Palestinians scrambled to flee northern Gaza after Israel's military urged about 1 million people to leave for the territory's south ahead of an expected ground invasion following the surprise attack a week ago by the ruling Hamas militant group.
Palestinians scrambled to flee northern Gaza on Saturday after the Israeli military ordered nearly half the population to evacuate south and carried out limited ground forays ahead of an expected land offensive a week after Hamas' bloody, wide-ranging attack into Israel.
Thousands of people crammed into a U.N.-run school-turned-shelter in Deir al-Balah, a farming town south of the evacuation zone. Many slept outside on the ground without mattresses, or in chairs pulled from classrooms. Fearing a mass exodus of Palestinians, Egyptian authorities erected "temporary" blast walls on Egypt’s side of the heavily-guarded Rafah crossing, which has been closed for days because of Israeli airstrikes, two Egyptian officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
The U.N. said the Israeli military's call for civilians to move south affects 1.1 million people. If carried out, the territory’s entire population would have to cram into the southern half of the 40-kilometer Gaza Strip. And Israel is still carrying out strikes across the territory, including in the south.
"The Palestinian civilians in Gaza are not our enemies. We don’t assess them as such, and we don’t target them as such," Conricus said. "We are trying to do the right thing." Patients and personnel from the Al Awda Hospital in Gaza's far north spent part of their night in the street "with bombs landing in close proximity," the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said.
Hamas’ media office said airstrikes hit cars in three locations as they headed south from Gaza City, killing 70 people. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
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Palestinians flee northern Gaza after Israel orders mass evacuation with ground attack loomingPalestinians scrambled to flee northern Gaza after Israel’s military told about 1 million people to leave for the southern part of the besieged territory. It's an unprecedented order applying to almost half of Gaza's population ahead of an expected ground invasion against the ruling Hamas militant group. The U.N.
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Palestinians flee northern Gaza after Israel orders mass evacuation with ground attack loomingPalestinians scrambled to flee northern Gaza after Israel’s military told about 1 million people to leave for the southern part of the besieged territory
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Palestinians flee northern Gaza after Israel orders mass evacuation with ground attack loomingPalestinians scrambled to flee northern Gaza after Israel’s military told about 1 million people to leave for the southern part of the besieged territory
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Palestinians flee northern Gaza after Israel orders mass evacuation with ground attack loomingPalestinians scrambled to flee northern Gaza after Israel’s military told about 1 million people to leave for the southern part of the besieged territory.
Read more »
Palestinians flee northern Gaza after Israel orders mass evacuation with ground attack loomingPalestinians scrambled to flee northern Gaza after Israel’s military told about 1 million people to leave for the southern part of the besieged territory.
Read more »