Israeli evacuation order triggers panic in Gaza City

Palestinians living in the ruins of Gaza City were bombarded with Israeli leaflets on Tuesday ordering them out, after Israel said it was about to obliterate the area in an assault to wipe out Hamas.

Residents of the city, home to a million Palestinians before the war, have been expecting an onslaught for weeks, since the Israeli government devised a plan to deal Hamas a fatal blow in what it says are the militant group’s last strongholds.

“I say to the residents of Gaza, take this opportunity and listen to me carefully: you have been warned - get out of there!” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

The Israeli military airdropped leaflets with evacuation orders onto residents standing amid the rubble of Gaza City, where it has bombed residential towers to the ground in the past few days.

The evacuation orders caused panic and confusion among residents of the strip’s largest urban centre, who say there is no safe place to go to escape bombardment and a humanitarian crisis. Some said they would have no choice but to leave for the south, but many said they would stay and there were no immediate signs of a mass exodus.

“Despite the bombardment in the past week, I have resisted leaving, but now I will go to be with my daughter,” Um Mohammad, a 55-year-old mother of six, said by text message.

The health authorities in Gaza announced they would evacuate Gaza City’s two main operational hospitals, Al Shifa and Al Ahli, adding that doctors would not leave patients unattended.

Palestinians sit in the back of a truck with their belongings as they evacuate Gaza City towards south Gaza, on Wednesday. AFP

Most Gazans have already been displaced several times since the war started in October 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel’s subsequent military assault has killed over 64,000 Palestinians, Gaza’s health ministry says. Nearly the entire population has been internally displaced, much of the territory lies in ruins and a hunger crisis has grown far worse in recent months.

The Israeli military has instructed residents in Gaza City to move to a designated “humanitarian zone” in the already overcrowded Al-Mawasi area along the coast in the south, where thousands of Palestinians have already been sheltering in tents. Israel has also regularly bombed the south.

Um Samed, a 59-year-old mother of five, said the choice now was whether “to stay and die at home in Gaza City, or follow Israel orders and leave Gaza and die in the south”.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Monday the military would unleash a “mighty hurricane” that would destroy Gaza if Hamas did not free the last hostages it holds and surrender.

Israel has called up tens of thousands of reservists for a ground operation. Netanyahu said Israeli forces were organising and assembling into Gaza City.

The full-scale operation is not yet expected to start in the coming week, and no new advance by tanks to deepen the ground offensive was reported so far on Tuesday. Israeli forces have been operating on Gaza City’s outskirts since last month, and the military said it was in control of 40% of the city already.

Launching the new Israeli assault could complicate ceasefire efforts to end the nearly two-year war. Hopes had been pinned on mediation efforts to reach a ceasefire that would avert Israel’s plan.

The health ministry in Gaza appealed to the international community to protect Gaza City’s hospitals, warning of “a humanitarian catastrophe that threatens the lives of thousands of patients and wounded individuals”.

Several European countries, angered by Israel’s bombardment in Gaza, have said they will recognise Palestinian statehood this month when the United Nations General Assembly convenes in New York. Israel and its main ally the United States reject the recognition moves.

International critics say Israel’s plan, which includes demilitarising the whole strip as Israel takes security control, could worsen the humanitarian plight of the 2.2 million Palestinians who live there.

Israel has come under pressure from Arab and Western nations over its conduct in the war in Gaza. A global hunger monitor relied on by the United Nations has declared famine in areas including Gaza City.

Netanyahu says Israel has no choice but to complete the job and defeat Hamas, given that the militant group has refused to lay down its arms. Hamas says it will not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is established, and will not free all hostages without an agreement ending the war.

Reuters