The Israeli army has ordered all Palestinian civilians to leave Gaza City.
The Israeli army dropped thousands of leaflets on Gaza City urging residents to leave.
The leaflets set routes out of the city to designated “safe areas” further south and warned the urban area would “remain a dangerous combat zone”.
In the leaflet, the army said residents would be able to take two safe roads “quickly and without inspection from Gaza City to shelters” in Deir el-Balah and az-Zawiya.
The leaflets read, “We would like to inform you that the streets of Tariq bin Ziyad and Omar al-Mokhtar are safe corridors for crossing west to Al-Rashid (al-Bahr) Street and from there to the south.”
According to the leaflets, Al-Wahda and Khalil Al-Wazir streets are safe corridors and passages to cross east to the Al-Zaytoun neighbourhood and the city roundabout and from there to the south through Salah Al-Din street.
“Gaza City will remain a dangerous combat zone,” the notices added.
A number of peopleare scared for their lives because Israeli forces have repeatedly attacked so-called “safe zones” where Palestinians were asked to relocate.
The latest order contradicts Israel’s announcement in January that it had “dismantled” Hamas’s “military structure” in the northern city.
The army has intensified its military offensive on Gaza City since late June.
Israel issued the first formal evacuation order for part of the city on June 27, and two more in the following days.
The ground operation started first in the city’s eastern Shujayea neighbourhood; but this week, tanks also moved to central and western districts, forcing tens of thousands of civilians to flee southwards.
In its latest update, the Israeli army disclosed that its 99th Division, joined by an additional unit, has been continuing its operation in Gaza City.
The army also said it attacked fighters inside the headquarters of UNRWA, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, in the city, claiming the site was being used by Hamas and Islamic Jihad to carry out military operations.
This came a day after Israel attacked a school in Khan Younis killing 30 people. Israel claims to be reviewing the attack which took place on Tuesday, June 9, 2024.
The Israeli army added that dozens of fighters were killed and tunnels destroyed in the Shujayea neighbourhood of Gaza City.
Last week, a UN official confirmed that about 90 percent of Gaza’s population has been displaced since the start of the war in October.
Israel Making Efforts To Ethnically Cleanse Gaza City
The Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, Mustafa Barghouti, asserted that the Israeli army is trying to “ethnically cleanse” the whole population of Gaza City.
“[It’s] trying to force hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to evict their city and their homes,” he posted on X.
He added, “Netanyahu[‘s] fascist government never departed from its original goal of ethnic cleansing of the whole population of Gaza Strip.”
Moreover, Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi stressed in a news conference with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry that Israel’s order for residents of Gaza City to evacuate is a “red line for Jordan and Egypt.”
He added that both countries will strongly oppose the displacement of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
On the Israeli attack on a school in Khan Younis, Safadi said, “The harm to the displaced in Khan Younis yesterday is another war crime committed by Israel.”
He accused Israel of wanting “to eliminate UNRWA in order to eliminate the Palestinian issue in general and the refugee issue in particular.”
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