gaza, Nasser hospital said 17 Palestinians were killed and 69 wounded around aid distribution sites in the southern city of Rafah.
The area of Gaza under the evacuation order is where many international organizations attempting to distribute aid are located.
The United Nations has been in contact with the Israeli authorities to clarify whether UN facilities in southwestern Deir al-Balah are included in Sunday's evacuation order, according to a UN official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The official said in previous instances UN facilities were spared from evacuation orders. The evacuation announcement reaches from a previously evacuated area all the way to the coast and will severely hamper movement for aid groups and civilians in Gaza.
Military spokesman Avichay Adraee warned that the military will attack 'with intensity' against militants. He called for residents, including those sheltering in tents, to head to the Muwasi area, a desolate tent camp on Gaza's southern shore that the Israeli military has designated a humanitarian zone.
Pope Leo also called for an end to the 'barbarity of war' on Sunday as he spoke of his profound pain over an Israeli strike on the sole Catholic church in Gaza after three people died and several were injured on Thursday.
'I appeal to the international community to observe humanitarian law and respect the obligation to protect civilians as well as the prohibition of collective punishment, of indiscriminate use of force and forced displacement of the population,' he said.
Israeli strike on Gaza church kills at least three, wounds priest who was close to Pope Francis
Catholic and Greek Orthodox leaders enter Gaza, express solidarity after Israeli strike on church
Gaza's population of more than 2 million Palestinians are in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
Hamas triggered the 21-month war when militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Fifty remain, but fewer than half are thought to be alive.
Israel's military offensive that followed has killed more than 58,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn't say how many militants are among the dead but says more than half of the dead have been women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government but the UN and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.
The Hostages Family Forum, a grassroots organization that represents many of the families of hostages, condemned the evacuation announcement and demanded that Netanyahu and the Israeli military explain what they hope to accomplish in the area of central Gaza, accusing Israel of operating without a clear war plan.
'Enough! The Israeli people overwhelmingly want an end to the fighting and a comprehensive agreement that will return all of the hostages,' the forum said. On Saturday night, during the weekly protest, tens of thousands of protesters marched in Tel Aviv to the branch of the U.S. Embassy, demonstrating for an end to the war.
On Sunday morning, ambulances in front of three major hospitals in Gaza sounded their alarms simultaneously in an urgent appeal to shed light on the hunger crisis in the territory. The health ministry posted pictures on social media of doctors holding paper signs about malnourished children and lack of medication.
Zaher al-Wahidi, one of the spokespeople at the health ministry, said that at least nine children under 5 years old have died of malnutrition as of Sunday since the Israel's imposed aid entry blockade in March.
He explained that tracking the number of people dying of starvation is hard because some could be suffering from other medical conditions that could be worsened when compounded with severe hunger.
In northern Gaza, Shifa Hospital director Abu Selmiyah said that the hospital recorded 79 people who died of malnutrition in the past month.
Israeli bombardments continued to pound the Gaza Strip overnight. Large explosions in northern Gaza were visible from Israel as plumes of fire shot into the sky.
With a report from Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Syrian government starts evacuating Bedouin families from Sweida in bid to end weeklong clashes
Syrian Bedouin families ride in the back of trucks carrying their belongings, in a convoy led by Red Crescent vehicles in Busra al-Harir, heading to Daraa after being evacuated from Sweida following more than a week of violent clashes, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Malek Khattab) BUSRA AL-HARIR, Syria — The Syrian government on Monday started evacuating Bedouin families trapped inside the city of Sweida, where Druze militiamen and Bedouin fighters have clashed for over a week. The clashes between militias of the Druze religious minority and the Sunni Muslim clans killed hundreds and threatened to unravel Syria's already fragile postwar transition. The clashes also led to a series of targeted sectarian attacks against the Druze community, followed by revenge attacks against the Bedouins. The UN International Organization for Migration said some 128,571 people were displaced in the hostilities that started with a series of tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks a week ago. Israel also launched dozens of airstrikes in the Druze-majority Sweida province, targeting government forces who had effectively sided with the Bedouins. Syrian state media said early Sunday that the government had coordinated with some officials in Sweida to bring in buses to evacuate some 1,500 Bedouins in the city. Syrian Interior Minister Ahmad al-Dalati told SANA that the initiative will also allow displaced civilians from Sweida to return, as the fighting has largely stopped and efforts for a complete ceasefire are ongoing. 'We have imposed a security cordon in the vicinity of Sweida to keep it secure and to stop the fighting there,' al-Dalati told the Syrian state-run news agency. 'This will preserve the path that will lead to reconciliation and stability in the province." Bedouin families are accompanied out of Sweida Buses filled with Bedouin families were accompanied by Syrian Arab Red Crescent vehicles and ambulances. Some families left on trucks with their belongings. Syrian authorities did not give further details about the evacuation and how it ties into the broader agreement, following failed talks for a hostage swap deal Saturday. However, Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that as part of the agreement, the Bedouin fighters would have to release Druze women they were holding captive, and leave the province. U.S. Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, who has been involved in negotiations between multiple countries, said that the perpetrators of hostilities on both sides need to be held to account, and that an agreement should be reached to allow Syria's 7-month-old government to exert its authority and function fully after over a decade of conflict. 'What's happened is horrible. It's unthinkable,' Barrack said in Beirut after meeting officials Monday. 'They (Syrian authorities) need to be held accountable, but they also need to be given responsibility' to restore order. Bedouin fighters wait on the edge of the city The Bedouin fighters had withdrawn from Sweida city Sunday, and alongside other tribesman from other parts of the country stood on the outskirts while security forces cordoned off the area. An aid convoy of some 32 Red Crescent vehicles entered the city, though a government delegation with another aid convoy was turned away. After talks for a hostage swap fell through late Sunday, the Observatory and activist groups in Sweida reported hearing what they said were Israeli airstrikes and helicopters over villages where some skirmishes took place between the Bedouins and Druze militias. The Israeli military said it was 'not aware' of any overnight strikes in Syria. Conditions are poor for displaced people The displaced have been struggling with securing food and water, and are living in overcrowded conditions in the summer heat. Bedouin families that fled the outskirts of Sweida province into neighboring Daraa are jam-packed in abandoned buildings, with each family sharing a room. Most only brought mattresses and some clothes. 'Everyone here has brought an entire family or two with them,' said Saif al-Hajj, who fled the western Sweida countryside with a family of 11 to the town of Busra al-Harir in Daraa province. He brought chickens and ducks that he herds, but is struggling to give them enough water and bread for them to survive. 'If I'm thirsty, I can't get water to drink.' Druze who fled the city of Sweida poured into neighboring towns and villages in the province. In the village of Salkha, many are packed into overcrowded schools and family homes. A Druze resident there said there isn't enough food to go around. She spoke on condition of anonymity out of fears for her family's security, saying that a relative was kidnapped in the village of al-Ta'la in the province. She said he was working in a store when armed men came in and told him to hand over his weapons. Although he protested that he was a civilian and had no weapons, the armed men took him, and his location is unknown, she said. 'But we don't know who took him, if it was government security or Bedouins,' she said. 'But what we're hearing from others is that most of the kidnapping was done by the Bedouins.' The Druze community is increasingly unsure about the new government Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has tried to appeal to the Druze community while slamming the factions loyal to spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri who have been involved in the clashes. He promised to hold accountable perpetrators of targeted attacks and other violations. The country's Druze community largely celebrated the downfall of the Assad family that ended decades of tyrannical rule. While they had concerns about Al-Sharaa's de facto Islamist rule, a large number wanted to approach matters diplomatically. Al-Hijri and his supporters, though, have taken a more confrontational approach with Al-Sharaa, contrary to most other influential Druze figures. Critics also note al-Hijri's previous allegiance to Assad. However, the numerous cases of sectarian attacks, which included killing Druze civilians and desecrating photos of religious notables, have made the Druze more skeptical of Al-Sharaa and less optimistic of peaceful coexistence. More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. —— Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report. Ghaith Alsayed And Kareem Chehayeb, The Associated Press
Toronto Star
6 hours ago
- Toronto Star
This Gaza teenager dreamed of being a doctor. Now she just wants to stay alive
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Two years ago, Sarah Qanan was a star high school student preparing for final exams and dreaming of becoming a doctor. Today, the 18-year-old lives in a sweltering tent in the Gaza Strip and says she is just trying to stay alive. She's part of a generation of Palestinians from grade school through university who have had virtually no access to education in the territory since the war began in October 2023. Classes were suspended that month and schools were transformed into crowded shelters as hundreds of thousands fled their homes at the start of Israel's campaign of retaliation after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
Toronto Star
7 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Gaza's children have missed 2 years of school. A truce won't undo the damage
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Two years ago, Sarah Qanan was a star high school student preparing for final exams and dreaming of becoming a doctor. Today, the 18-year-old lives in a sweltering tent in the Gaza Strip and says she is just trying to stay alive. She's part of a generation of Palestinians from grade school through university who have had virtually no access to education in the territory since the war began in October 2023. Classes were suspended that month and schools were transformed into crowded shelters as hundreds of thousands fled their homes at the start of Israel's campaign of retaliation after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
