Israeli military using tanks and fighter jets to strike in Khan Younis
JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said Tuesday that it was pushing ahead with operations against Hamas in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, using tanks and fighter jets to strike what it said were weapons caches and observation posts, a day after aid workers reported that dozens of people had been killed and hundreds of others wounded in the area.
The military, which is seeking to dismantle Hamas, invaded Khan Younis in December and said by spring that it had defeated the armed group’s forces there. Israel’s decision to send tanks and troops back into the city this week suggests that Hamas had not been fully defeated or has regrouped there.
The military said Tuesday that it was “eliminating terrorists in tank and aerial strikes.” It also said that Hamas had fired a projectile toward Israel from the area of Maghazi, in central Gaza, that “fell and hit a school in the area of Nuseirat,” a town in the same part of the enclave. The military did not say whether there were casualties. It was not immediately possible to confirm the claim, and the main U.N. agency that aids Palestinians, UNRWA, said that it had no information about the reported incident.
On Monday, the Israeli military ordered residents to evacuate parts of Khan Younis, and video and photos showed terrified people, many on foot, running for safety. About 150,000 people fled Monday, and more continued to flee Tuesday, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Four medical facilities and 20 food aid points fell under the new evacuation orders, and all have closed, leaving only one community kitchen open for the civilians who remained, the agency added.
In December, Israel established what it described as a “humanitarian area” just west of the city around the coastal village of Muwasi and encouraged Palestinians in Gaza to go there for safety, food and aid.
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