Published: 11:22, June 21, 2025 | Updated: 16:57, June 21, 2025
'50 killed' in Israeli strikes amid new Gaza evacuation order
By Xinhua
Palestinians carry sacks and boxes of food and humanitarian aid that were unloaded from a World Food Program convoy that had been heading to Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, June 16, 2025. (PHOTO / AP) 

GAZA - The Israeli army on Friday ordered residents in parts of Gaza City to evacuate immediately ahead of an offensive, as the Gaza Civil Defense reported approximately 50 deaths across the coastal enclave.

"The Israeli military is operating with extreme force to destroy the capabilities of terrorist organizations in the area and will attack any site used to launch rockets," Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in a statement, asking residents in designated areas to evacuate westward to shelters and do not return to dangerous combat zones.

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On Friday, approximately 50 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes that targeted shelters, residential homes, and near US-backed aid distribution centers, according to the Civil Defense in Gaza.

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Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal said in a statement, "My message to the world: save those who remain. We are not numbers on the news. We are bleeding souls and children hiding under the rubble, waiting for a hand that will not come."

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Meanwhile, Hamas on Friday accused the Israeli army of "targeting civilians daily as part of a systematic, bloody policy," through "attacking homes and tents of displaced people, and directing fire at starving people around the Israeli-American control centers for humanitarian aid."

Separately, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, announced on Friday that its fighters had shelled a gathering of Israeli soldiers and vehicles in the Qizan al-Najjar area, south of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, with mortar shells.