The Israeli army has ordered a mass evacuation of Palestinians from the eastern half of Khan Younis.

Monday’s order is a sign that Israeli troops could soon return to the southern city – the second-largest in Gaza.

Israel ended an offensive in Khan Younis earlier this year and withdrew most of its forces.

The evacuation order indicates that Hamas has regrouped in the area.

Israel has said it is in the final stages of an offensive in the nearby Gaza city of Rafah, and there has been heavy fighting in recent days in parts of Gaza City in the north.

Earlier on Monday, Israel released 55 Palestinians whom it had detained from Gaza, including the director of the territory’s main hospital, Mohammed Abu Selmia, who was freed without charge or trial after being detained in November when Israeli forces raided Shifa Hospital.

In video comments aired by Palestinian media following his release, Mr Abu Selmia accused Israeli authorities of subjecting Palestinian detainees to “daily physical and psychological humiliation”. Israeli authorities have denied such allegations.

Israel launched the war after Hamas’s October 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250.

Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 37,700 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

The war has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and basic goods to Gaza, and people there are now totally dependent on aid.

The top United Nations court has concluded there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza — a charge Israel strongly denies.