Israeli army orders Gaza City suburb evacuated, spurring new displacement wave

Israeli army orders Gaza City suburb evacuated, spurring new displacement wave
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A man shouts as he pulls a survivor from the rubble of a building following an Israeli strike near the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, early on November 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas.(AFP)
Hossam Abu Safieh, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, is treated by colleagues for his injuries following an Israeli strike that according to the civil defence in Gaza hit the medical compound in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, late on November 23, 2024. (AFP)
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Hossam Abu Safieh, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, is treated by colleagues for his injuries following an Israeli strike that according to the civil defence in Gaza hit the medical compound in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, late on November 23, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 24 November 2024

Israeli army orders Gaza City suburb evacuated, spurring new displacement wave

Israeli army orders Gaza City suburb evacuated, spurring new displacement wave
  • Israeli military blames Hamas rocket fire for renewed evacuation directive
  • Palestinians say hospitals in north Gaza barely functioning

CAIRO: The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders to residents in areas of an eastern Gaza City suburb, setting off a new wave of displacement on Sunday, and a Gaza hospital director was injured in an Israeli drone attack, Palestinian medics said.
The new orders for the Shejaia suburb posted by the Israeli army spokesperson on X on Saturday night were blamed on Palestinian militants firing rockets from that heavily built-up district in the north of the Gaza Strip.
“For your safety, you must evacuate immediately to the south,” the military’s post said. The rocket volley on Saturday was claimed by Hamas’ armed wing, which said it had targeted an Israeli army base over the border.
Footage circulated on social and Palestinian media, which Reuters could not immediately verify, showed residents leaving Shejaia on donkey carts and rickshaws, with others, including children carrying backpacks, walking.
Families living in the targeted areas began fleeing their homes after nightfall on Saturday and into Sunday’s early hours, residents and Palestinian media said — the latest in multiple waves of displacement since the war began 13 months ago.
In central Gaza, health officials said at least 10 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the urban camps of Al-Maghazi and Al-Bureij since Saturday night.
Hospital director wounded by gunfire
In north Gaza, where Israeli forces have been operating against regrouping Hamas militants since early last month, health officials said an Israeli drone dropped bombs on Kamal Adwan Hospital, injuring its director Hussam Abu Safiya.
“This will not stop us from completing our humanitarian mission and we will continue to do this job at any cost,” Abu Safiya said in a video statement circulated by the health ministry on Sunday.
“We are being targeted daily. They targeted me a while ago but this will not deter us...,” he said from his hospital bed.
Israeli forces say armed militants use civilian buildings including housing blocks, hospitals and schools for operational cover. Hamas denies this, accusing Israeli forces of indiscriminately targeting populated areas.
Kamal Adwan is one of three hospitals in north Gaza that are barely operational as the health ministry said the Israeli forces have detained and expelled medical staff and prevented emergency medical, food and fuel supplies from reaching them.
In the past few weeks, Israel said it had facilitated the delivery of medical and fuel supplies and the transfer of patients from north Gaza hospitals in collaboration with international agencies such as the World Health Organization.
Residents in three embattled north Gaza towns — Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun — said Israeli forces had blown up hundreds of houses since renewing operations in an area that Israel said months ago had been cleared of militants.
Palestinians say Israel appears determined to depopulate the area permanently to create a buffer zone along the northern edge of Gaza, an accusation Israel denies.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 44,000 people, uprooted nearly all the enclave’s 2.3 million population at least once, according to Gaza officials, while reducing wide swathes of the narrow coastal territory to rubble.
The war erupted in response to a cross-border attack by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023 in which gunmen killed around 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.


In Sudan, satellite images uncover atrocities in El-Fasher

In Sudan, satellite images uncover atrocities in El-Fasher
Updated 05 November 2025

In Sudan, satellite images uncover atrocities in El-Fasher

In Sudan, satellite images uncover atrocities in El-Fasher
  • Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab says the images are the only way to monitor the crisis in North Darfur's capital
  • Close-up aerial shots show evidence of door-to-door killings and mass graves

CAIRO: Satellite images from Sudan have played a crucial role in uncovering the atrocities committed during paramilitaries’ takeover of the last army stronghold in the western Darfur region.
In an interview with AFP, Nathaniel Raymond of Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) said the aerial images were the only way to monitor the crisis unfolding on the ground in the city of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.
On October 26, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been fighting a brutal war with Sudan’s army for more than two years, claimed full control of the city they had besieged for nearly 18 months.
Close-up satellite images have emerged showing evidence of door-to-door killings, mass graves, red patches and bodies visible along an earthen berm — findings consistent with eyewitness accounts.


On October 28, HRL published footage from El-Fasher’s maternity hospital showing “piles of white objects” that were not present before and measured between “1.1 to 1.9 meters” (3.6 to 6.2 feet) — roughly the size of human bodies lying down or with limbs bent.
It said there were “reddish earth discolorations” on the ground nearby that could have been blood.
The following day, the World Health Organization announced the “tragic killing of more than 460 patients and medical staff” at the hospital.
The images released by HRL, which had been tracking the situation in El-Fasher throughout the siege, became “a spark plug for public outrage,” said Raymond.

‘Highest volume’

Since the start of the siege, HRL has been alerting the United Nations and the United States to developments on the ground, with its reports becoming a reference point for tracking territorial advances in the area.
Population movements, attacks, drone strikes and mass killings have been closely monitored in the city, where access remains blocked despite repeated calls to open humanitarian corridors.
Satellite imagery has become an indispensable tool for non-governmental organizations and journalists in regions where access is difficult or impossible — including Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan.
Several companies specializing in satellite imaging scan the globe daily, hindered only by weather conditions. Depending on the sensors onboard, satellites can clearly distinguish buildings, vehicles and even crowds.
HRL then cross-references the images with other material including online footage, social media and local news reports, according to Yale’s published methodology.
Raymond said that after El-Fasher’s fall paramilitaries “started posting videos of themselves killing people at the highest volume they ever had,” providing more material for analysis.
The team cross-checked these videos with the limited available information to identify, date and geolocate acts of violence using satellite imagery.
Raymond said the lab’s mission is to raise the alarm about the atrocities and collect evidence to ensure the perpetrators of war crimes do not escape justice.
He referenced similar aerial images taken after the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, which eventually helped bring charges against former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic.
An international tribunal sentenced him to life imprisonment for war crimes and genocide.

Grim task ahead

The images from El-Fasher have triggered international outcry.
The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Court said on Monday that the atrocities there could amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The public outrage was followed by a significant reduction in the amount of footage posted by paramilitaries on the ground, according to the HRL.
Of the videos still being shared, “very few, if any, have metadata in them,” said Raymond, who noted that the researchers had to count the bodies themselves.
He said they were not counting individual remains but tagging piles of bodies and measuring them as they get bigger.
He added, however, that the researchers’ workload has not decreased with the reduction in videos. Instead, they are now focusing on the grim task of tracing “the perpetrator’s transition from killing phase to disposal.”
“Are they going to do trenches? Are they going to light them on fire? Are they going to try to put them in the water?“