Politics Israel calls on residents in the north of Chan Junis to flee

The Israeli army has called on residents of a northern neighborhood to leave the area immediately ahead of a new military operation in Khan Yunis. Chan Junis is located in the southern Gaza Strip.

People should move to a humanitarian zone whose borders have been redrawn, the army told people by text message, telephone call and media reports in Arabic and with the help of leaflets. Chan Junis is located in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israel accuses Palestinian militants of misusing the humanitarian zone for "terrorist activities and rocket attacks against the State of Israel". The borders of the humanitarian zone will therefore be adjusted. This is being done on the basis of precise intelligence information according to which the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas has embedded its infrastructure in the area.

The aim of the warnings was to prevent harm to civilians, according to the army statement.

According to Palestinian reports, dozens of people were killed in a devastating Israeli airstrike on a school building in the city of Gaza on Saturday. A spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Palestinian civil defense spoke of at least 93 dead in the building used as refugee accommodation. The incident provoked international horror and criticism.

The Israeli military confirmed the attack, which targeted a Hamas command center located in the attacked building. At least 19 Hamas and Islamic Jihad commanders and fighters were killed. The army also believes there is a "high probability" that a senior jihad commander was in the school building.