UN: Israel Orders More Evacuations Of Gaza's Main Southern City

Palestinian children above the rubble of a building destroyed during Israeli strikes on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Mohammed ABED / AFP
Palestinian children above the rubble of a building destroyed during Israeli strikes on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Mohammed ABED / AFP
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UN: Israel Orders More Evacuations Of Gaza's Main Southern City

Palestinian children above the rubble of a building destroyed during Israeli strikes on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Mohammed ABED / AFP
Palestinian children above the rubble of a building destroyed during Israeli strikes on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. Mohammed ABED / AFP

Israel ordered the evacuation Wednesday of large areas of Gaza's main southern city, the United Nations said.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Israel had released maps showing new areas covering about 20 percent of the Khan Yunis city that had been marked for evacuation.

Before fighting broke out, the area was home to more than 110,000 people, OCHA said.

The area also includes 32 shelters that housed more than 140,000 internally displaced persons, the vast majority of whom were previously displaced from the north, it added, AFP reported.

The Israeli army said Wednesday that "ground, aerial and naval operations were carried out on dozens of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure" on military command and control centres in Khan Yunis.

Israel's ensuing military campaign in Gaza has so far killed at least 20,000 people, the majority of them children and women, according to the Hamas government.



UK's Starmer Discussed Importance of a Ceasefire With Lebanon's PM

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer smiles on stage on the second day of the annual Labor Party conference in Liverpool, north-west England, on September 23, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer smiles on stage on the second day of the annual Labor Party conference in Liverpool, north-west England, on September 23, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)
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UK's Starmer Discussed Importance of a Ceasefire With Lebanon's PM

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer smiles on stage on the second day of the annual Labor Party conference in Liverpool, north-west England, on September 23, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer smiles on stage on the second day of the annual Labor Party conference in Liverpool, north-west England, on September 23, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met his Lebanese counterpart at the United Nations and discussed the importance of an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated solution in the conflict with Israel, his office said on Friday.
Starmer met Lebanon's Najib Mikati at the United Nations General Assembly, reported Reuters.
"The Prime Minister opened by giving his sincere condolences to Prime Minister Mikati for the loss of civilian life in recent weeks," the statement said.
"They discussed the escalating conflict in Lebanon, and agreed on the importance of an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated solution."