Palestinians walk amid the rubble of a building hit in an Israeli air strike on October 13, 2023. Israel has called for the immediate relocation of 1.1 million people in Gaza amid its massive bombardment of the Palestinian enclave in a grisly retaliation for Hamas' attacks. AFP
The Hamas Authority for Refugee Affairs told residents of the north of the territory to “remain steadfast in your homes and to stand firm in the face of this disgusting psychological war waged by the occupation.”
Israel has ordered the evacuation of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, which is home to hundreds of thousands of people. Palestinians would only be able to flee south within Gaza — a narrow strip of land about 40 kilometers (25) miles long — as Israel has completely sealed off the territory.
The order sent panic through civilians and aid workers already struggling under Israeli airstrikes and a blockade.
“This evacuation is for your own safety,” the Israeli military said, in a warning it said was sent to Gaza City civilians.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) is already sheltering more than 60 percent of the 423,000 Gazan Palestinians displaced in recent days with the flurry of directives signaling an already expected Israeli ground invasion into the Palestinian enclave, though the Israeli military has not yet confirmed such a decision.
It was not immediately clear how many people were currently located north of Wadi Gaza.
Israel has been reeling since an October 7 attack, when Hamas militants killed more than 1,200 people and took about 150 captive.
In a grisly retaliation, Israel has rained air and artillery strikes on Gaza -- a densely populated enclave of 2.3 million people -- flattening buildings and killing more than 1,400 people, many of them civilians.
A Security Council meeting on the conflict has been called for Friday.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online
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