Israel to open new route for Gazans fleeing besieged city

Israel's army said on Wednesday it had opened a temporary new route to allow people to flee Gaza City, a day after launching a major ground assault aimed at crushing Hamas.

The Israeli military unleashed a massive bombardment of Gaza City before dawn on Tuesday and pushed its troops deeper into the Gaza Strip's largest urban hub.

It came as a United Nations probe accused Israel of committing "genocide" in the Palestinian territory, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials had incited the crime.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it was opening "a temporary transportation route via Salah al-Din Street".

Its Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee said the corridor would remain open for just 48 hours from midday (0900 GMT) on Thursday.

Displaced Palestinians move with their belongings southwards on a road in the Nuseirat refugee camp area in the central Gaza Strip following renewed Israeli evacuation orders for Gaza City on Tuesday. AFP

Until now, the army had urged residents to leave Gaza City via the coastal road towards what it calls a "humanitarian zone" further south, including parts of Al-Mawasi.

Salah al-Din Street runs down the middle of the Gaza Strip from north to south.

'We pulled the children out in pieces'

The United Nations estimated at the end of August that around one million people lived in Gaza City and its surroundings.

AFP journalists have observed a fresh exodus in recent days, and the Israeli army said Wednesday that "more than 350,000" had so far fled south.

Many Palestinians interviewed by AFP in Gaza insist there is no safe place in the territory and say they would rather die in their homes than be displaced yet again.

On Tuesday, people spoke of relentless bombing in Gaza City, much of which is already in ruins after nearly two years of Israeli strikes.

Displaced Palestinians flee northern Gaza as Israel announced an expanded operation in Gaza City, on Tuesday. AP

Only huge piles of rubble remained of a residential block in the north of the city hit by Israel's bombardment.

"Why kill children sleeping safely like that, turning them into body parts?" said Abu Abd Zaquout. "We pulled the children out in pieces."

On Tuesday, the Israeli army said it had launched a major ground operation in Gaza City to oust Hamas from one of its last strongholds in the war-ravaged territory.

The war was sparked by Hamas's October 2023 attack on southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 64,964 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory's health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

The Israeli military estimates there are 2,000 to 3,000 Hamas fighters in central Gaza City, and that about 40 per cent of residents have fled.

 UN investigators say Israel committing genocide 

Hamas said the assault was "systematic ethnic cleansing targeting our people in Gaza".

Gaza's civil defence, a rescue force operating under Hamas authority, said at least 44 people had been killed by Israeli fire on Tuesday.

Palestinians search for wood to sell or use for cooking amid the rubble of a building from which thousands of artifacts were removed before being destroyed in an Israeli military strike in Gaza City. AP

Media restrictions in the territory and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the details provided by the civil defence or the Israeli military.

On Tuesday, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which does not speak for the world body, found that "genocide is occurring in Gaza and is continuing to occur", commission chief Navi Pillay told AFP.

Israel said it "categorically rejects this distorted and false report" and called for the "immediate abolition" of the COI.

On Wednesday, Qatar became the latest country to urge Israel to stop its assault on Gaza City, calling it "an extension of its genocidal war against the Palestinian people".

France issued a similar call late Tuesday, saying the "destructive campaign... no longer has any military logic" and appealing for a resumption of ceasefire talks.

Israel carried out strikes against Hamas leaders in Doha on September 9, killing five of the Palestinian group's members and a Qatari security officer.

On Tuesday during a visit to Doha, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to ask the Gulf country to stay on as a mediator in the Gaza talks.

Agence France-Presse