Israel’s military on Friday directed the evacuation of northern Gaza, a region that is home to 1.1 million people within 24 hours.
“The IDF [Israeli army] calls for the evacuation of all civilians of Gaza City from their homes southwards for their own safety and protection and move to the area south of the Wadi Gaza, as shown on the map,” Israeli military in a statement to Gaza’s civilian population said.
The UN has warned that Israel’s plan to clear the northern part of the Gaza Strip of its population would have “devastating humanitarian consequences”.
Anyhow, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) says it has relocated its centre of operations and international staff to southern Gaza.
The UNRWA announcement comes amid an order by Israel that all Palestinians must evacuate the north of Gaza within 24 hours – a relocation that would affect some 1.1 million people.
Palestinians shared their outrage about the decision of Israel to “evacuate” half of the Gaza Strip’s population in a few hours.
n total, 1,417 have been killed and 6,268 injured in Gaza since 7 October. Human rights organizations have expressed concerns about incidents where civilians and civilian objects appear to have been directly targeted by Israeli airstrikes.
In the Gaza Strip, the cumulative number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) increased by 25 percent over the past 24 hours, now exceeding 423,000 of whom over two-thirds are taking shelter in UNRWA schools.
Since Thursday, Gaza has been undergoing a full electricity blackout, which has brought essential health, water and sanitation services to the brink of collapse, and exacerbated food insecurity.
