The Israeli military has issued so many evacuation orders in the past ten months that many civilians in the Gaza Strip no longer see any reason to follow them.
During the first three weeks of August, eleven evacuation orders were issued in the form of leaflets that are dropped from planes, as well as text messages on social media.
“The Israeli army is using force in battles against terrorist organizations in this area – For your own safety, we ask you to evacuate immediately,” reads the order that was issued on Thursday for Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
– Every time we get to a place, we get a new evacuation order two days later. This is no way to live, says 45-year-old Amneh Abu Daqqa.
Don’t have money for a donkey cart
She sees no point in moving again.
– Where should I go? I literally live on the street. I don’t have 500 shekels (about NOK 1,500) to rent a cart with a donkey. and I don’t even know where I’m going, she tells the AFP news agency.
On Wednesday this week, Israel issued evacuation orders in areas where a total of a quarter of a million people are staying, according to the UN. In the areas covered, there are 80 temporary camps, as well as a number of offices and warehouses used by aid organisations, according to the UN Office for Emergency Relief (OCHA). They also include three wells that provide water for tens of thousands of people.
Sometimes it also means roads are closed and aid agencies have to drive a coastal road that runs parallel to Salah al-Din, an area now packed with tents, making transport very slow.
Had to flee from tent
Nerman et al. Bashniti, who lives in one of these camps, says they were forced to flee all the way to the coast when the Israeli army took control of a street they were in.
– We left our tent and everything we owned, he says.
The Gaza Strip was already very densely populated before the war. In an area like Al-Mawasi, which Israel has declared a “humanitarian zone”, there used to be 1,200 inhabitants per square kilometer. Today, there are 30,000 to 40,000 people per square kilometer here.
According to the UN, fleeing also involves great risks, and following evacuation orders can therefore be more dangerous than staying.
– They force families to flee again, often under attack and with the few possessions they manage to carry with them, into an increasingly smaller area, says Muhannad Hadi, the UN’s special coordinator for the peace process in the Middle East.
90 percent of the more than 2 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip have been displaced, according to the UN,
Hard battles
The Israeli army reported on Friday that dozens of armed Palestinians have been killed in close combat in the Gaza Strip since Thursday. They also say it has destroyed what it describes as terrorist infrastructure in the battles for the town of Khan Younis in the south and in Deir al-Balah a little further north.
The Israeli Air Force also reports that it has carried out airstrikes against places where it accuses Palestinians of having fired rockets at Israel.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that a number of Palestinian civilians have been killed as a result of the Israeli attacks.
On Friday, it was also announced that negotiations on a ceasefire will continue in Cairo.
Aid agencies have pleaded for a ceasefire, at least to ensure that hundreds of thousands of Gaza’s children are vaccinated against polio, which has been recorded in the Palestinian territory for the first time in 25 years.
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2024-08-24 10:12:10