Israeli forces advance in Khan Younis, 47 killed across enclave

CAIRO: Israeli tanks pushed into northern parts of the Khan Younis area in the south of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday and Palestinian medics said further Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 47 people across the enclave.

Residents said tanks advanced one day after the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders, saying there had been rocket launches by Palestinian militants from the area.

With shells crashing near residential areas, families left their homes and headed westward towards the nearby humanitarian-designated area of Al-Mawasi. Palestinian and United Nations officials say there are no safe areas left in Gaza and that most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times.

Later on Wednesday, an Israeli airstrike at a tent encampment in al-Mawasi killed at least 17 people and wounded several others, medics said. The Civil Emergency Service said the attack set several tents housing displaced families ablaze.

Another Israeli airstrike hit three houses in Gaza City, killing at least 10 people and wounding many others, the territory’s emergency service said. Many victims were still trapped under the rubble with rescue operations underway.

Medics said 11 people were killed in three airstrikes on areas in central Gaza, including six children and a medic. Five of the dead had been queuing outside a bakery, they said.

A further nine Palestinians were killed by tank fire in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, medics said.

Israeli forces also fired on Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in north Gaza for the fifth straight day, hospital director Hussam Abu Safiya said. Three of his medical staff had been wounded, one critically, on Tuesday night, he said.