Gaza death toll nears 40,000 as Israel issues new evacuation orders

GAZA STRIP

Death toll nears 40,000 in Gaza as Israel has ordered residents and displaced Palestinians to evacuate the Beit Hanoun area of Gaza City amid an expected “large scale” operation there, according to the reports.

“Israeli forces killed 24 people and injured 110 others in two ‘massacres’ against families in the last 24 hours,” the Health Ministry in Gaza said.

“Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.

The Israeli military issued new evacuation orders yesterday for an area in northern Gaza that was heavily bombed at the start of the war some 10 months ago.

The military said it would respond to a Hamas rocket attack from the Beit Hanoun area the day before and urged residents to relocate to Gaza City, large areas of which have been destroyed.

Hearing on detention camp

In the meantime, protesters disrupted an Israeli Supreme Court hearing yesterday about a shadowy military facility where Israel has held Palestinian detainees throughout the war in Gaza.

The protesters yelled “Shame!” as the attorney for a number of Israeli human rights groups argued that the Sde Teiman facility should be closed permanently over repeated allegations of detainee abuse.

The Israeli military said July 29 that it detained nine soldiers for questioning following allegations of “substantial abuse” of a detainee at Sde Teiman, located in southern Israel. The arrests prompted an outcry from right-wing government officials, and several hundred protesters swarmed the military base where the detained soldiers were held, calling the arrests an affront to their service.

Late on Aug. 6, Israel’s Channel 12 aired what it said was security camera footage from Sde Teiman that showed several soldiers moving a detainee to the side of a large hall where other detainees are seen laying on the floor on their fronts with their hands over their heads. In footage from a different angle, the soldiers are shown in a huddle and lifting up protective shields, apparently concealing the detainee from view, the report said. Channel 12 said the video was part of the investigation into alleged sexual assault.