Evacuations From Gaza

At least 10 people were killed and 40 injured in northern Gaza on Monday after Israeli tank shells hit people queuing for food, Palestinian medics said, as fears mounted in the enclave that Israel plans to displace all residents from the north.

A sharp escalation in border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon has sent Western nations scrambling to update contingency plans for evacuations from the region.

Israel expanded evacuation orders in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip overnight, forcing tens of thousands of Palestinian residents and displaced families to leave in the dark as explosions from tank shelling reverberated around them.

Israel's prime minister on Wednesday insisted there was no "humanitarian catastrophe" in Rafah as he announced nearly 500,000 people had been evacuated from the south Gaza city amid intense fighting.

Israel called on Saturday for Palestinians in more areas of Gaza's southern city of Rafah to evacuate and head to what it calls an expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi.

A Hamas spokesman said Monday that the Palestinian group would continue negotiations towards a truce in Gaza, despite Israel's order to begin evacuating people from Rafah in the south.

An estimated 8,000 patients need evacuating out of the Gaza Strip, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, voicing frustration that few have so far been transferred outside the besieged territory.

Israel's military proposed a plan for evacuating civilians from the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced Monday, after he said a ground invasion of the Palestinian territory's southern city Rafah was necessary.

Around 1.5 million Palestinian civilians are currently squeezed into the southern Gaza city of Rafah after repeatedly being forced by Israeli bombardment and ground assaults to evacuate further and further south.

Gunfire echoed around Palestinian medics, patients and displaced people during what they described as a terrifying and chaotic night evacuation from Gaza's Nasser Hospital after it was stormed by Israeli forces.

France on Monday evacuated 42 people from Gaza including French nationals and staff of the French cultural institute, the foreign ministry said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered military officials to draw up plans for "evacuating" Rafah, where half of Gaza's 2.4 million people are currently sheltering, his office said Friday.

The Israeli military on Friday published a map of what it called "evacuation zones" in the Gaza Strip, after international demands to create safe areas where civilians can shelter from devastating bombardments.

At first, the young mother couldn't find her newborn son, Anas, among the 31 tiny babies who had just arrived in southern Gaza after being evacuated from Gaza City's devastated Al Shifa Hospital. She hadn't seen him for 45 days.

Twenty-nine premature babies arrived in Egypt on Monday, Egyptian media said, after they were evacuated from Gaza's largest hospital which has become a focal point of Israel's war with Hamas.

At least 10 people were killed and 40 injured in northern Gaza on Monday after Israeli tank shells hit people queuing for food, Palestinian medics said, as fears mounted in the enclave that Israel plans to displace all residents from the north.

A sharp escalation in border warfare between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon has sent Western nations scrambling to update contingency plans for evacuations from the region.

Israel expanded evacuation orders in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip overnight, forcing tens of thousands of Palestinian residents and displaced families to leave in the dark as explosions from tank shelling reverberated around them.

Israel's prime minister on Wednesday insisted there was no "humanitarian catastrophe" in Rafah as he announced nearly 500,000 people had been evacuated from the south Gaza city amid intense fighting.

Israel called on Saturday for Palestinians in more areas of Gaza's southern city of Rafah to evacuate and head to what it calls an expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi.

A Hamas spokesman said Monday that the Palestinian group would continue negotiations towards a truce in Gaza, despite Israel's order to begin evacuating people from Rafah in the south.

An estimated 8,000 patients need evacuating out of the Gaza Strip, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, voicing frustration that few have so far been transferred outside the besieged territory.

Israel's military proposed a plan for evacuating civilians from the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced Monday, after he said a ground invasion of the Palestinian territory's southern city Rafah was necessary.

Around 1.5 million Palestinian civilians are currently squeezed into the southern Gaza city of Rafah after repeatedly being forced by Israeli bombardment and ground assaults to evacuate further and further south.

Gunfire echoed around Palestinian medics, patients and displaced people during what they described as a terrifying and chaotic night evacuation from Gaza's Nasser Hospital after it was stormed by Israeli forces.

France on Monday evacuated 42 people from Gaza including French nationals and staff of the French cultural institute, the foreign ministry said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered military officials to draw up plans for "evacuating" Rafah, where half of Gaza's 2.4 million people are currently sheltering, his office said Friday.

The Israeli military on Friday published a map of what it called "evacuation zones" in the Gaza Strip, after international demands to create safe areas where civilians can shelter from devastating bombardments.

At first, the young mother couldn't find her newborn son, Anas, among the 31 tiny babies who had just arrived in southern Gaza after being evacuated from Gaza City's devastated Al Shifa Hospital. She hadn't seen him for 45 days.

Twenty-nine premature babies arrived in Egypt on Monday, Egyptian media said, after they were evacuated from Gaza's largest hospital which has become a focal point of Israel's war with Hamas.