'Israeli settlers almost evacuate entire Asqalan amid resistance retaliation'

Illegal Israeli settlers have reportedly almost evacuated the entire coastal city of Asqalan in the west of the Occupied Territories amid the Palestinian resistance's continued retaliatory rocket strikes.

Reporting on Thursday, a correspondent with Iran's al-Alam Arabic-language television network said more than 80 percent of the city's settlers had left.

"The city is almost empty and military forces have been deployed to its entrances," he said.

The Cradle, an online news magazine, meanwhile, said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Israel had decided to officially evacuate the city, which has a population of around 137,000 illegal settlers.

The city has been the target of retaliatory rocket barrages from the nearby Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip since last October 7 when the Israeli regime launched a war against the besieged coastal sliver.  

So far, at least 3,859 Palestinians have been martyred and some 13,500 others injured as a result of the Israeli military campaign.

The war came after the Gaza-based resistance movements of Hamas and Islamic Jihad launched Operation al-Aqsa Storm against the regime in response to its campaign of aggression, violation, and bloodshed against Palestinians.

The operation killed around 1,400 Israelis and resulted in the captivity of at least 200 others.

Earlier this month, Abu Ubaida, Spokesman for al-Qassam Brigades, which is Hamas' military wing, warned that the movement would soon bring Asqalan under fire as a means of retaliating against the Israeli regime's incessant aerial assaults.

ME