Israel has pummelled Gaza City with strikes and tank fire in its bid to occupy it, nearly two years into its war that has devastated the Palestinian territory and left the Gaza City area gripped by a UN-declared famine.
The assault comes ahead of a planned move by several Western countries, including France and Britain, to recognise a Palestinian state next week at a UN summit.
The military launched its ground invasion on Tuesday and has for days been calling for the population's expulsion toward the south, but many Palestinians, exhausted by Israel's carpet bombing, have warned that nowhere is safe in Gaza.
The United Nations estimated at the end of August that about one million people were living in Gaza City and its surroundings.
The Israeli military on Friday said it estimated 480,000 of them have fled since late August.
On Friday, the military's Arabic-language spokesman announced the closure of a temporary evacuation route opened 48 hours earlier, saying the only way south was via the Al-Rashid coastal road.
"From this moment, Salah al-Din Road is closed for southbound travel," Avichay Adraee, said in a post on X addressing residents of the city, referring to the main north-south artery through the Gaza Strip.
Israel had on Wednesday announced a "temporary" new route for residents to flee along the road, saying it would remain open for just 48 hours from midday (0900 GMT).
The Israeli military has dropped pamphlets ordering Palestinians to head to a "humanitarian area" in the southern coastal area of Al-Mawasi.
Israel first declared the area a safe zone early in the war, but has carried out repeated strikes on it since then. It has killed thousands of Palestinians in so-called safe zones since its war on Gaza began in October 2023.
'Too weak to walk'
Nivin Ahmed, 50, fled south from Gaza City to the central city of Deir el-Balah on Thursday, walking with seven family members.
"We walked more than 15 kilometres (nine miles), we were crawling from exhaustion," she said.
"My youngest son cried from fatigue. We took turns dragging a small cart with some of our belongings."
Mona Abdel Karim, 36, said she had been unable to secure transport south and had been sleeping with her family on Al-Rashid street for two nights waiting for a driver.
"I feel like I'm about to explode. We can't walk on foot -- my husband's parents are elderly and sick, and the children are too weak to walk," she said.
AFP footage from Al-Rashid street on Thursday showed long lines of Palestinians heading south on foot or in vehicles piled high with meagre belongings.
Israeli forces killed at least 22 people across the territory on Friday, including 11 in Gaza City, according to a tally of figures given by Gaza hospitals contacted by AFP.
In a statement, the Israeli military said its troops continued to "expand their activity" in Gaza City, claiming to have "dismantled more than 20 military infrastructure sites"—a term it uses to justify destroying large buildings sheltering Palestinians, many surrounded by tents, effectively targeting civilians.
'Relentless shelling'
In western Gaza City on Friday, displaced Palestinian Sami Baroud described "relentless and intense shelling".
"Our life has become nothing but explosions and danger," the 35-year-old told AFP by telephone.
"We have lost everything -- our lives, our future, our sense of safety. How can I evacuate when I can't even afford transportation?"
The US-backed invasion of Gaza City came as the United Nations officially declared Israel was committing "genocide" in the Gaza Strip, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials had incited the crime.
The United States on Thursday again vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, shielding its ally Israel from diplomatic pressure.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has killed at least 65,000 Palestinians—mostly women and children—and injured over 165,000, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
A seven-month Israeli blockade has triggered widespread famine in the territory, causing a sharp rise in starvation-related deaths among Gaza’s most vulnerable, including children, the sick, and the elderly.
*This story was edited by Ahram Online.
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