Tel Aviv, Aug 18. (dpa/GNA) – The Israeli army called on residents of several neighbourhoods in the centre of the Gaza Strip, to flee ahead of a new military operation, an Israeli military spokesman said in a post on X on Saturday.
The residents should move to an area designated by Israel as a humanitarian zone, the spokesman said in a post in Arabic.
Palestinian sources reported that several people have been killed in Israeli attacks in the centre of the Gaza Strip.
The army said those affected by the recent call to flee, include residents of the al-Maghazi refugee district.
It said the reason for the new operation is said to be the “ongoing rocket fire by Hamas” from the area.
The spokesman said the army intends to target the Palestinian militant organization there.
He said the military was also distributing leaflets to residents.
The army has already been operating in al-Maghazi earlier this year.
Israel’s military has already called on residents of several areas in the north-east of the Gaza Strip to flee, telling residents and displaced people to move to “known shelters” in the centre of Gaza City.
Those affected include residents of the city of Beit Hanoun.
The army said the call was due to the presence of Hamas, which it said is launching rockets at Israel from the area.
Many people have already been displaced multiple times over the course of the war.
Palestinian sources also said several people have been killed in Israeli attacks in neighbouring areas of the evacuated regions.
At least 17 people were killed in an airstrike on buildings in the city of al-Zawayda in the centre of the Gaza Strip, according to medical sources in the coastal area. Dozens more were reportedly injured.
Six more people were killed in an airstrike on a house near the Nuseirat refugee district, also in the central Gaza Strip, according to WAFA Palestinian news agency.
Israel’s army stated in response to an inquiry, that they were reviewing the reports.
Israel launched its ongoing military offensive in the Gaza Strip, after the October 7 attacks and massacres carried out by Hamas and other groups in Israel.
Israel’s response has led to at least 40,000 deaths in Gaza so far, according to the local health authority there, which is controlled by Hamas.
The high number of civilian casualties and humanitarian catastrophe for the Palestinian civilian population, have sparked intense international criticism of Israel’s actions.
The ongoing war in Gaza threatens to plunge the entire region into “a relentless cycle of instability,” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi said on Saturday.
It is urgent to use the current negotiations to end the Gaza war, he said after a meeting with French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné in Cairo, his spokesman said.
An agreement would prevent further bloodshed and protect the region from the consequences of further escalation.
On Friday, current negotiations to end the war brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States were postponed. The mediators did not achieve a breakthrough, but according to a joint statement, the two-day talks in the Qatari capital were constructive.
They agreed that there will be another top meeting in the Egyptian capital Cairo before the end of next week. Until then, negotiators should continue negotiating to close any remaining gaps.
The Israeli negotiating team has expressed cautious optimism after those talks.
“It is hoped that the heavy pressure on Hamas by the United States and the mediators will remove its opposition to the American proposal and will lead to a breakthrough in the talks,” a statement in English from the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.
This was the first official statement from Israel after the two days of talks in Qatar.
The foreign ministers of the UK, France, Germany and Italy said there is “too much at stake” in Israel-Gaza ceasefire negotiations for the “prospect for peace” to be undermined.
The joint statement said a proposal to bridge the gaps between Israel and Hamas was presented and they expected to work out the details of how to implement a deal next week in Cairo.
GNA