GAZA: The Israeli military said on Monday it ordered the evacuation of several neighbourhoods and towns near Gaza City, warning of imminent fighting after rockets were launched from the area.
Avichay Adraee, a military spokesman, posted on social media platform X a map showing several areas in the Gaza Strip's northwest to be evacuated, declaring them part of a "dangerous combat zone".
Israel has issued numerous evacuation orders during its war in Gaza. The evacuation orders have covered most of Gaza's territory, according to the UN, and include areas where the military had previously said were largely cleared of Palestinian armed groups.
Adraee said Palestinian fighters were "once again firing rockets at the State of Israel" from Gaza's northwest, a focus of Israel's military operations in the early stages of the war.
Earlier on Monday the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian group fighting alongside Hamas in Gaza, claimed responsibility for rockets launched at southern Israel.
The military said "two projectiles were identified crossing from northern Gaza into Israeli territory" late on Sunday, with one intercepted and the other falling in the sea.
The vast majority of Gaza's 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once during more than 11 months of war, according to the United Nations.
Previous evacuation orders have sent people fleeing entire neighbourhoods or towns with whatever belongings they can carry with them.
Israel's military offensives in Gaza has killed at least 40,972 people, according to the territory's health ministry. The UN rights office says most of the dead are women and children.
Meanwhile, Syrian state media said on Monday that overnight Israeli strikes killed 16 people in central Hama province, while a war monitor reported a higher death toll in the "intense" raids on military sites.
The Israeli military, which has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria since 2011, declined to comment on the latest reported attack.
Syrian official news agency SANA, citing a medical source said the number of dead "in the Israeli aggression on a number of sites on the outskirts of Masyaf" was "16 martyrs and 36 wounded, including six critically", updating an earlier toll of 14. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported "intense Israeli strikes" overnight, providing an updated of toll of 25 dead including "five civilians, four soldiers and intelligence personnel and 13 Syrians working with groups". The Observatory said "Israeli strikes... targeted the scientific research area in Masyaf" in Hama province and other sites, destroying "buildings and military centres". — AFP
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