The Israeli military warned on Friday that it will operate with “unprecedented force” in Gaza City, urging residents to move south while announcing the closure of a temporary evacuation route opened just 48 hours earlier.
Israel’s bid to capture Gaza City has sparked international outrage. The territory is already devastated by nearly two years of war and gripped by a UN-declared famine. The warning comes ahead of a planned move by several Western countries, including France and Britain, to recognise a Palestinian state next week at a UN summit.
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At the end of August, the United Nations estimated that about one million people were living in Gaza City and its surroundings. Israel says hundreds of thousands have already fled the city.
In a post on X, Israel’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, addressed residents: “From this moment, Salah al-Din Road is closed for southbound travel. The Israel Defense Forces will continue to operate with unprecedented force against Hamas and other terrorist organisations.” He added that the only available route south was via Al-Rashid Street and urged residents to join those who had already moved south to humanitarian areas.
The temporary route via Salah al-Din Street had been announced on Wednesday following an intense ground offensive and heavy bombardment. The road, Gaza’s main north-south artery, was only to remain open for 48 hours from midday (0900 GMT).
The US-backed offensive began on Tuesday, shortly after a UN probe accused Israel of committing “genocide” in the Gaza Strip, claiming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials had incited the crime. Israel rejected the findings as “distorted and false.”
‘We have lost everything’
AFP footage on Thursday showed long lines of Palestinians fleeing south along Al-Rashid coastal road, on foot or in vehicles piled with scant belongings.
In western Gaza City on Friday, displaced Palestinian Sami Baroud described “relentless and intense shelling”: “Our life has become nothing but explosions and danger. We have lost everything — our lives, our future, our sense of safety. How can I evacuate when I can’t even afford transportation?”
Umm Mohammed Al-Hattab, 49, said her family had nowhere to go and could not afford to move. “My seven children and I are still living in tents in western Gaza City after [Israel] bombed our home. The bombing hasn’t stopped, and at any moment, we expect a missile to fall on us. My children are terrified, and I don’t know what to do.”
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which sparked the war, killed 1,219 people, mostly civilians. Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 65,141 people, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, figures the UN considers reliable.
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