Update: Death toll from Israeli Khan Yunis assault rises to 77
Gaza (Quds News Network)- 77 Palestinians have been killed and 200 others injured in fresh Israeli attacks on the southern city of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip on Monday.
The Gaza Health Ministry said previously that at least 70 Palestinian martyrs arrived at the Nasser Medical Complex on Monday after Israeli forces renewed their attacks on Khan Yunis.
The ministry added that more than 200 injured people, including serious cases, have arrived at the medical facility.
Local sources reported on Tuesday morning that the death toll from the Israeli military assault on the city has risen to 77. More than 30 people remain missing under the rubble following Monday’s bombardment.
On Monday morning, the Israeli military ordered the residents of eastern Khan Yunis to evacuate to al-Mawasi, an Israeli-designated “safe zone,” warning that its forces were “about to forcefully operate” in the area.
Palestinian Civil Defence said the Israeli evacuation order affected more than 400,000 people in the eastern areas of Khan Younis.
Local sources noted that the residents were given no time to flee as the Israeli military operation started shortly after the evacuation order leaflets were dropped.
The targeted areas are Bani Suheila, Qizan an-Najjar, Abasan al-Kabira, and Khuza’a to the east of the city, as well as al-Qarara to the north.
Displaced Palestinians from Khan Yunis have said the area of al-Mawasi is already full.
“Even the sidewalks are full of people and tents,” Youssef Abu Taimah, from the town of al-Qarara in Khan Yunis, told AFP after his family found no space in al-Mawasi. “We are tired and fed up. Enough of this displacement and migration.”
Ahmed al-Bayouk, a 53-year-old from Khan Younis, also told the news agency, “We barely settle for a few days before the army comes, bombs, displaces us and destroys more.”
“Where should we go? Every place is at risk of bombing.”
Following the arrival of the casualties, the Nasser Hospital appealed for urgent blood donations, according to the Health Ministry.
The Ministry added that the hospital is facing a shortage of blood units, “which poses a serious threat to the lives of the sick and injured in light of the ongoing massacres carried out by the occupation forces against the innocent and civilians”.
The order comes just days after al-Mawasi experienced a massacre carried out by the Israeli forces that killed at least 90 displaced people sheltering in tents.
This is the third time that the Israeli military is operating in the city of Khan Yunis as they previously announced that it was militarily dismantled.
