Palestinians Flee Khan Younis

Palestinians are leaving eastern Khan Younis, the second-largest city in Gaza, as a result of an Israeli evacuation order affecting roughly 250,000 people, according to the United Nations.

Israel’s military estimates that approximately 1.9 million people, which is more than 80% of all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, are now concentrated in the territory’s central region.

While the exact number of people fleeing Khan Younis was not immediately known, Sigrid Kaag, the top U.N. humanitarian official for Gaza, stated that there are around 1.9 million displaced people in Gaza. She mentioned that civilians in the besieged territory have been pushed "into an abyss of suffering."

This came after Israel’s military instructed Palestinians to evacuate a wide swath of Khan Younis and nearby areas, and go to the Israeli-declared safe zone, which means that Israel will launch a new ground assault into the city.