UNRWA criticizes Israeli evacuation orders near Khan Younis

Israel ordered people to evacuate some neighborhoods in Southern Gaza on Monday ahead of airstrikes. The United Nations on Tuesday criticized the orders, saying that just weeks earlier, Israel had ordered residents to flee to those areas. The UN group for assisting Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said roughly 250,000 people had to flee those neighborhoods for a nearby zone the Israeli military said would be safe.

Why did Israel order the evacuations? Hours after instructing residents to leave, Israeli warplanes conducted several targeted strikes on ammunition depots in the neighborhoods, the IDF said. The aircraft also struck sites Hamas had recently used to launch more than a dozen rockets toward Israel. Meanwhile, Israeli authorities blamed Hamas for using civilians as human shields in violation of international law. The IDF took the proper measures to warn civilians ahead of the attacks, Israeli officials said.

Has Israel made any new statements on when a cease-fire might come? Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday criticized a New York Times report that Israel would be prepared to end its war on Hamas before achieving all its objectives. Netanyahu denied those claims, saying Israel’s military was able to destroy the Hamas terrorist organization and that it would not quit fighting until it had done so.

Any updates on what’s going on with Hezbollah? The Israeli military claimed credit for several overnight attacks on Hezbollah infrastructure in southern Lebanon on Monday. Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s Knesset, or parliament, said last week that war with the Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah was looking increasingly likely. Netanyahu’s office issued a statement last week saying the Israeli military would accept nothing less than victory on its northern border with Lebanon.

Dig deeper: Listen to Mary Muncy’s report on The World and Everything in It podcast about how Israel is trying to address the threat Hezbollah poses to its security.