Gaza War: Israel Tells ‘All Gaza City Residents’ to Leave

The Israeli occupation army asked all residents of Gaza City to evacuate south to the center of the Gaza Strip, amid intensified operations in the north.

The leaflets dropped from the planes included instructions to “all residents of Gaza City” to leave what it described as a “dangerous combat zone” via designated safe routes – two roads leading to shelters in Deir al-Balah and Zuweida.

The United Nations has expressed deep concern over the evacuation orders issued. This is the second time since the start of the war that the entire population of Gaza City has been asked to evacuate their homes.

Over the past two weeks, Israeli forces have reentered several areas where the military believes Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters have regrouped since the beginning of the year.

Hamas said renewed Israeli activity in the city threatened to derail negotiations on a possible ceasefire and prisoner release, which resumed on Wednesday in Qatar. The talks are being attended by the intelligence chiefs of Egypt, the United States and Israel, as well as the prime minister of Qatar.

Hamas official Hussam Badran told AFP that Israel “is trying to pressure the negotiations by intensifying the bombing, displacement and committing massacres.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed Israel’s commitment to the agreement as long as its “red lines” were maintained.

It is estimated that more than a quarter of a million people still live in Gaza City.

Some residents were seen heading south after the Israeli military dropped leaflets there urging them to leave, which an Israeli official later told the BBC was a recommendation rather than an instruction.

But others were not ready to leave.

“I will not leave Gaza” [City]”I will not make the stupid mistake that others have made. Israeli missiles do not differentiate between north and south,” Ibrahim al-Barbari, 47, a resident of the area, told the BBC.

He added, “If death is my fate and the fate of my children, then we will die with honor and dignity in our homes.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said it had received calls from some citizens who were unable to leave their homes due to the intensity of the shelling.

“Information coming from Gaza City indicates that the population is living in tragic conditions. [Israeli] She added that “the occupation forces continue to bomb residential neighborhoods and displace citizens from their homes and shelters.”