The Israeli military on Friday called on civilians in southern and central Gaza to flee ahead of a new military operation, as the US ambassador to Israel said he was “appalled” after a Palestinian was killed by militant settlers in the West Bank.
“The Hamas terrorist organization has established terrorist infrastructure in an area defined as a Humanitarian Area,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Telegram.
It said the Palestinian militant group Hamas had fired rockets toward Israel from the southern city of Khan Younis on Thursday.
“The IDF will act against the terrorist organizations in the area,” it said.
Using leaflets, text messages, phone calls and media reports in Arabic, the IDF told civilians to move to a humanitarian zone whose borders have been redrawn,
The areas affected include northern districts of Khan Younis and the east of the central city of Deir al-Balah.
The IDF said it was giving advance warning to civilians “to mitigate harm to the civilian population and to enable civilians to move away from the combat zone.”
The humanitarian zone in central Gaza is currently being adapted, the IDF added. An army map shows that the area is being reduced in size and that several neighbourhoods are no longer part of the zone.
Fighting in Gaza continued on Thursday, the Israeli military said, as its air force attacked more than 30 targets, including military installations.
The conflict was triggered by the massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups in Israel on October 7.
The high number of civilian casualties and the humanitarian catastrophe for the Palestinian civilian population have led to sharp international criticism of Israel’s actions.
US ‘appalled’ at West Bank settler violence
Also on Friday, the US ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, said he was “appalled” after a Palestinian was killed in a violent raid by militant Israeli settlers on a village in the West Bank.
“These attacks must stop and the criminals be held to account,” Lew wrote on the social media platform X.
A 22-year-old Palestinian was killed by gunfire on Thursday, when around 50 masked settlers stormed the Palestinian village of Jit, west of Nablus, the Palestinian health authority said.
Another Palestinian was seriously injured, according to authorities.
Israeli media reported that the settlers set fire to at least four houses and six cars. According to a media report, the army detained an Israeli and handed him over to the police.
The situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has worsened significantly since the start of the current conflict in Gaza.
Since October 7, more than 600 Palestinians have been killed in the territory in Israeli military operations, confrontations or their own attacks, according to the health ministry.
Violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians has also increased markedly since October 7.