AGENCIES

Israel ordered residents and displaced Palestinians to evacuate the Beit Hanoon and Beit Lahiya areas of Gaza City yesterday, as reports said a “large scale” Israeli army operation is expected to begin there soon.

“For your own safety, evacuate immediately to the known shelters in the centre of Gaza City,” Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said.

In a nearby Gaza City neighbourhood, Al-Tuffah, an Israeli airstrike on a house killed three Palestinians, medics said.

Later yesterday, 10 Palestinians were killed in two separate Israeli strikes in Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Medics said one strike killed three people on a motorcycle west of Khan Younis, while seven others were killed in tank shelling that hit a tent encampment in Abassan town, east of the city.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that at least 39,677 people have been killed in the offensive, which entered its 11th month yesterday. The toll includes 24 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to ministry figures.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday evening that both Iran and Israel should avoid escalating conflict, in his most direct wording towards US ally Israel on the Middle East’s spiralling tensions.

“No one should escalate this conflict. We’ve been engaged in intense diplomacy with allies and partners, communicating that message directly to Iran. We communicated that message directly to Israel,” Blinken told reporters.