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Tens of thousands of Palestinians fled northern Gaza a day ahead of an evacuation deadline, as Israel extended aerial bombardments and conducted limited raids on the enclave in a search for hostages taken by Hamas militants a week ago.
Israel has ordered 1.1 million Palestinian civilians to leave the 40-kilometer-long northern Gaza corridor, anticipating a full-scale ground invasion by Hamas, the militant group that launched a cross-border attack on Saturday.
Israeli authorities said Hamas killed at least 1,300 Israelis, mainly civilians, in the attacks. Local health officials say at least 1,900 people have died in Gaza since Israel began bombing.
Israel said its evacuation order against Hamas, which was condemned by the United Nations, was to protect civilians, while the European Union’s top diplomat said on Saturday that Israel needed to respect international law in its war with Hamas.
Josep Borrell said evacuation orders were unrealistic and would create a worse humanitarian crisis in the region.
“This is completely, completely impossible to implement,” Borrell told reporters during a visit to Beijing.
“You can’t move such a large number of people in such a short period of time, especially (when there are no shelters and no transportation). . . . They have to be given more time to make it possible and not cause horror humanitarian situation.”
Israel said on Saturday it would limit firing to some designated streets to allow movement.
The border with Egypt remains largely closed since Israel imposed a blockade in 2007 in response to Hamas’ violent occupation of the territory, leaving the 2.3 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza with no way out.
Israel has cut off food, fresh water and electricity to Gaza after Defense Minister Yove Galant this week declared a “total siege”. The United Nations says water supplies are so inadequate that people are forced to drink brackish water, raising fears of disease.
IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricks said earlier on Saturday that Israel intended to “step up our military operations in Gaza City.” Gaza City is the largest city in the densely populated enclave and the center of Hamas’s political and military apparatus.
Israeli special forces have entered Gaza in search of hostages in the first known incursion since the 2014 war, the Israel Defense Forces said on Friday. They collected the bodies of captives near the border fence, found “evidence that could help find the hostages” and opened fire on Hamas anti-tank missile crews attacking Israel.
Hamas has said it intends to trade hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. The Israel Defense Forces said Israel had identified 120 hostages.
Hundreds of thousands of Gazans are fleeing to the south in cars, trucks and trolleys as fuel shortages and destroyed roads hamper their escape, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said on Friday. Others either choose to stay or are unable to leave.
The displacement reaches the second “disaster dayPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Friday a “catastrophe” or “catastrophe” – a term used by Palestinians to describe their expulsion from their homes after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that the war with Hamas “will take time.”
“We are striking our enemies with unprecedented force,” Netanyahu said in a rare Shabbat speech. “This is just the beginning. Our enemies are just beginning to pay the price.”
On Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli soldiers, launched two drones at Israel and fired surface-to-air missiles at Israeli aircraft, Conricus said on Saturday.
“The situation on the northern border remains very tense,” he said.
Additional reporting by Simeon Kerr
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