As Israeli forces pound the Gaza Strip – and even Rafah on the Egyptian border – after the collapse of the ceasefire, the Israeli government is facing increasing calls from the US to protect Palestinian civilians.

US Vice President Kamala Harris said too many innocent Palestinians had been killed in the US, while Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Israel had a “moral responsibility” to protect civilians.

The comments by senior US officials yesterday add to pressure from Washington on Israel to be “more cautious” as it turns its attention to the military operation further south in the besieged Gaza Strip.

With fresh hostilities now in their third day, residents fear that the airstrikes and artillery attacks are just a prelude to an Israeli ground offensive in the enclave’s south.

At the same time, the warring sides show no signs of moving in the direction of reviving the truce that collapsed on Friday.

Bombing of places that Israel indicates to civilians to evacuate

This morning, the Israeli military posted an announcement on Platform X asking Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to immediately leave at least five areas in and around Khan Yunis.

Also, aircraft destroyed several houses in the town of Al Karara near Khan Younes overnight, killing several people, including children, according to Palestinian health officials.

Arabic-speaking IDF spokesman Avihai Andrai instructed civilians to move to “known shelters for internally displaced people” west of the city, as well as further south towards Rafa and posted a map with these areas.

But UN officials and people in Gaza say it is difficult to comply in real time with Israeli orders to evacuate because of poor internet connection and power outages amid an Israeli military offensive.

Seven Palestinians were killed and several wounded in an Israeli attack on a house east of the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, the Hamas-controlled interior ministry announced today.

The Palestinians of the West Bank are the target of attacks

Israeli settlers attacked two Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank late yesterday, killing a man and setting fire to a car, Palestinian authorities said.

The Palestinian Ambulance Service said one 38 years old in the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan, in the northern West Bank, was shot in the chest and ended while residents came face to face with settlers and Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli military said soldiers arrived at the scene and used crowd dispersal agents as well as live fire to end the dispute between residents and settlers. It said the Palestinians fired fireworks and that one Israeli and four Palestinians were injured. According to the army, the incident is under investigation, which has been taken over by the police.

In another incident, Wajih Al-Qat, head of the local council in the village of Madama near the city of Nablus, said a group of about 15 settlers set fire to a car and smashed the windows of a house with stones. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on this incident.