Thousands flee Beit Hanoun as Israel orders Gazans to evacuate ahead of attacks

GAZA CITY/ISTANBUL

Thousands of Palestinians fled the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun on Tuesday following Israeli evacuation orders amid deadly airstrikes on the war-torn territory.

Civilians began to move from the town in the early morning toward the nearby town of Jabalia in search of safety, according to an Anadolu reporter.

The Israeli army early Tuesday ordered Palestinian civilians in the towns of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza and Khuza’a and Abasan in the south to immediately leave their areas, calling them “dangerous combat zones.”

“For your own safety, you must evacuate immediately to known shelters in western Gaza City and in Khan Younis,” army spokesman Avichay Adraee said on his X account.

The Israeli army pounded the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing more than 400 people and injuring hundreds, breaking a ceasefire agreement that took effect on Jan. 19.

Images emerging from Gaza showed that the majority of the victims were civilians, including women and children, whose homes were bombed during the night.

More than 48,500 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 112,000 others injured in a brutal Israeli military campaign in Gaza since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.