Roads have been packed with cars as families escape south
Palestinian civilians are scrambling to flee northern Gaza following an order to evacuate by Israel. A week on from the wide-ranging Hamas attack which sparked a new war, an exodus of civilians from northern Gaza is underway, with more than a million people ordered to flee the area.
There are warnings from the UN and aid groups that the mass evacuation order would cause suffering, particularly for those in hospitals. In urging the evacuation, Israel’s military said it planned to target underground Hamas hideouts around Gaza City. Haifa Khamis al-Shurafa, 42, fled to the farming town of Deir al-Balah in a group of about 150 people on Friday, after her apartment in an upscale neighbourhood of Gaza City was demolished in an Israeli air strike earlier in the week. “We lost everything, our house, our belongings, everything,” she said. “All we have is our kids, and that’s why we left. We don’t want to lose them.”
A military spokesman said Israeli ground troops left after conducting the raids. Israel has called up some 360,000 reserves and massed troops and tanks along the border, but no decision has been announced on whether to launch a ground offensive. In Israel, the public remained in shock over the Hamas rampage and frightened by continual rocket fire out of Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported 16 Palestinians were killed on Friday, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed there to 51. The UN says attacks by Israeli settlers have surged there since the Hamas assault.
“So those who want to save their life, please go south,” he said at a news conference with US defence secretary Lloyd Austin. The US and Israel’s other allies have pledged ironclad support for its war on Hamas, but the European Union’s foreign policy chief said on Saturday that the military needs to give more time for people to evacuate northern Gaza ahead of any military action.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Israel-Gaza latest: Israel 'strikes Syrian airports'; 447 children among dead in GazaAirports in Damascus and Aleppo are out of service after attacks by Israel, Syrian state media has said. It comes as the Israelis said Gaza will not be supplied with any electricity, water or fuel until hostages are freed.
Read more »
Israel extends deadline for more than a million Palestinians to flee northern GazaIsrael has extended its deadline for more than a million Palestinians to flee northern Gaza.
Read more »
Israel sends tanks into Gaza ahead of full-scale invasion: Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians...These are the deep contradictions at the heart of Sunni Hamas, their perhaps unlikely allies in Shia Iran, and how - together - they threaten to destabilise the world.
Read more »
Palestinians flee as Israel orders evacuation and stages brief Gaza incursionsThe UN called on Israel to reverse the unprecedented directive.
Read more »
Palestinians flee as Israel orders evacuation and stages brief Gaza incursionsThe UN called on Israel to reverse the unprecedented directive.
Read more »
Israel sends tanks into Gaza ahead of full-scale invasion: Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians...These are the deep contradictions at the heart of Sunni Hamas, their perhaps unlikely allies in Shia Iran, and how - together - they threaten to destabilise the world.
Read more »