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LONDON: Israeli forces bombed the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza on Tuesday shortly after ordering residents to evacuate several blocks, according to preliminary accounts from local residents.<\/p>\n
The Israeli military issued the evacuation order earlier in the day, warning it planned to strike several blocks in the camp, residents told Arab News. Residents began leaving Bureij and moving toward nearby Nuseirat, according to local and Arab media reports.<\/p>\n
Maysa Yousef, a central Gaza resident, said the military had warned it would bomb a house, though residents did not know which home was being targeted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Israeli army said it was going to bomb a house \u2014 God knows whose house,\u201d Yousef said about an hour before the strikes were heard. \u201cAll of Bureij had to evacuate because of the planned bombing of a house whose owner has not been named.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local media reported that the home of the Al-Siraj family in Block 7 was struck. Arab News could not independently verify the report.<\/p>\n
Yousef said evacuation calls were being issued neighborhood by neighborhood, fueling panic among families already displaced by the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are calling one house in every neighborhood and telling people to evacuate immediately,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople are fleeing in panic. They will remain in the streets until the evacuation order is lifted.\u201d<\/p>\n
The evacuation affected a camp whose residents include people living in tents and others displaced from elsewhere in Gaza, she said: \u201cAn entire camp is being evacuated. The whole camp is made up of tents and displaced people, including sick people, children and people with disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many residents, said Yousef, the order revived the trauma of repeated displacement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would rather die than be evacuated,\u201d she added. \u201cThe hardest thing in the world is having to leave everything behind and go. When we fled before, we even went barefoot.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n