Israeli army orders fresh evacuations in Gaza as fighting continues

By Nidal al-Mughrabi and James Mackenzie

CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli army ordered people in south and central Gaza areas it had previously designated humanitarian safe zones to leave on Friday, saying Hamas had used the areas to fire mortars and rockets at Israel.

Residents in Deir al-Balah, a last area still not entered by Israeli forces since the war began more than 10 months ago, said shelling had intensified and tanks had crossed a perimeter fence into the city.

Israel said warning flyers and text messages had been sent out in the eastern part of Deir al-Balah and another area north of the city of Khan Younis, where tens of thousands of people have sought shelter from fighting in other parts of Gaza.

"The advance warning to civilians is being issued in order to mitigate harm to the civilian population and to enable civilians to move away from the combat zone," the military said in a statement.

Social media and Palestinian news footage, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed hundreds of families streaming out of Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis on donkey carts, rickshaws and other vehicles laden with salvaged belongings.

Commenting on the new evacuation order, UNRWA, the main U.N. agency in Gaza, said people "remain trapped in an endless nightmare of death and destruction on a staggering scale".

DEATHS MOUNT

Earlier, Israel's military said it had hit an area in Khan Younis from where rockets were fired towards the community of Kissufim on Thursday, finding weapons including shoulder-fired missiles and explosives.

Gaza's health ministry said Israeli military strikes across the enclave killed at least 17 Palestinians on Friday.

The latest evacuation warnings came as negotiators in Doha ended two days of talks aimed at reaching a deal to halt the fighting in Gaza and bring Israeli and foreign hostages home. Talks will resume next week, they said.

Most of Gaza's 2.3 million population has been displaced multiple times since the start of the Israeli campaign in Gaza, launched following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7. Even in areas designated safe zones there have been regular reports of casualties from Israeli strikes.

Israel accuses Hamas and other militant groups of deliberately basing fighters in civilian areas, a charge Hamas denies. The fighting has in any case become more scattered and less organised as Hamas has shifted towards guerrilla-style tactics by small groups of fighters.

Hamas' Oct. 7 rampage killed around 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. The assault on Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel says it has eliminated 17,000 Hamas fighters.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi and James Mackenzie; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)