Israel Expands Gaza Offensive and Issues Fresh Evacuation Orders

Israeli forces were expanding their offensive in Gaza on Sunday, taking control of more territory and issuing new evacuation orders for residents who had only recently returned to their homes.

The Israeli military renewed its offensive in Gaza this past week after talks to extend a fragile, temporary cease-fire that went into effect in mid-January reached an impasse. On Sunday, it said that those operations had moved into additional areas in the north and south of the enclave.

Israel said that its troops had begun operating in Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza, to expand a buffer zone. The military also said that it had carried out more airstrikes against Hamas targets and infrastructure and that it was allowing people to evacuate.

The military also separately issued an evacuation order for the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood of the southern city of Rafah, telling residents to leave on foot along a specific route and barring the movement of vehicles.

The Rafah municipality said in a statement that thousands of families were being forced to flee on foot under bombardment during the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. That left them homeless amid a severe shortage of basic necessities and tents because of the Israeli government’s closure of the crossings into Gaza, the municipality noted.

“I am hearing lots of gunfire and bombing,” Riham Abu Marzouq, 22, said in a phone call on Sunday afternoon while fleeing her home in Rafah with nine relatives. “We are now walking,” she added, panting and struggling to catch her breath.

Amid the escalation in fighting and evacuation orders, Gaza’s health ministry said on Sunday that the death toll in the enclave since the war started had surpassed 50,000 people — including 39 people killed in Israeli bombardments over the past day. The ministry’s figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Hamas announced that Israel had killed a senior member of its political bureau, Salah al-Bardawil, overnight. The group said that Mr. al-Bardawil, one of the militant group’s prominent spokesmen, had been killed along with his wife in a strike on their tent in Al-Mawasi, an area in southern Gaza that the Israeli military had designated as a humanitarian zone and to which it directed residents of Tal al-Sultan on Sunday.

After noon on Sunday, the military said that its troops had completely encircled Tal al-Sultan, had eliminated several fighters and had raided a site that it said had been used over the past few months as a Hamas command and control center.

Neither claim could be independently verified.

The Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza warned on Sunday of “imminent danger threatening the lives” of more than 50,000 people in Rafah.

“The situation in Rafah is very difficult,” said Huthayfah Lafi, a resident of the southern city who lives near Tal al-Sultan. He said he had decided not to evacuate the area on Sunday “until the situation becomes more clear” because “we have nowhere else to go.”

And the Palestinian Red Crescent said that it had lost contact with four of its ambulances that it said were trapped in Rafah and had crew members wounded by Israeli gunfire. The Israeli military said that it was looking into the reports but did not immediately provide any further comment.

Mohammed Abu Taha, 42, said his sister Sanaa and her family had been able to return to their home in Rafah only in the past few weeks. Around dawn on Sunday “they were surprised by Israeli tanks advancing toward them,” he said, relaying what his sister had told him over the phone while fleeing on foot to the city of Khan Younis, where he has been sheltering.

“They were only allowed to carry a small bag,” said Mr. Abu Taha.

The Israeli government has said that the renewed offensive — along with blocking the entry of all goods and humanitarian aid into Gaza — is aimed at increasing pressure on Hamas to release hostages still held in the enclave and at destroying the group’s military and governing capabilities.

The hostages were taken to Gaza during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which ignited the war. Hamas has so far refused to release significant numbers of hostages unless Israel promises to end the war permanently. Israel has conditioned ending the war on Hamas’s agreeing to give up its arms and power in Gaza.

The resumption of the military campaign in Gaza has not found the same national consensus among Israelis as the war did in the immediate aftermath of the October 2023 assault. Instead, it has increased concerns about the fates of the hostages, up to 24 of whom are believed to still be alive, and it has left many Israelis questioning what could be achieved militarily that was not achieved in the first 15 months of fighting.

Reporting was contributed by Myra noveck Abu Bakr Bashir, Bilal shbair and Iyad Abuheweila.