The Israeli military on Friday ordered around a million civilians in northern Gaza—including Gaza City—to evacuate to the southern half of the enclave within 24 hours, the United Nations said while raising alarm that the situation could worsen a growing humanitarian crisis in the territory.
Fire and smoke rise above buildings in Gaza City during an Israeli air strike as raging battles ... [+]
The evacuation order affects nearly 1.1 million people and UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told the press that the global body thinks it is “impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences.”
The UN official urged the order to be rescinded to avoid turning a tragedy into a “calamitous situation.”
According to the Associated Press, the Israeli order has triggered panic among Gaza’s civilians and foreign aid workers in the enclave and has led to the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) moving its operations.
According to Haaretz, the Israel Defense Forces said its order to evacuate civilians from Gaza City is the result of Hamas using underground tunnels in civilian areas—which it intends to target in the coming days.
Inside Gaza, Hamas officials have told the territory’s citizens that the evacuation warning was “fake propaganda” as it urged them to stay put.
423,378. That is the total number of internally displaced people in Gaza, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Friday. This number is up more than 25% from 338,934 a day earlier, as Israel continued to intensify its bombardment of the territory.