Israel gives Gaza residents 24-hour notice to evacuate city

 

 

Israel’s military warned more than one million people to leave Gaza City and its outskirts, in a move the Palestinians denounced as a “forced displacement” and which the UN said would be “calamitous”.

 

The warning for about half of the Gaza Strip’s population to relocate from the north to the south of the enclave came with what the UN said was a 24-hour deadline, as Israel maintained its siege and bombardment of the 40km-long territory, particularly its main city.

 

“Civilians of Gaza City, evacuate south for your own safety and the safety of your families and distance yourself from Hamas terrorists who are using you as human shields,” the Israel Defense Forces said in leaflets it dropped on the territory on Friday.

 

It added: “This evacuation is for your own safety. You will be able to return to Gaza City only when another announcement permitting it is made.”

 

About 1.1mn people live in the northern part of Gaza, which includes Gaza City and its outskirts.

 

In remarks as he met US secretary of state Antony Blinken in Jordan, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said a “forced displacement” would amount to a “second Nakba”, or catastrophe. The term is used by Palestinians to refer to Israel’s foundation in 1948, when hundreds of thousands were expelled or fled.

 

In the comments, reported by the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Abbas also called for humanitarian corridors to Gaza and an “immediate end to the Israeli aggression”.

 

 

Israel declared war and launched air strikes on the enclave, which Hamas controls, after armed gunmen crossed the border on Saturday, killing more than 1,300 civilians and soldiers and kidnapping dozens more.

 

Israel’s president Isaac Herzog accused Palestinians in Gaza of being collectively responsible for the attack. “It’s not true this rhetoric about civilians [being] not aware, not involved. It’s absolutely not true,” he said on Friday. “They could have risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d’état.”

 

The IDF said that, in coming days it would “continue to operate significantly in Gaza City and make extensive efforts to avoid harming civilians”.

 

Palestinian authorities say more than 1,500 people in Gaza have been killed since the beginning of the military escalation.

 

 

Some in the region took Friday’s warning, a week into the Israel-Hamas war, as a sign of an imminent ground operation focused on the densely populated city and the north of the enclave. Israel says it has hit 2,687 targets in Gaza and that over 6,000 rockets have been fired from the territory.

 

The UN said its humanitarian and security teams had been informed by “liaison officers in the Israeli military that the entire population of Gaza north of Wadi Gaza [an area in the centre of the territory] should relocate to southern Gaza within the next 24 hours”.

 

But an Israeli military official did not confirm that there was a 24-hour deadline, adding that moving would “take time”.

 

 

Hamas’s interior ministry for the territory told people to remain where they were, amid confusion in Gaza, which is home to more than 2mn people.

 

Queues formed in front of petrol stations which were later shut for lack of fuel, as some people packed suitcases and headed south. Many others, who lacked transport, stayed at home.

 

“We will not leave, we will stay together,” said Om Saher, who lives in Beit Lahia in the north of Gaza with four of her married children and their families. “Either we live together or we die together. We will not be displaced again.”

 

The UN said Israel’s call applied to its own staff in Gaza and to tens of thousands of displaced people sheltering in UN facilities, including schools, health centres and clinics.

 

“The United Nations considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences,” said spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, warning that it could “transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation”.

 

The IDF said it was “controlling” its attacks to provide a “safe way” for evacuation. “We know how to do this through all the channels that are provided,” said Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesperson. “As much as we can — it’s a war zone — we will try to make sure that it happens safely.”

 

He accused Hamas of a “crime against humanity” by holding dozens of hostages in Gaza — including Israelis, and American and European citizens.