Israel forcing thousands out of Gaza City ahead of heavy offensive
The Israeli army dropped thousands of leaflets over Gaza City on Wednesday urging all residents to flee a heavy offensive a day after at least 29 people were killed and 53 injured in an attack on a school housing displaced civilians in Khan Younis.
The leaflets, addressed to “everyone in Gaza City”, set out designated escape routes to the south and warned that the urban area, previously home to more than half a million people, would “remain a dangerous combat zone”, AFP reported.
The warning follows three partial evacuation orders and came as Israeli troops, backed by tanks and aircraft, have fought Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters in the heaviest combat operations the city has seen in months.
Elsewhere across Gaza, deadly strikes have hit four schools used as shelters in four days, sparking international outrage.
The latest fighting in Gaza has newly displaced 350,000 civilians, said UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini, who spoke before the latest leaflet drop and said “there is absolutely no safe space in Gaza”.
One woman carrying her scant belongings through the bombed-out wasteland, Nimr al-Jamal, told AFP on Tuesday that “this is the 12th time” her family has had to flee.
“How many times can we endure this? A thousand times? Where will we end up?”
The Israeli army said it was reviewing an attack on Tuesday in which hospital sources said at least 29 people were killed in a school used as a shelter in the southern Khan Yunis area.
‘Unacceptable’ tactics
Germany said the strike was “unacceptable” and called for a rapid investigation into the incident.
France also on Wednesday condemned the air strikes on schools, declaring such tactics “unacceptable”.
Gaza’s government said a “majority” of the dead were women and children.
The Israeli military claimed that the strike had killed a Hamas member who had taken part in the October 7 attack and that it was “looking into the reports that civilians were harmed, adjacent to the Al Awda school”, which it acknowledged was “near the location of the strike”.