‘Leave Gaza in 24 hours’
GAZA CITY — Israel yesterday gave Palestinians 24 hours to leave Gaza City ahead of an expected ground offensive in retaliation against Hamas for the deadliest attack in Israeli history.
The United Nations said it had been informed of the evacuation order shortly before midnight Thursday, six days after hundreds of Hamas gunmen broke through the militarized border barrier around the Gaza enclave and killed more than 1,200 people in Israel, drawing comparisons to the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
The UN said the mass relocation, affecting 1.1 million or about half the entire population of the Gaza Strip, to the territory’s south was “impossible” and urgently appealed for the order to be rescinded.
It also warned that so many people fleeing en masse would be calamitous.
“Forget about food, forget about electricity, forget about fuel. The only concern now is just if you’ll make it, if you’re going to live,” said Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza City, as she broke into heaving sobs.
The Israeli army confirmed yesterday it had called on Gaza City residents to move “to the area south of the Wadi Gaza,” which is just below Gaza City in the 40-kilometer-long territory.
“In the following days, the IDF will continue to operate significantly in Gaza City and make extensive efforts to avoid harming civilians,” the army said. “Hamas terrorists are hiding in Gaza City inside tunnels underneath houses and inside buildings populated with innocent civilians.”
UN officials working in Gaza said earlier they were informed by the Israeli military that the evacuation should be carried out “within the next 24 hours.”
AFP correspondents said there were “heavy strikes” in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday morning, including Al-Shati refugee camp and Gaza City, primarily targeting residential buildings.
According to Israel’s government, any Israeli ground operation is complicated by Hamas’ holding of around 150 Israeli, foreign and dual-national hostages.
Hamas, listed as a terrorist organization by the US and Europe, claimed yesterday that 13 hostages, including foreigners, had been killed at “five locations targeted by Israeli fighter jets.”
