Israel’s military has delivered sweeping evacuation orders for almost half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people before an expected ground offensive aiming to eradicate the Hamas militant group after its unprecedented assault on Israel and the seizure of dozens of hostages.
In the blockaded enclave, the evacuation notice issued in the early hours of Friday sent panic through civilians and aid workers already struggling under intense Israeli airstrikes and a blockade in which no food, fuel, or medical supplies are being allowed in. The UN considers the tightened siege a war crime.
In the order, the Israeli military told the hundreds of thousands of civilians of Gaza City to flee further south into the Gaza Strip, a narrow coastal territory. Israel’s directive charged that Hamas militants were hiding in tunnels under the city.
“This evacuation is for your own safety,” the Israeli military said, in a warning it said was sent to civilians. An Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson admitted in a briefing on Friday morning that it would take time for Palestinians to follow its orders to evacuate, but did not confirm a UN report that it had set a 24-hour deadline.
Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN secretary general, told news outlets that UN officials working in Gaza were told by the IDF “that the entire population of Gaza north of Wadi Gaza should relocate to southern Gaza within the next 24 hours”, adding that this amounted to approximately 1.1 million people.
Dujarric said the same order applied to all UN staff and those sheltered in UN facilities – including schools, health centres and clinics. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) is sheltering more than 60% of the 423,000 people displaced in recent days in the Gaza Strip.
It was not immediately clear how many people were located north of Wadi Gaza.
“The United Nations considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences,” Dujarric said. “The United Nations strongly appeals for any such order, if confirmed, to be rescinded avoiding what could transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation.”
