Palestinian families flee new Israeli attack on Gaza's Khan Younis

Thousands of Palestinians in the southern city of Khan Younis, were forced to flee yet again to other areas of the enclave on Thursday.

While a few had transport, many of the people could be seen carrying what they could on foot, after the Israeli military ordered another mass evacuation.

They were carrying essential items such as small gas cylinders, mattresses, tents, backpacks, blankets, and plastic containers and buckets used for water.

Father, Ghazi Abu Daka, carrying a small child, said he and his family have now been displaced four times from the eastern Khan Younis area.

"Every day there is war. Every day there are missiles hitting us. There is no safe place in the eastern area. We are in the streets and don’t know where to go,” he said.

People in the eastern areas fled to safe areas. But there is no safe place. We’re searching for a place to shelter our children."

Another evacuee, Yasser Abu Alyan, said he has been displaced around six times from the Beni Seheila area in the east of Khan Younis.

He said he took nothing with him except his two little girls, “everything is gone.”

This latest evacuation order covers large areas in and around Khan Younis, that was heavily hit by air and ground strikes earlier this year.

The Israeli army says it plans to launch new operations there in response to Palestinian rocket fire.

The United Nations estimates that around 1.9 million of Gaza's 2.1 million population are internally displaced, many of them multiple times.

Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing war, according to local officials.

The ongoing war was triggered by Palestinian group, Hamas’ 7 October attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed 1,200 people and took about 250 as hostages.