2023-10-13 04:43:05
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli military on Friday ordered the evacuation of northern Gaza, a region of 1.1 million people, within the next 24 hours, a United Nations spokesman said, as Israel continues its war to eradicate to the extremist group Hamas after its deadly attack.
The order could indicate an imminent ground offensive, although the Israeli military has not confirmed this. On Thursday they indicated that although preparations were being made, a decision had not yet been made.
The order, delivered to the United Nations, comes as Israel intensifies an offensive against Hamas extremists. UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said it was “impossible” to carry out the order without “devastating humanitarian consequences”.
A U.N. official said the body is trying to get more details from Israeli authorities at the highest political levels.
“It’s completely unprecedented,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
Panic over rumors of an evacuation had begun to spread Friday morning in northern Gaza, where almost half of the territory’s population lives.
A ground offensive in Gaza, a territory ruled by Hamas and where the population is concentrated in a strip just 40 kilometers (25 miles) long, is likely to considerably raise the death toll on both sides in an intense house-to-house battle.
Saturday’s Hamas attack and smaller attacks since then have left more than 1,300 dead in Israel — including 247 soldiers — a toll not seen in Israel in decades. Meanwhile, subsequent Israeli bombings have claimed more than 1,530 lives in Gaza, according to authorities on both sides. Israel claims that nearly 1,500 Hamas extremists were killed in Israeli territory, and that hundreds of those killed in Gaza are members of the organization. There are thousands of people injured on both sides.
As Israel bombs Gaza from the air, Hamas extremists have fired thousands of rockets into Israel. Amid concerns that fighting could spread to the region, Syrian state media reported that Thursday’s Israeli strikes knocked out two Syrian international airports.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “crush” Hamas after some of its members raided the south of the country on Saturday and massacred hundreds of people, including children inside their homes and young people attending a music festival. .
Amid mourning and demands for revenge from the Israeli population, the government is under intense pressure to overthrow Hamas rather than try to keep it locked inside Gaza.
Israeli airstrikes have caused 25% of Gaza’s population — 423,000 of the 2.3 million inhabitants — to flee their homes, the UN reported Thursday. The majority are sheltered in schools managed by the United Nations.
Hours earlier, the Israeli military pulverized the Gaza Strip with bombing raids, prepared for a possible ground invasion and signaled that a total siege on the territory — with Palestinians desperately seeking food, fuel and medicine — would remain in place until Hamas extremists release the around 150 hostages they took during their weekend invasion.
The visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, along with the shipment of US weapons, gave Israel the green light to continue its retaliation on Gaza after the Hamas attack on civilians and soldiers, even as international aid groups warned of a deterioration in the humanitarian crisis. Israel has suspended the shipment of basic goods and electrical supplies to Gaza’s 2.3 million people, and prevented the daily entry of goods from Egypt.
“Not a single switch will be turned on, not a single water tap will be turned on and not a single fuel truck will enter until the Israeli hostages return home,” Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said on social media.
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht, spokesman for the Israeli armed forces, told the press on Thursday that his elements “are preparing for a ground maneuver,” if ordered by the political command.
___
Shurafa reported from Gaza City, Gaza Strip, and Lederer from Chicago. Associated Press journalists Amy Teibel and Isabel DeBre in Jerusalem; Sam McNeil, in Be’eri, Israel; Jack Jeffrey and Samy Magdy in Cairo; Samya Kullab in Baghdad and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
1697172731
#Israel #orders #evacuation #million #people #northern #Gaza #reports