Israel tells Gaza City residents to move to safe zone as it expands operations

Israel’s army has called on Palestinians in Gaza City to move to a humanitarian area it designated in the south as it expanded its operations in preparation for seizing the famine-stricken city.

Parts of the city, home to nearly one million people, are already considered “red zones”, where evacuation orders have been issued ahead of expected heavy fighting.

Aid groups have repeatedly warned that a large-scale evacuation of Gaza City would exacerbate the dire humanitarian crisis.

Palestinians have been uprooted and displaced multiple times during the nearly two-year-long war, with many being too weak to move and having nowhere to go.

Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee wrote on X that the army declared Muwasi — a makeshift tent camp in southern Gaza Strip — as a humanitarian area and urged everyone in the city, which it called a Hamas stronghold and specified as a combat zone, to leave.

The army said they could travel in cars down a designated road without being searched.

The military provided a map showing the area in Khan Younis that the humanitarian area encompasses, which includes the block where Nasser Hospital is located.

The area around the hospital has been considered a red zone, though not the medical facility itself.

Last week, Israel struck the hospital, killing 22 people, including Mariam Dagga, who worked for The Associated Press and other media outlets. The hospital was not under evacuation.

The designated safe zone would include field hospitals, water pipelines, food and tents, and relief efforts “will continue on an ongoing basis in cooperation with the UN and international organisations”, the statement said.

Israeli forces have struck humanitarian areas throughout the war, including Muwasi, which they previously declared a safe zone, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

The evacuation order came a day after Israel struck a high-rise building in Gaza City, saying Hamas used it for surveillance, without providing evidence.

The war started after Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in their attack on southern Israel on October 7 2023. Most have since been released in ceasefires or other agreements.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants but says women and children make up around half the dead.

The UN and independent experts consider it the most reliable source on war casualties. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.

Israel says the war will continue until all the hostages are returned and Hamas is disarmed, and that it will retain open-ended security control of the territory of some two million Palestinians.

Hamas has said it will only release the remaining hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners, a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.