Nowhere to go, plead Gazans as Israel bombs

Khan Younis (Gaza Strip): Palestinians in Gaza said they were running out of places to go as Israel's military ordered more areas in and around Gaza's second-largest city of Khan Younis to evacuate on Sunday, followed by heavy bombardment.

Israel shifted its offensive to the southern half of the territory where it asserts that leaders of the Hamas militant group are hiding. The Gaza Strip, bordering Israel and Egypt, is sealed.

Many of the territory's 2.3 million people are crammed in the south after Israel ordered civilians to leave the north in the early days of the war sparked by the Oct 7 attack by Hamas and other militants that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel.

Juliette Toma, director of communications at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said nearly 958,000 displaced people were in 99 United Nations facilities in the southern Gaza Strip.

UN human rights chief Volker Türk urged an end to the war, saying civilian suffering was “too much to bear”.

Hopes for another temporary truce were fading. A weeklong cease-fire that expired Friday had facilitated the release of dozens of the around 240 Gaza-held Israeli and foreign hostages in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

But Israel has called its negotiators home. Halima Abdel-Rahman, a widow, said she won't heed evacuation orders anymore. She fled her home in October to an area outside Khan Younis, where she stays with relatives.