Palestinians began a mass exodus from northern Gaza Friday after Israel’s military told some 1 million people to evacuate toward the southern part of the besieged territory, an unprecedented order ahead of an expected ground invasion against the ruling Hamas militant group.
The U.N. warned that so many people fleeing en masse — almost half the Gaza population — would be calamitous. Hamas, which staged a shocking and brutal attack on Israel nearly a week ago and has fired thousands of rockets since, dismissed the evacuation order as a ploy and called on people to stay in their homes.
The UN said the order for the mass evacuation was “impossible” without major humanitarian consequences. Hamas told residents not to leave their homes.
Israeli forces are maintaining their bombardment of Gaza in response to Hamas’ terror attacks that killed more than 1,300 people. Israel has also amassed more than 300,000 reservists along its southern border — but has not confirmed whether it is planning an intensified military operation.
Gaza’s humanitarian crisis is deepening with warnings people are at risk of starvation. Nearly 1,800 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The airstrikes have also displaced 423,000 people, the UN said.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Tel Aviv pledged full US support to Israel, stressing, “This is no time for neutrality, or for false equivalence or for excuses for the inexcusable.”
Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has raised an alarm over the evacuation order in Gaza, warning of catastrophic humanitarian consequences, the organisation said in a statement Friday.
With a military siege in place, humanitarian organisations, including the ICRC, face challenges in assisting the massive displacement of people in Gaza. Their Gaza City office received the same instructions to leave, as did other international organisations.
The organisation also highlighted the need to ensure that basic necessities are provided for displaced populations and to prevent family separations.
A heavily pregnant woman who fled Gaza City on Monday told CNN that she fears for the future as hordes of Gazan civilians start making their way to the southern Gaza strip following Israel’s evacuation order.
Nardeen Fares, who is nine months pregnant, told CNN over the phone that she traveled with her husband from al-Rimal, a neighborhood in Gaza City, to the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza strip earlier this week.
“Right now, there is an exodus of thousands of people. You’re talking about half of the Gaza Strip moving to Khan Younis,” the 27-year-old told CNN.