Israel-Hamas war: IDF tells civilians to leave Rafah suburbs

The Israeli military told Palestinians to leave parts of Khan Younis and Rafah following reports of dozens of rockets being fired into southern Israel from the same region.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees had already left southern Gaza ahead of Israel's widely condemned operations in Rafah. More than 1 million people had sought shelter in the border city after Israel's offensive in the rest of the enclave.

The evacuation order was issued over social media and in an official statement.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said: "It just shows yet again, that no place is safe in Gaza, more efforts need to be made to protect civilians."

"It's another stop in this deadly circle of movement that the population in Gaza has to undergo on a regular basis," he said.

Israel's offensive in Gaza since October 7 has killed more than 37,900 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's Health Ministry. 

There were at least 23 deaths in the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 87,060 people have been wounded since the latest conflict began.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but the UN and multiple humanitarian organizations consider the casualty numbers broadly reliable.

Around half of Gaza's 2.3 million inhabitants are children, and the UN says the majority of people killed have been women and children. 

Israel launched its Gaza operation after Hamas carried out terror attacks in southern Israel on October 7. 

Israel's military said Palestinian militants fired some "20 projectiles" from the central Gaza Strip.

"Approximately 20 projectiles were identified crossing from the area of Khan Yunis," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement.

The IDF said some of the objects were intercepted, while others fell in areas of southern Israel near the Gaza Strip without causing any casualties.

The Islamic Jihad militant group claimed the attack, according to a statement cited by the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

Israel released the director of Gaza City's al-Shifa hospital, Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, after detaining him for over seven months.

Abu Salmiya was released alongside dozens of other Palestinian detainees. The AP news agency cited a Palestinian health official as saying that 55 detainees were released in total.

Al-Shifa was the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip but is no longer operational as it has been largely destroyed amid Israel's offensive in the Palestinian territory.

Far-right Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized the release of Abu Salmiya and other detained Palestinians in a post on X, formerly Twitter, calling it "security abandonment."

Abu Salmiya and other Palestinian detainees have alleged that they were subject to torture by Israeli security forces.

Israel has accused the Hamas militant Islamist group, which it classifies as a terrorist organization, of using medical facilities, including al-Shifa, as cover for military operations.

Israel's military said on Sunday that 18 of its soldiers were injured, one of them seriously, when a drone struck their position in the occupied Golan Heights, bordering Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that the strike had happened earlier on Sunday. The IDF had struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon with air strikes and artillery fire.

Lebanese Iran-backed militia group Hezbollah and Israel have traded cross-border fire since the Israel-Hamas war began in October. 

But fighting there has intensified recently, with the US, Germany and Turkey urging caution.

The US and Germany have cautioned against the consequences of the expansion of war, while Turkey has pledged solidarity with Lebanon and called on other regional players to join in.

The US military said it destroyed three Houthi uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) in a span of 24 hours in the Red Sea.

"It was determined the USVs presented an imminent threat to US and coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region," the US Central Command said in a post on X.

"This continued malign and reckless behavior by the Iranian-backed Houthis threatens regional stability and endangers the lives of mariners across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden," the post read.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during his weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday that he was committed to seeing Hamas militants defeated in Gaza. 

"We are committed to fighting until we achieve all of our objectives: Eliminating Hamas, returning all of our hostages, ensuring that Gaza never again constitutes a threat to Israel and returning our residents securely to their homes in the south and the north," he said.

He added that "dozens of terrorists are being eliminated every day."

The conflict in Gaza, triggered by Hamas' attack into Israel on October 7, has killed 38,000 people in the enclave so far, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

"Hamas is the only obstacle to the release of our hostages," Netanyahu added at the meeting. Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by many governments including the US, Israel and others.

Israeli forces on Sunday advanced into Shejaiya, a neighborhood in Gaza City in the north, as well as pushed deeper into western and central Rafah in the south.

mk/rm (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)