'We are swimming in blood': at least 37 killed in strikes on Khan Younis

The Israeli military has ordered Palestinians to leave neighbourhoods in Khan Younis, including areas that had been designated by the military as part of a humanitarian zone, as at least 37 people were killed in strikes in the southern city yesterday.

- Ruth Michaelson, Malak A Tantesh

Palestinian civil defence in the territory estimated that 400,000 people sheltering in the city were affected by the order, which included the eastern part of al-Mawasi, a sandy strip of land without infrastructure where Palestinians have sought shelter in tent encampments in recent months.

The military said it planned to start an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis and part of al-Mawasi, claiming the area had been used to launch rockets at Israel.

Osama Qudeih said: "They called us to evacuate, we took our children and left. There was no safe place left in the Gaza Strip... We went out walking in the streets, not knowing where to go." Another woman collapsed in exhaustion after saying it was her seventh or eighth displacement. "Every day we are displaced," Kholoud alDadas told Associated Press as she clutched her children. "Where are the countries? Where is the world, where are the presidents, where are they? Come and see how we are, our children, and what is happening to us."

The military said it was adjusting the boundaries of the designated humanitarian zone in al-Mawasi to keep the civilian population away from areas of combat.