2023-10-13 13:36:13
UN officials are trying to get more information about the order.
The Israeli military on Friday ordered the evacuation of northern Gaza, a region of 1.1 million people, within the next 24 hours, a United Nations spokesman said, as Israel continues its war to eradicate the extremist group Hamas after of his lethal attack.
The order could indicate an imminent ground offensive, although the Israeli military has not confirmed this. On Thursday they indicated that although preparations were being made, a decision had not yet been made.
The order, delivered to the United Nations, comes as Israel intensifies an offensive against Hamas extremists. UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said it was “impossible” to carry out the order without “devastating humanitarian consequences”.
A U.N. official said the body is trying to get more details from Israeli authorities at the highest political levels.
“It’s completely unprecedented,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
Panic over rumors of an evacuation had begun to spread Friday morning in northern Gaza, where almost half of the territory’s population lives.
A ground offensive in Gaza, a territory governed by Hamas and where the population is concentrated in a strip of just 40 kilometers, will likely considerably increase the death toll on both sides in an intense house-to-house battle.
Saturday’s Hamas attack and smaller attacks since then have left more than 1,300 dead in Israel — including 247 soldiers — a toll not seen in Israel in decades.
Meanwhile, subsequent Israeli bombings have claimed more than 1,530 lives in Gaza, according to authorities on both sides. Israel claims that nearly 1,500 Hamas extremists were killed in Israeli territory, and that hundreds of those killed in Gaza are members of the organization. There are thousands of people injured on both sides.
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