It is an unprecedented order for almost half the population of the sealed-off territory
Israel's military has told more than one million Palestinians living in Gaza to evacuate the north, according to the United Nations. ahead of an expected ground invasion against the ruling Hamas militant group.
Palestinians would only be able to flee south within Gaza as Israel has completely sealed off the territory, a narrow strip of land about 25 miles long. Hamas said Israel's heavy bombardment of the Gaza Strip killed 13 hostages, including foreigners, held by the group. He added: "Out of an understanding that there are civilians here who are not our enemy and we do not want to target them, we are asking them to evacuate." The directive came on the heels of what the UN said was a warning they received from Israel to evacuate 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza within 24 hours.
Inas Hamdan, an officer at the UN Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza City, said: "This is chaos, no-one understands what to do." She said all the UN staff in Gaza City and northern Gaza had been told to evacuate south to Rafah. The flurry of directives was taken as signalling an expected Israeli ground offensive, though the Israeli military has not yet confirmed such a decision. On Thursday it said that while it was preparing, no decision has been made.
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