Israel bombards Gaza's Deir al-Balah as 18 die from starvation
The Israeli military on Sunday ordered those in the central Gaza area, thought to be between 50,000 and 80,000 people, to leave immediately.
The spokesman for Gaza's civil defence agency, Mahmud Bassal, told AFP that "we received calls from several families trapped in the Al-Baraka area of Deir el-Balah due to shelling by Israeli tanks".
"There are a number of wounded, but no one can reach the area to evacuate them," he said.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the latest order leaves 87.8 percent of Gaza's area under "evacuation orders" or within Israeli militarised zones.
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Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed 58,895 Palestinians since October 2023, while almost the entire population has been displaced.
On Sunday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said he had ordered the withdrawal of the residency permit of Jonathan Whittall, head of the OCHA in Israel.
Sa'ar said Whittall had spread falsehoods about Israel's assault on Gaza, citing his "biased and hostile conduct against Israel".
Whittall had previously described Palestinians in Gaza as "slowly dying" as a result of the war and Israel's blockade.
Widespread hunger
Palestinian health officials reported on Sunday that 18 people had died from malnutrition the previous day.
They warned that hundreds more could soon face the same fate as hospitals are overwhelmed with patients suffering from dizziness and exhaustion caused by severe food shortages.
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