Israel warns people to evacuate south Gaza where many fled to escape shelling
Israel last night dropped thousands of leaflets into southern Gaza warning people to evacuate their homes and head to special shelters.
The move signals a possible expansion of Israel’s offensive to areas where hundreds of thousands of evacuees who heeded earlier orders are crowded into UN-run shelters and family homes. The leaflets warned people to find safety in Bani Shuhaila, Khuzaa, Abas-san and Qarara – towns home to over 100,000 people, before the south was overwhelmed with displaced people.
They read: “For your safety, evacuate your places of residence immediately and head to known shelters. Anyone near terrorists or their facilities puts their life at risk. Every house used by terrorists will be targeted.” Last month similar leaflets were dropped over northern Gaza ahead of the Israeli ground offensive.
Israeli offensive is continuing (Israeli Army/AFP via Getty Image)Broadening operations to the south, where Israel already carries out daily air raids, threatens to worsen an already severe humanitarian crisis. Over 1.5 million people have been internally displaced in Gaza, with most having fled to the south, where food, water and electricity are scarce.
There were continuing chaotic scenes in the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. Hospital director Muhammad Abu Salmiya said the hospital has run out of oxygen and water. He said: “Those in the hospital are screaming from thirst.” He described tanks surrounding the hospital, drones overhead and Israeli soldiers moving inside.
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He said: “There are more than 650 patients at the site, 500 medical staff and more than 5,000 displaced people. Sniping operations continue, no-one can move from one building to another, and we have lost communication with our colleagues.”
The Israel Defence Forces claimed it has found the body of one of the 240 hostages it says Hamas has been holding captive in Gaza since the 7 October attack in southern Israel. Yehudit Weiss, taken from her home in Be’eri, was found in a structure near al Shifa hospital, which Israeli troops have been sweeping for evidence of Hamas’s military infrastructure.
The Israeli army said it had found a tunnel shaft in the complex. Meanwhile Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, has said he believed there was a deliberate attempt to “strangle” its work to support more than 800,000 displaced Palestinians.
The UN agency has pleaded for weeks for access to fuel, he said. On Wednesday Israel allowed a truck carrying 6,340 gallons of diesel fuel for UN aid trucks into Gaza for the first time in the war. UN human rights chief Volker Turk called for an “international investigation” after allegations of violations of international humanitarian law in the war.
In other developments, Israeli fighter jets struck the Gaza home of Ismail Haniyeh, head of Hamas’s political bureau and considered to be the militant group’s overall leader. He has been living in Qatar for several years.
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