At least 16 Palestinians were killed in tank shelling and airstrikes by the israeli army near the Khan Yunisin the southern part of the Gaza Strip, sources in the health sector of the Palestinian enclave announced today, while Israel issued new orders for the evacuation of certain districts of this city, after, according to it, new attacks coming from these areas.

The Israeli military has announced that, to facilitate these evacuations, it is adjusting the humanitarian zone borders in Al Mawasi to keep the civilian population away from areas of fighting with Palestinian militants under Hamas.

Gaza health officials said at least 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli tank fire in the town of Bani Suhaila, just east of Khan Younis, while the area was also shelled from the air.

The Gaza Ministry of Health announced that among the dead are 6 children and 4 women. He added that dozens of others have been injured by Israeli fire. Hamas media reports put the death toll at 26.

The Israeli army notes in his announcement that the new orders are due to new attacks by Palestinians fighters and with rockets fired from the areas covered by the evacuation orders in the eastern part of Khan Yunis. There are no health facilities among the areas ordered to be evacuated, according to the Palestinians.

They, the UN and international aid agencies say there is no safe place left in Gaza. Earlier this month, dozens of Palestinians were killed in separate attacks by Israeli forces in the humanitarian-designated al-Mawasi area.

Israel noted that the attacks targeted armed fighters, including some senior Hamas military commanders. Palestinian officials have called the statements false, saying they are intended to justify the attacks.

Later today, health officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis asked residents to donate blood due to the large number of victims being transported to the medical center.

Reuters footage shows victims, including some women and children, arriving at Nasser Hospital in ambulances and others in private vehicles.

“A family, including children, was killed while they were sleeping,” said a man who arrived in an ambulance carrying the bodies.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Agency announced that received reports of dozens of dead by Israeli air and tank fire on the eastern outskirts of Khan Younis, but its teams were unable to reach them due to the intensity of the shelling.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army carried out airstrikes on two houses in Al-Burayj and Deir al-Balakh areas in the central part of the Gaza Strip, injuring a number of people, according to medical sources.

Another airstrike in Gaza City, in the northern part of the heavily populated Palestinian enclave, killed two more Palestinians, the same sources added.

Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas after its militants launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, which killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli accounts. More than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive that has since been launched in retaliation, according to Gaza health authorities.

Ceasefire effort led by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the US has so far been unsuccessful due to disagreements over its terms between the warring parties, who blame each other for the impasse.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday ordered a delegation tasked with negotiating a hostage deal to be dispatched on Thursday, his office said, without specifying where it would be sent.

Yesterday, Netanyahu had a meeting with this delegation and high-ranking members of Israel’s defense apparatus, his office added in the statement it issued.