Overnight, Israel expanded evacuation orders in Khan Younis, located in the southern Gaza Strip, compelling tens of thousands of Palestinian residents and displaced families to depart under the cover of darkness as explosions from tank shelling echoed around them. The Israeli military claimed it was targeting militants from the Hamas group, which had governed Gaza prior to the conflict, asserting that these areas were being used to launch attacks and fire rockets. On Saturday, an Israeli airstrike on a school in Gaza City, where displaced Palestinians had sought refuge, resulted in the death of at least 90 individuals, according to the civil defence service, sparking international condemnation. The Israeli military stated it had targeted a command post of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, a claim the groups dismissed as a pretext, and reported the killing of 19 militants.

In Khan Younis, the evacuation directive encompassed central, eastern, and western districts, marking one of the largest such orders issued during the 10-month-old conflict, just two days after tanks re-entered the eastern part of the city. The announcement was disseminated via X and through text and audio messages to residents' phones: "For your own safety, you must evacuate immediately to the newly created humanitarian zone. The area you are in is considered a dangerous combat zone." Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations' agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, expressed that people in Gaza were trapped with nowhere to escape.

"Some are only able to carry their children with them, some carry their whole lives in one small bag. They are going to overcrowded places where shelters are already overflowing with families. They have lost everything and need everything," he said. The Israeli army reported striking approximately 30 Hamas military targets over the preceding 24 hours, including military structures, anti-tank missile launch posts, and weapons storage facilities. The Islamic Jihad armed wing claimed its fighters had fired mortar bombs at Israeli forces amassing in the eastern areas of Khan Younis.

Later on Sunday, an Israeli airstrike near the Khan Younis market in the city center resulted in the death of four Palestinians and several injuries, according to medics. Smoke billowed from areas targeted by Israeli planes in the eastern and western parts of the city. Residents reported that two multi-floor buildings were bombed. The Gaza health ministry reports that nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli offensive began in October, with the death toll escalating daily. Gaza health officials note that most of the casualties have been civilians, although Israel claims at least a third are fighters. Israel has reported the loss of 329 soldiers in Gaza.

Israel initiated its assault on Gaza following the incursion by Hamas fighters into southern Israel on October 7, which resulted in the death of 1,200 people, predominantly civilians, and the capture of over 250 hostages, according to Israeli accounts. The United Nations estimates that most of Gaza's 2.3 million inhabitants have been displaced from their homes, with their narrow strip of land largely transformed into a wasteland of rubble. Palestinian and United Nations officials assert that there are no safe areas in the enclave. Areas designated as humanitarian zones, such as Al-Mawasi in western Khan Younis where residents were directed to relocate, have been bombed multiple times by Israeli forces.

Tens of thousands evacuated their homes and shelters in the dead of night, moving west towards Mawasi and north towards Deir Al-Balah, which were already overwhelmed with hundreds of thousands of displaced individuals. "We're exhausted. This is the 10th time I and my family have had to leave our shelter," said Zaki Mohammad, 28, a resident of the Hamad housing project in western Khan Younis, where occupants of two multi-floor buildings were ordered to evacuate. "People are carrying their belongings, their children, their hopes and their fears and running towards the unknown, because there is no safe place," he told Reuters via a chat app. "We are running from death to death."