Evacuation orders set off new wave of displacement in Gaza City

Israeli military's move blamed on militants firing rockets from heavily built-up suburb

The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders to residents in areas of an eastern Gaza City suburb, setting off a new wave of displacement on Nov 24, and a Gaza hospital director was injured in an Israeli drone attack, Palestinian medics said.

The new orders for the Shejaia suburb posted by an Israeli army spokesperson on X on the night of Nov 23 were blamed on Palestinian militants firing rockets from that heavily built-up district in the north of the Gaza Strip.

"For your safety, you must evacuate immediately to the south," the military's post said. The rocket volley on Nov 23 was claimed by Hamas' armed wing, which said it had targeted an Israeli army base over the border.

Footage circulated on social and Palestinian media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed residents leaving Shejaia on donkey carts and rickshaws, with others, including children carrying backpacks, walking.

Families living in the targeted areas began fleeing their homes after nightfall on Nov 23 and into the early hours of Nov 24, residents and Palestinian media said - the latest in multiple waves of displacement since the war began 13 months ago.