Israel tells ‘everyone in Gaza City’ to leave

The Israeli military has ordered all residents of Gaza City to evacuate south to the central Gaza Strip, amid heightened activity in the north.

Leaflets dropped by plane instruct “everyone in Gaza City” to leave what is described as a “dangerous combat zone” via designated safe routes – marked by two roads leading to shelters in Deir al-Balah and al-Zawaida.

The United Nations said it was deeply concerned by the evacuation order. It is the second time since the war began that the entire Gaza City has been ordered to evacuate.

Over the past two weeks, the Israeli army has advanced into several districts where the military believes Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants have been regrouping since the beginning of the year.

Hamas said the new Israeli operation in the city was threaten to derail negotiations talks on a potential ceasefire and hostage release resumed in Qatar on Wednesday. The talks were attended by the intelligence chiefs of Egypt, the United States and Israel, as well as Qatar’s prime minister.

Senior Hamas official Hossam Badran told AFP that Israel “is trying to put pressure on the negotiations by increasing bombing, displacement and massacres”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed Israel’s commitment to a deal as long as its “red lines” are protected.

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

Some people were seen fleeing south after the Israeli army dropped leaflets urging them to leave. An Israeli official later told the BBC that it was a recommendation, not a directive.

Others, however, did not want to leave.

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

“If death is the fate of me and my children, we will die with honor and dignity in our home,” he said.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had received calls from several residents saying they were unable to leave their homes because of the intensity of the bombing.

“Information from Gaza City shows that people are living in tragic conditions. [Israeli] “The occupying forces continue to attack residential areas and force people to leave their homes and shelters,” the report said.

In a statement released earlier on Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its troops had “conducted an anti-terror operation” last night targeting Hamas and PIJ militants operating inside the headquarters of the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) in Gaza City.

The troops opened a “determined corridor to facilitate the evacuation of civilians” from the area before they entered the building and “eliminated the terrorists in close combat,” the report added.

Unrwa did not immediately comment.

The IDF also said it killed dozens of militants in the Shejaiya district, east of Gaza City, and destroyed an underground tunnel during the day.

Speaking in the Israeli parliament on Wednesday, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said 60% of Hamas fighters had been killed or injured since the Israeli offensive began. The BBC was unable to independently verify these figures.

On Tuesday, the United Nations Human Rights Office said it was “horrifying”“ under an IDF order for civilians to evacuate to “areas where Israeli military operations are taking place and where civilians continue to be killed and injured”.

The report also warned that the Deir al-Balah area is already overcrowded with Palestinians displaced from other parts of Gaza and has little infrastructure and limited access to humanitarian aid.

The Israeli military launched an operation in Gaza to destroy the Hamas group in response to an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage.

More than 38,295 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Their figures do not distinguish between civilians and militants, but they have identified 14,680 children, women and the elderly among those killed by the end of April.