JERUSALEM: Israeli forces carried out attacks Tuesday in the southern Gaza Strip with Palestinian health officials saying at least eight people were killed.

The attacks included bombardments of Khan Younis, a day after Israel ordered the latest evacuation of Palestinian civilians.

Israel’s military said Tuesday it carried out airstrikes overnight in an area of Khan Younis where militants had fired 20 rockets toward Israeli settlements.

More Israeli airstrikes targeted the southern city of Rafah, while Israeli ground troops conducted operations against Hamas in central Gaza, the military said.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters Monday that Israel’s evacuation order for Khan Younis shows “that no place is safe in Gaza, that more efforts need to be made to protect civilians.”

Israel has repeatedly told Palestinians to leave certain parts of Gaza, usually ahead of Israeli offensives, in a move that Israel says is meant to protect civilians from the war.

The evacuations, along with the fighting, have meant people have had to flee multiple times in search of safety.

“It’s another stop in this deadly circular movement that the population in Gaza has to undergo on a regular basis,” Dujarric said. “This is yet again why we need to see an end to this conflict.”

A resident who lives in the targeted evacuation zone, Ahmad Najjar, told Agence France-Presse, “Fear and extreme anxiety have gripped people after the evacuation order.”

He observed that there has been “a large displacement of residents.”

Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza erupted when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, mostly civilians, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has so far killed nearly 38,000 people, according to the health ministry in Gaza’s, and left the heavily built-up coastal enclave in ruins.

VOA