Israeli fire kills boy in Gaza as witnesses report increase in orders to flee
Renewed Violence and Evacuation Orders in Gaza
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Mahmoud Issa
Israeli Drone Strike and Civilian Casualties
CAIRO/GAZA, May 21 (Reuters) - An Israeli drone strike killed a 13-year-old boy in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, health officials said, as residents reported a renewed pattern of Israeli warnings urging people to flee ahead of attacks — a practice that had largely subsided after an October ceasefire.
Medics said the boy was killed and others wounded when an Israeli drone dropped a grenade in the town of Beit Lahiya.
Israeli Military Response
The Israeli military said it struck a person who it said had crossed its armistice line with Hamas and approached troops. It said the person was part of a group who it said may have been attempting to place an explosive device in the area.
"Following the incident, a report was received regarding a minor who was harmed," the military said, adding that an inquiry indicated the minor was with the person its troops had struck.
Reuters was not able to independently corroborate either account.
Ceasefire and Ongoing Conflict
The October ceasefire, brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump, has failed to halt Israeli attacks in Gaza, with Israel and Hamas deadlocked in indirect talks over the militant group's disarmament.
The ceasefire left Israel in control of more than half of Gaza, with Hamas controlling a sliver of territory along the coast.
Casualty Figures Since the Ceasefire
Some 880 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since the truce came into effect, according to figures from Gaza health officials that do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. Four Israeli soldiers were killed by militants during the same period, according to the Israeli military.
Hamas does not disclose figures for casualties among its fighters. Israel says its post-ceasefire strikes are aimed at preventing attacks or stopping people from approaching its armistice line with Hamas.
Increase in Evacuation Orders
Recent Evacuation Warnings
NEW EVACUATION ORDERS
Gaza residents say Israeli forces have in recent days resumed issuing evacuation orders ahead of strikes. Witnesses reported at least three such warnings in the past two days, targeting two homes and a tent encampment.
The orders came at night, forcing dozens of families to flee in the darkness, they said.
Specific Incidents of Evacuation
On Tuesday, the military ordered displaced families at a tent encampment in the densely populated Mawasi area in Khan Younis to leave before striking a tent, witnesses said. It issued a similar warning in the Bureij camp in northern Gaza before bombing a house, according to witnesses.
Ibrahim Ismail, 60, said that on Wednesday night, the army ordered him and several families to evacuate their four-storey apartment building in central Gaza before bombing it. Nearby homes were also damaged, and two people were injured, he said.
On Thursday morning, residents of the area rushed to check on their homes, sifting through the wreckage for whatever items and clothes they could save. Others used a bulldozer to clear roads of rubble from houses damaged or destroyed in the Israeli air strike.
Reactions from Residents and Authorities
“Look. You work for 30 years and, in five minutes, everything is gone. Don't speak of a ceasefire or truce — it's all lies. War is war,” Ismail said.
Israel's military did not immediately provide comment on the orders telling people to flee. In the past, it has said that the orders aim to prevent civilian harm when targeting militant groups. It has not said why it might have resumed issuing such orders in Gaza.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Mahmoud Issa in Gaza; Editing Chiara Rodriquez, Ros Russell)
