Israel ordering more in southern Gaza to evacuate

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — The Israeli military said Sunday its ground offensive had expanded to every part of Gaza, and it ordered more evacuations in the south while vowing that operations there against Hamas terrorists would be “no less strength” than its ones in the north.

Heavy bombardment followed the evacuation orders, and Palestinians said they were running out of places to go in the sealed-off territory bordering Israel and Egypt.

Many of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are in the south after Israel ordered civilians to leave the north in the early days of the war, which was sparked by the Oct. 7 Hamas-led terrorist attack in Israel that killed about 1,200, mostly civilians.

The United Nations estimates that 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced.

After dark, gunfire and shelling were heard in the central town of Deir al-Balah as flares lit the sky.

In Gaza’s second-largest city of Khan Younis, Israeli drones buzzed overhead.

The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll there since Oct. 7 terrorist attack in southern Israel has surpassed 15,500. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.

Truce talks stalled

Hopes for another temporary truce in Gaza were fading.

The cease-fire facilitated the release of dozens of the roughly 240 Gaza-held Israeli and foreign hostages in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. But Israel has called its negotiators home, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war will continue until “all its goals” are achieved.

One is to remove Hamas terrorists from power in Gaza.

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said resuming talks with Israel on further exchanges must be tied to a permanent cease-fire.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told NBC’s “Meet the Press” the U.S. was working “really hard” for a resumption of negotiations.

Evacuation orders widened

Israel’s military widened evacuation orders in and around Khan Younis in the south, telling residents of at least five more areas to leave.

Residents said the military dropped leaflets calling Khan Younis “a dangerous combat zone” and ordering them to move to the border city of Rafah or a coastal area in the southwest.

The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has urged Israel to avoid significant new mass displacement and to do more to protect civilians.

Vice President Kamala Harris told Egypt’s president that “under no circumstances” would the U.S. permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, an ongoing siege of Gaza or the redrawing of its borders.

Israel’s military said its fighter jets and helicopters struck targets in Gaza including “tunnel shafts, command centers and weapons storage facilities.” It acknowledged “extensive aerial attacks in the Khan Younis area.”

Israel says it does not target civilians and has taken measures to protect them, including its evacuation orders.

Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Netanyahu, said Israel was making “maximum effort” to protect civilians, and the military has used leaflets, phone calls, and radio and TV broadcasts to urge Gazans to move from specific areas.

Israel says it has killed thousands of terrorists, saying it is targeting Hamas operatives and blames civilian casualties on the terrorists, accusing them of operating in residential neighborhoods.

Israel says 78 of its soldiers have been killed in the ground offensive in northern Gaza.

The widening offensive likely will further complicate humanitarian aid to Gaza. Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, said 100 aid trucks entered Sunday, but U.N. agencies have said 500 trucks per day on average entered before the war.

Concern for hostages grows

The renewed hostilities also heightened concerns for the 137 hostages the Israeli military believes are still being held by Hamas terrorists. During the recent truce, 105 hostages were freed, and Israel released 240 Palestinian prisoners. Most of those released by both sides were women and children.

The families of hostages have called for an urgent meeting with Israel’s Security Cabinet, saying time is “running out to save those still held by Hamas.”

Elsewhere in the region, Lebanon’s terrorist Hezbollah group said it struck Israeli positions near the tense Lebanon-Israel border.

Eleven people — eight soldiers and three civilians — were wounded by Hezbollah fire in the area of Beit Hillel, army radio reported. The military said its artillery struck sources of fire from Lebanon. It also said its fighter jets struck other Hezbollah targets.

Iraqi terrorists with the Iran-backed umbrella group the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said they struck the Kharab al-Jir U.S. military base in Syria with rockets.

A U.S. military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said rockets hit Rumalyn Landing Zone in Syria but there were no reports of casualties or damage.

Later Sunday, officials with Iranian-backed militias in Iraq said five militia members were killed in an airstrike blamed on the U.S. near Kirkuk. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a military operation not yet made public said the U.S. had carried out a “self-defense strike” near Kirkuk targeting a drone staging site.

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Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo; Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad; Elena Becatoros in Athens, Greece; Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel; and Lolita Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.