The Israeli military has ordered the evacuation of part of an area in the Gaza Strip it has designated a humanitarian zone.
The military said it is planning to begin an operation against Hamas militants who have embedded themselves in the area and used it to launch rockets towards Israel.
The area includes the eastern part of the Muwasi humanitarian zone in the southern Gaza Strip.
Palestinians in a makeshift tent camp in the Muwasi area (Fatima Shbair/AP)
Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israeli’s air and ground campaign.
Earlier this month, Israel estimated at least 1.8 million Palestinians were in the humanitarian zone it declared covering a stretch of about 8.6 miles along the Mediterranean.
Much of that area is now blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, UN and humanitarian groups say. Families live in the midst of mountains of waste and streams contaminated by sewage.
The announcement came during delicate negotiations seeking a ceasefire in Gaza, with US and Israeli officials expressing hope that an agreement is closer than ever, and as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to make a much-anticipated trip to the US to meet with President Joe Biden and address Congress.
A negotiating team will be sent to continue talks on Thursday, Mr Netanyahu’s office said. Egypt, Qatar and the US are continuing to push Israel and Hamas towards a phased ceasefire deal that would stop the fighting and free Israeli hostages.
The war in Gaza has killed more than 38,900 people, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. The war began with an assault by Hamas militants on southern Israel on October 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages.
About 120 are still being held, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses legislators in the Knesset (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP)
The Israeli military said on Monday that it is continuing to operate in central and southern Gaza. On Sunday, Israeli air strikes killed at least 15 people, including women and children, in Gaza, according to hospital officials and a count by an Associated Press journalist.
The already precarious humanitarian conditions inside besieged Gaza have worsened with the discovery of the polio virus as water and sanitation services have deteriorated for the territory’s 2.3 million people, most of them displaced.
Traces of the virus were found in sewage samples in Gaza. The World Health Organisation says no one has been treated for symptoms caused by the disease.
Israel’s military said soldiers would be vaccinated and it would work with organisations to bring in vaccines for Palestinians.
Mr Netanyahu has vowed to wipe out Hamas’s military and governing capabilities and secure the return of the remaining hostages.
Families of hostages and thousands of other Israelis have held weekly demonstrations to urge the prime minister to reach a ceasefire that would bring their loved ones home.