The Independent’s Bel Trew reporting from Israel-Gaza border
Israel has ordered more than one million Palestinians to evacuate the northern regions of the Gaza Strip with immediate effect in what the United Nations has warned will have “devastating humanitarian consequences”.
Roughly half of the Gazan population has been given just 24 hours, effective from Friday morning, to head southward in what experts fear could be the beginning of an Israeli ground offensive in the Strip.
A statement from the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) on X, formerly Twitter, said: “The IDF calls for the evacuation of all civilians of Gaza City from their homes southwards for their own safety and protection and to move to the area south of the Wadi Gaza, as shown on the map.
“The Hamas terrorist organization waged a war against the State of Israel and Gaza City is an area where military operations take place. This evacuation is for your own safety.”
Navigating the narrow strip, just seven miles wide, through streets heavily damaged by the last six days of Israeli strikes, will prove extremely difficult for many Gazans.
It is also unclear where those fleeing from the northern regions are then expected to stay. The Gaza health ministry told The Independent on Thursday that “every” hospital on the Strip was now overflowing.
The United Nations described the IDF’s evacuation order as “impossible” and said that it would have “devastating humanitarian consequences”.
The statement added that the UN “strongly appeals for any such order, if confirmed, to be rescinded, avoiding what could transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation”.
