Evacuations Intensify Amid Gaza Conflict

Palestinians were fleeing near an apartment in Gaza City after it was hit by an Israeli strike.

Fire was seen billowing inside the apartment as men tried to put it off and attempted to rescue casualties.

Premature Palestinian babies were evacuated from Gaza's al-Aqsa hospital, following Israeli evacuation orders for nearby areas.

The babies will be moved to Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, according to the Ministry of Health.

Israel issued the new evacuation orders, forcing more families to flee, saying its forces intended to act against the militant group Hamas and others operating in the area.

The new orders forced many families and patients to leave al-Aqsa hospital, the main medical facility in Deir Al-Balah, where hundreds of thousands of residents and displaced people had taken shelter, for fear of bombardments.

The hospital is close to the area covered by the evacuation notice.

Rows of makeshift tents were tightly packed together on a beach in Gaza’s Khan Younis, where Palestinians are seeking shelter, following months of conflict which has left most of the enclave’s population displaced.

Children were seen playing on the beach, while others sat nearby.

In recent days, Israel has issued several evacuation orders across Gaza, the most since the beginning of the 10-month war, prompting an outcry from Palestinians, the United Nations and relief officials over the reduction of humanitarian zones and the absence of safe areas.

The latest comes with little hope of an end in sight to the war as diplomacy by mediators, Qatar, Egypt, and the U.S. has so far failed to close the gap between Israel and Hamas, whose leaders traded blame over the lack of an accord.

More than 40,400 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza's health ministry.

The crowded enclave has been laid to waste and most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say.