The Israeli military has ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate, warning of an expanded offensive as fighting intensifies.
Military spokesman Avichay Adraee announced that Muwasi, an improvised tent camp in southern Gaza, has been declared a “humanitarian zone.” In a video posted on social media platform X, Adraee urged civilians to leave Gaza City, calling it a Hamas stronghold and designating it a war zone.
According to the military, civilians are permitted to travel along a designated road without being stopped or checked.
Meanwhile, parts of Gaza City, home to around 1 million people, have already been declared “red zones” with mandatory evacuation orders in anticipation of heavy clashes.
Humanitarian organizations warned that such large-scale displacement will further worsen the humanitarian crisis, already at extreme levels after nearly two years of war. Many Palestinians have been displaced multiple times and have nowhere left to go.
The Israeli army released a map showing the designated humanitarian zone in Khan Younis, which includes the area surrounding Nasser Hospital. While the hospital itself is not under evacuation orders, the surrounding neighborhood has been marked as a red zone.
Last week, Israel struck Nasser Hospital, killing 22 people, including journalist Mariam Dagga, who worked for the Associated Press and other media outlets. The hospital was not under evacuation orders at the time of the attack.
The army stated that the declared safe zone would include field hospitals, water pipelines, food supplies, and tents, with humanitarian aid efforts continuing “in coordination with the UN and international organizations.”
However, the Gaza Health Ministry accused Israel of previously targeting areas designated as humanitarian, including Muwasi.
This new evacuation order comes just one day after the Israeli military bombed a high-rise building in Gaza City, claiming it was used by Hamas for surveillance, though no evidence was provided.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages in southern Israel. The Israeli offensive that followed has killed more than 64,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which reports that women and children account for nearly half of the victims. The United Nations and independent experts regard the ministry’s casualty figures as the most reliable source.
Israel has vowed to continue its war until all hostages are freed and Hamas is dismantled, signaling it intends to maintain open-ended security control over the enclave of 2 million Palestinians.
Hamas, meanwhile, has declared it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, a permanent cease-fire, and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
