Tens of thousands flee Gaza City after Israel warns of major offensive
Tens of thousands of Palestinians were fleeing eastern parts of Gaza City, the major city in the north of the territory, on Sunday after Israel warned of a major offensive.
The messages on social media from the Israel Defense Forces warned of 'military operations [that] will escalate, intensify, and extend westward to the city centre to destroy the capabilities of terrorist organisations' and directed those living in several crowded neighbourhoods to al-Mawasi, a coastal area much further south that is already overcrowded and has very limited facilities.
Witnesses described scenes of chaos as entire families tried to pack their remaining belongings, tents and meagre stocks of foods on to donkey carts, bicycles, improvised pickup trucks and cars.
Huge numbers of Palestinians displaced from homes or camps to the north of Gaza City moved there after renewed Israeli operations and clashes with Hamas since a fragile ceasefire collapsed in March.
The warnings from Israel came after days of Israeli airstrikes and shelling across Gaza that have killed hundreds.
Gaza's civil defence agency said 23 Palestinians had been killed on Sunday by Israeli strikes, including at least three children.
Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesperson for the agency, said two children were killed in a strike on their home in Zaytun, just to the east of Gaza City, in the early morning.
A resident in nearby Jabalia, Ahmed Arar, 60, said his family's house was destroyed after they received a warning it would be bombed from a person identifying himself as an Israeli army officer.
The Israeli military said it was not able to comment on the reported incidents but said it was fighting 'to dismantle Hamas military capabilities'.
The 20-month war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack, during which militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 250.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 56,500 people in Gaza, again mostly civilians.
There has also been rising concern over how aid is being distributed in Gaza. Hundreds of desperate Palestinians have been killed over the past month as they make their way to distribution sites and after gathering at points where they expect convoys of aid trucks will be forced to stop, local hospitals and officials have said.
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After claiming victory in the 12-day war against Iran that ended with a ceasefire on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it was focusing on the 'primary front' in Gaza, where Palestinian militants still hold 50 hostages, of whom more than half are thought to be dead.
President Trump used social media on Sunday to call for a swift end to the war in Gaza. 'Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back,' Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, brokered by Qatar and Egypt, are continuing but without obvious sign of any breakthrough. Many analysts say only direct pressure from Trump or Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, will bring about a new ceasefire as neither Israel nor Hamas currently look likely to make the necessary concessions.
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Sayeh Seydal, a jailed Iranian dissident, narrowly escaped death when Israeli missiles struck Tehran 's Evin Prison, where she was imprisoned. She had just stepped out of the prison's clinic, moments before it was destroyed in the blasts. The June 23 strikes on Iran's most notorious prison for political dissidents killed at least 71 people, including staff, soldiers, visiting family members and people living nearby, Iranian judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir said Sunday. In the ensuing chaos, authorities transferred Seydal and others to prisons outside of Tehran — overcrowded facilities, known for their harsh conditions. When she was able to call her family several days ago, Seydal pleaded for help. 'It's literally a slow death,' she said of the conditions, according to a recording of the call provided by her relatives, in accordance with Seydal's wishes. 'The bombing by the U.S. and Israel didn't kill us. 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During the night, buses began transferring prisoners to other facilities, according to Mohammadi and families of prisoners. At least 65 women were sent to Qarchak Prison, according to Mohammadi, who is in touch with them. Men were sent to the Grand Tehran Penitentiary, housing criminals and high-security prisoners. Both are located south of Tehran. Mohammadi told AP that her immediate fear was a lack of medical facilities and poor hygiene. Among the women are several with conditions needing treatment, including 73-year-old civil rights activist Raheleh Rahemi, who has a brain tumor. In her call home, Seydal called Qarchak a 'hellhole.' She said the women were packed together in isolation, with no hygiene care, and limited food or drinkable water. 'It stinks. Just pure filth,' she said. 'She sounded confused, scared and very sad,' her relative said. 'She knows speaking out is very dangerous for her. But also being silent can be dangerous for her.' On Sunday, Sayeh made another call to her family, saying she was briefly taken back to Evin to bring her belongings. The stench of 'death' filled the air, her relative quoted her as saying. The 47-year-old Seydal was first sentenced in 2023. In early 2025, her furlough was canceled, and she was assaulted by security and faced new charges after she refused to wear a chador at the prosecutor's office. A brother disappears Reza Younesi's father and younger brother, Ali, have both been imprisoned at Evin for years. Now the family is terrified because Ali has disappeared. Ali, a 25-year-old graduate of a prestigious technical university, was serving a 16-year sentence for "colluding to commit crimes against national security.' The sentence, widely criticized by rights groups, was reduced but then the Intelligence Ministry launched a new case against him on unknown charges. Days before the strike on Evin, Ali was dragged out of his ward and taken to an unknown location, according to his brother. After the strike, their father, Mir-Yousef Younesi, saw no sign of Ali as he and other prisoners were transferred to the Great Tehran Penitentiary. The father managed to get a call out to his family, in a panic. Disappearances in Evin are not uncommon. Guards sometimes remove political prisoners from wards for interrogation. In some cases, they are sentenced in secret trials and executed. After the strikes, Swedish-Iranian academic Ahmadreza Djalali, sentenced to death in 2017, was transferred from the Tehran prison to an undisclosed location, according to Amnesty International, which expressed fear he could be executed. Reza Younesi said the family lawyer was unable to find out any information about his brother or the new charges. 'We are all worried,' he said, speaking from Sweden where he is an associate professor at Uppsala University. 'When there is no information from a prisoner, this almost in all cases means that the person is under interrogation and torture.' 'All hope is gone' Mehraveh Khandan grew up in a family of political activists. She spent much of her childhood and teen years going to Evin to visit her mother, rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was imprisoned there multiple times. Her father, Reza Khandan, was thrown into Evin in December for distributing buttons opposing the mandatory headscarf for women. Now living in Amsterdam, the 25-year-old Mehraveh Khandan frantically tried to find information about her father after the strike. The internet was cut off, and her mother had evacuated from Tehran. 'I was just thinking who might die there,' she said. It took 24 hours before she got word her father was OK. In a family call later, her father told how he was sleeping on the floor in a crowded cell rife with insects at the Grand Tehran Penitentiary. At first, she thought the Evin strike might prompt the government to release prisoners. But after seeing reports of mass detentions and executions, 'all this hope is gone,' she said. The war 'just destroyed all the things the activists have started to build,' she said.
