The Israeli military on Monday, July 22, ordered Gazans to leave the eastern part of Khan Yunis city, saying it was preparing to "forcefully operate" there, after rockets were fired from an area designated as a humanitarian zone.
"Due to significant terrorist activity and rocket fire toward the state of Israel from the eastern part of the humanitarian area, remaining in this area has become dangerous," the military said in a statement.
"The [Israeli army] is about to forcefully operate against the terrorist organizations and therefore calls on the remaining population left in the eastern neighborhoods of Khan Yunis to temporarily evacuate to the adjusted humanitarian area of Al-Mawasi."
In recent months the Israeli army has launched intense military operations in several areas of Gaza that were previously declared free of Hamas militants. On Monday, it prepared to launch an operation in parts of Khan Yunis governorate, whose namesake city is the largest in the Palestinian territory's south.
Earlier this year the military had carried out a sweeping operation in Khan Yunis for months that saw swathes of the city reduced to rubble and tens of thousands of people displaced to a nearby humanitarian zone.
"At this time, the humanitarian area will be adjusted," the military said as it ordered the latest evacuation in Khan Yunis on Monday. "The adjustment is being carried out in accordance with precise intelligence indicating that Hamas has embedded terrorist infrastructure in the area defined as the humanitarian area."
The health ministry in Gaza said that at least 14 people had been killed in Israeli army operations in Khan Yunis since this morning.