The News
Thousands of Palestinians fled parts of Khan Younis Tuesday after Israel’s military ordered a mass evacuation, signaling the possibility of a ground assault in Gaza’s second-largest city.
While Israel hasn’t said whether it will send forces back to the southern Gaza city, it struck parts of the city overnight, targeting areas from which Palestinian group Islamic Jihad had fired a volley of about 20 rockets into Israel on Monday.
SIGNALS
Thousands fleeing as hospitals, shelters push to evacuate
The evacuation order covers about 250,000 Palestinians, the UN said, and people — including patients and medical staff from the European Gaza hospital — have been fleeing however they can. “We no longer know where we should go next? We have no other choice now but to die in our homes because there is no place left that we have not been displaced to,” one Palestinian told the BBC. The evacuation order has put people in a “harrowing, horrific, and incredibly difficult” situation, a UN official told Al Jazeera, as many Palestinains, already displaced multiple times, are once more forced to flee into overcrowded, under-resourced humanitarian zones.
Israeli military wants a ceasefire in Gaza
Israel’s military leadership wants a truce in Gaza, even if Hamas is not defeated, The New York Times reported — a stance in direct opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stated goal of dismantling the militant group entirely. Israel’s generals are worried that the potential for a conflict with Hezbollah would mean sending exhausted troops straight from Gaza into a far more deadly war on Israel’s northern border. The military has also warned that Hamas cannot be destroyed outright. Ultimately, tensions between the military and Netanyahu’s Office are at a record high, a retired Israeli general told The Wall Street Journal.
Israel floats post-war model for “humanitarian enclaves”
Israel is preparing to pilot Hamas-free “humanitarian enclaves” in Gaza as a potential post-war solution, the Financial Times reported. The plan relies on the Israeli military cooperating with local Palestinians to distribute aid and manage security in specific neighborhoods in northern Gaza, with the “bubbles” eventually expanding to other parts of Gaza. The proposal has been met with skepticism, and people familiar with the plan say that Israeli efforts to identify local partners have floundered. “We already tried this in three different parts of central and north Gaza, including with local clans. They were all either beaten up or killed by Hamas,” a former senior Israeli official said.