Israel widens evacuation orders as it shifts its offensive to southern Gaza amid heavy bombardments

Source: Associated Press

Israel widens evacuation orders as it shifts its offensive to southern Gaza amid heavy bombardments

BY NAJIB JOBAIN, SAMY MAGDY AND ELENA BECATOROS
Updated 7:22 AM EST, December 3, 2023

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel’s military on Sunday ordered more areas in and around Gaza’s second-largest city of Khan Younis to evacuate, as it shifted its offensive to the southern half of the territory where it says many Hamas leaders are hiding.

Heavy bombardments were reported overnight and into Sunday in the area of Khan Younis and the southern city of Rafah, as well as parts of the north that had been the focus of Israel’s blistering air and ground campaign.

The U.N. human rights chief urged for an end to the war, saying the suffering of civilians was “too much to bear.”

Many of the territory’s 2.3 million people are crammed in the south after Israeli forces ordered civilians to leave the north in the early days of the 2-month-old war, sparked by an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and other militants that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel. Around 240 more were taken hostage.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-12-03-2023-1b93089ec82d10ce89df802d51acc108