Israel strikes southern Gaza and orders new evacuation as Palestinian death toll climbs past 50,000
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes across the southern Gaza Strip killed at least 26 Palestinians overnight into Sunday, including a Hamas political leader and several women and children. The military sent ground troops into part of the southern city of Rafah as thousands of Palestinians heeded new evacuation orders.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said the total number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war has now passed 50,000 after Israel ended the ceasefire last week with a wave of strikes that killed hundreds. Israel has continued striking what it says are militant targets and has launched ground incursions in northern Gaza.
Late Saturday, Israel’s Cabinet approved a proposal to set up a new directorate tasked with advancing the “voluntary departure” of Palestinians in line with U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to depopulate Gaza and rebuild it for others. Palestinians say they do not want to leave their homeland, and rights groups have said the plan could amount to expulsion in violation of international law.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the new body would be “subject to Israeli and international law” and coordinate “passage by land, sea and air to the destination countries.”
‘Displacement under fire’
The military ordered people to leave Rafah’s already heavily destroyed Tel al-Sultan neighborhood on foot along a single route to Muwasi, a sprawling area of squalid tent camps. It later announced that troops had encircled Tel al-Sultan in order to eliminate Hamas fighters and militant infrastructure.
Palestinian men, women and children could be seen walking along a dirt road and carrying their belongings, a recurring scene in a war that has forced most of Gaza’s population to flee within the territory, often multiple times.
“It’s displacement under fire,” said Mustafa Gaber, a local journalist who left Tel al-Sultan with his family. In a video call, he said hundreds of people were fleeing as tank and drone fire echoed nearby. “There are wounded people among us. The situation is very difficult,” he said.
Mohammed Abu Taha, another resident who fled, said many people were unable to evacuate because of the surprise incursion overnight. He also said his sister and her family were sheltering in a school in an area of Rafah surrounded by Israeli forces.
The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said it lost contact with a team of medics who were responding to strikes in Rafah. Spokeswoman Nebal Farsakh said the last communication was at 7:15 a.m. and that some of the medics were wounded.
There was no immediate comment from the military, which says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it operates in densely populated areas.
Strikes kill Hamas leader, women and children
Hamas said that Salah Bardawil, a member of its political bureau and the Palestinian parliament, was killed in a strike in Muwasi that also killed his wife. Bardawil was a well-known member of the group’s political wing who gave media interviews over the years.
Hospitals in southern Gaza said they had received another 24 bodies from strikes overnight, including several women and children.
The European Hospital said five children and their parents were killed in a strike on the southern city of Khan Younis. Another family — two girls and their parents — were killed in a separate strike. The Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said it received the bodies of two children and their parents who were killed in a strike on their home. Two other children are still under the rubble, according to the hospital.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said a total of 50,021 Palestinians have been killed in the war and more than 113,000 have been wounded. The latest toll announced Sunday includes 673 people killed since Israel’s surprise bombardment on Tuesday as well as 233 bodies that were recently identified, the ministry said.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its records but has said women and children make up more than half the dead. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 fighters, without providing evidence.
Ceasefire in tatters after Israeli strikes
The ceasefire that took hold in January paused more than a year of heavy fighting ignited by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel, in which militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostage. Most of the captives have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.
In the first phase of the latest ceasefire, 25 Israeli hostages and the bodies of eight others were released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces pulled back, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to return to what remains of their homes, and there was a surge in humanitarian aid.
The sides were supposed to begin negotiations in early February on the next phase of the truce, in which Hamas was to release the remaining 59 hostages — 35 of whom are believed to be dead — in exchange for more Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.
Those talks never began, and Israel backed out of the ceasefire agreement after Hamas refused Israeli and U.S.-backed proposals to release more hostages ahead of any talks on a lasting truce.
The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and at its height had displaced around 90% of the population. Israel sealed off the territory of 2 million Palestinians from food, fuel, medicine and other supplies earlier this month to pressure Hamas to change the ceasefire agreement.
Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen keep up attacks
In a separate development, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are allied with Hamas, launched another missile at Israel overnight and into Sunday, setting off air raid sirens. The Israeli military said the projectile was intercepted, and there were no reports of casualties or damage.
The Houthis resumed their attacks on Israel after it ended the ceasefire, portraying them as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians. Trump ordered the renewal of U.S. strikes on the group last week over its previous attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea.
The rebels have said they are trying to blockade Israel, but most of the ships they have targeted have no connection to the conflict.
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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Natalie Melzer in Nahariya, Israel contributed.
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