After the Hamas terrorist attack, a ground offensive by the Israeli army is likely to be imminent. More than a million Palestinians have been asked to leave the northern Gaza Strip.
Israel’s military has called for a mass evacuation of more than a million Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip. “The military calls on all civilians of Gaza to leave their homes to the south for their own safety and protection,” the army said on Friday. Accordingly, people should move to an area south of the Gaza River and Wadi Gaza.
According to the United Nations, around 1.1 million Palestinians have been ordered to leave the northern Gaza Strip within 24 hours. This timeline was missing from the Israeli army’s statements. Army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said: “We realize this will take time, this is not an easy action.” The call is seen as an indication of an impending ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
UN criticizes the plans
The United Nations has sharply criticized the call for mass evacuation. “The United Nations considers it impossible for such a step to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences,” said UN spokesman Rolando Gomez in Geneva. “The United Nations strongly calls for such an order to be repealed to prevent an already tragic situation from turning into a catastrophe,” he said.
Israel’s army, on the other hand, asserts that the requested evacuation should be carried out as safely as possible. “We will control the attacks so that they can move safely,” said Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari. “It’s a war zone,” he emphasized at the same time.
It is clear to Israel that an evacuation would take more than 24 hours. But he did not give a clear time frame. The call was sent to residents on various channels. Hagari said that everything would be done to avoid hitting sensitive places such as hospitals in air strikes.
Last Saturday, terrorists carried out massacres on behalf of the Islamist organization Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, with more than 1,350 deaths in Israeli border towns and at a music festival. Around 150 people were abducted to the coastal strip and are being held hostage there.
Hamas: 13 hostages killed in Israeli airstrikes
According to Hamas’s military wing in the Gaza Strip, 13 hostages were killed in Israeli airstrikes. These include foreign nationals, the Al-Qassam Brigades claimed in a statement on Friday. This information cannot be independently verified. The Isareli army wanted to examine the report.
According to the Ministry of Health there, at least 1,537 people died and 6,612 people were injured as a result of the Israeli Air Force’s counterattacks on the Gaza Strip.
Evacuation in such a short time is not realistic
A mass evacuation within 24 hours would also not be realistic because 50,000 people per hour would have to make their way towards Wadi Gaza along narrow streets. Eyewitnesses in the Gaza Strip reported that several residents had already been stopped by Hamas and ordered to return to the north. In general there is great panic in the area and there are no clear instructions. It was unclear, for example, what should happen to patients in hospitals and their carers.
The Israeli army justifies mass evacuation
“The terrorist organization Hamas is waging a war against the State of Israel, and Gaza is an area where military operations are taking place,” the military said in justifying the call. Hamas terrorists hid in Gaza in tunnels under houses and in buildings occupied by innocent Gaza civilians. In the coming days, the army will carry out significant operations in Gaza, making extensive efforts to prevent harm to civilians, it said.
“They will not be able to return to Gaza until a further announcement is made allowing this,” it said. Nobody should approach the area of the security fence to the State of Israel.
Hamas describes the call as propaganda
Hamas in the Gaza Strip described the call for evacuation as propaganda. Civilians should not fall for the “propaganda news.” Security sources in the Gaza Strip said that residents should be prevented from leaving the north. Israel, the USA and the EU have classified Hamas as a terrorist organization.
United Nations Declaration
“Today, shortly before midnight local time, team leaders from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Ministry of Security and Security in Gaza were informed by their liaison officers in the Israeli military that the entire population of Gaza north of Wadi Gaza is within the should move to the southern Gaza Strip in the next 24 hours,” UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told the news site Axios.
Refugee relief organization relocates operations center
Following the call, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip moved its headquarters to the south “to continue its humanitarian operations and support of its staff and Palestinian refugees in Gaza.” The organization called on X, formerly Twitter, to “urge Israeli authorities to protect all civilians in shelters, including schools.” UN facilities must be protected at all times and must never be attacked in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Israeli army continues airstrikes
The Israeli Air Force continued its air strikes during the night. Dozens of fighter jets had attacked 750 military targets, the Israeli military said early in the morning. Targets attacked included underground tunnels, military facilities, residences of high-ranking terrorists used as military command centers and weapons depots.