Amid intensified operations in the north, the Israeli military has told all residents of Gaza City to evacuate south to the central Gaza Strip. Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) dropped leaflets in the city urging “everyone in Gaza City” to evacuate. The new evacuation order is likely to impact the ongoing mediation talks between Hamas and Israel.
The IDF had urged the residents to evacuate through safe routes leading to shelters in Deir al-Balah and al-Zawaida.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has raised concerns over the forceful evacuations and re-entry of troops into the Gaza City. “Deir al-Balah area was already seriously overcrowded with displaced Palestinians from other areas of Gaza and there is only limited access to humanitarian assistance and infrastructure,” it said.
This is the second time the Gazans were asked to evacuate the city as a whole.
Alleging the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters have regrouped since the war, Israeli forces have re-entered several districts and destroyed many shelters.
The renewed IDF attacks in the city are likely to have an impact on the potential ceasefire and hostage release deal. According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an Israeli delegation is heading to Cairo for more Gaza talks on Thursday.
"A delegation headed by the head of the Shin Bet (domestic security service), together with representatives of the IDF...is scheduled to leave for Cairo this evening to continue the talks," read a statement. The statement also added that Netanyahu held talks with the negotiators who returned from Doha.
The talks are being held by delegates from Egypt, the US, Qatar and Israel.
Earlier, the IDF said its troops had "conducted a counterterrorism operation" overnight against Hamas and PIJ fighters who were operating inside the headquarters of the UNRWA in Gaza City.
The troops had opened a “defined corridor to facilitate the evacuation of civilians” from the area before they entered the structure and “eliminated terrorists in close-quarters combat”, it added.
According to the Gaza health ministry, over 38,345 Palestinians have been killed and 88,295 have been injured so far since the Gaza war.