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GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, July 21, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Gaza's civil defence agency and eyewitnesses reported Israeli shelling in the central city of Deir el-Balah on Monday, after the military warned of imminent action in an area where it had not previously operated.

The Israeli military on Sunday ordered those in the central Gaza area to leave immediately as it was expanding operations, including "in an area where it has not operated before" in more than 21 months of war.

Between 50,000 and 80,000 people were in the area when the evacuation order was issued, according to initial estimates from the UN's humanitarian agency OCHA, with whole families seen carrying what few belongings they had on donkey carts heading south.

On Monday, Deir el-Balah resident Abdullah Abu Saleem, 48, told AFP that "during the night, we heard huge and powerful explosions shaking the area as if it were an earthquake".

He said this was "due to artillery shelling in the south-central part of Deir el-Balah and the southeastern area".

"We are extremely worried and fearful that the army is planning a ground operation in Deir el-Balah and the central camps where hundreds of thousands of displaced people are sheltering," he added.

The spokesman for Gaza's civil defence agency, Mahmud Bassal, told AFP that "we received calls from several families trapped in the Al-Baraka area of Deir el-Balah due to shelling by Israeli tanks".

"There are a number of wounded, but no one can reach the area to evacuate them," he added.

The Israeli military did not provide immediate comment when contacted by AFP.

- 'Extremely critical' -

Since the start of the war, nearly all of Gaza's population of more than two million -- which is also facing severe food shortages -- has been displaced at least once by repeated Israeli evacuation orders.

According to OCHA, the latest order means that 87.8 percent of Gaza's area is now under evacuation orders or within Israeli militarised zones.

Hamdi Abu Mughseeb, 50, told AFP that he and his family had fled northwards from their tent south of Deir el-Balah at dawn following a night of intense artillery shelling, which he said was "still ongoing".

"We saw tanks advancing over a kilometre from the (southern) Khan Yunis direction toward the southeast of Deir el-Balah," he said.

"There is no safe place anywhere in the Gaza Strip... I don't know where we can go."

Mai Elawawda, communications officer in Gaza for UK-based charity Medical Aid for Palestinians, described the situation as "extremely critical".

"Shelling is taking place all around our office, and military vehicles are just 400 metres away from our colleagues and their families," she said, adding that: "Everyone is now evacuating, with most unsure where to go next."

Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed 58,895 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

The war was sparked by Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.