Hundreds of Gazans flee to the south on Friday, following an evacuation call addressed by Israel to “all civilians” in Gaza City, before an expected ground offensive on the Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas, in retaliation for the The bloody attack carried out on Saturday by the Palestinian Islamist movement.
Since the start of hostilities, triggered on October 7 by this attack, the deadliest in Israeli history, at least 1,300 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israel, according to the army.
Hamas is also holding around 150 hostages, 13 of whom, “including foreigners”, were killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, it announced on Friday. These bombings left 1,799 dead, including 583 children, according to local authorities.
The Israeli army called Friday morning for “the evacuation of all civilians in Gaza City from their homes to the south, for their own safety.”
In Gaza City, leaflets in Arabic, dropped by Israeli drones, call on residents to leave their homes “immediately”. By the hundreds, they are fleeing by any means, on foot, piled up on truck trailers, in carts or by car.
Hamas, in power in Gaza since 2007, rejected the evacuation call. “Our Palestinian people reject the threat of the occupation leaders and their calls to leave their homes and flee to the south or Egypt,” he said.
In the morning, hundreds of rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israeli territory, according to an AFP journalist, with the Israeli army confirming the shots.
In the occupied West Bank, at least nine Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli forces during rallies in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
“Nakba”
According to a senior American official, Israel would agree to the creation of “safe zones” for Palestinians inside the Gaza Strip.
But in the surrounding capitals, and at the UN, the call for evacuation arouses concern and disapproval.
Concerning around 1.1 million inhabitants of the northern Gaza Strip, almost half of its population, such an evacuation would have “devastating humanitarian consequences”, warned the spokesperson for the UN secretary general, Stéphane Dujarric.
King Abdullah II of Jordan also warned on Friday against “any attempt to displace the Palestinians”, stressing that the conflict “must not spread to neighboring countries”.
On Thursday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called on Gazans to “stay on their land”, while Cairo controls Gaza’s only opening to the world, since the complete siege imposed by Israel.
The boss of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, for his part warned against “a forced transfer”, which according to him would constitute “a crime beyond comprehension”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas likened such a “displacement” to a “second Nakba” (“Catastrophe” in Arabic), in reference to the flight of some 760,000 Palestinians in 1948, to the creation of the State of ‘Israel.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called for “an end to the bloodshed”, warning on Friday that a ground assault in Gaza would lead to “absolutely unacceptable losses among (Palestinian) civilians”.
” The evil “
On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hammered home his determination to destroy Hamas, classified as “terrorist” by the United States and the European Union, following an interview in Tel Aviv with the Secretary of State. American Antony Blinken.
The attack launched by Hamas on October 7 at dawn, on the last day of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, stunned the country.
Hundreds of Hamas fighters have infiltrated Israel, killing more than a thousand civilians in the streets, at home or at music festivals, and spreading terror in a barrage of rockets.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, visiting Tel Aviv on Friday, said Hamas fighters had taken “evil to another level” than the jihadists of the Islamic State group, reiterating “unfailing” American support. » to Israel.
The day before, Mr. Blinken had indicated that Benjamin Netanyahu had presented him with photos of Hamas actions showing in particular a baby riddled with bullets, decapitated soldiers and young people burned alive in their cars.
After the attack, the army claimed to have recovered the bodies of 1,500 infiltrated Hamas fighters. Hundreds of people are still missing and bodies are still being identified.
In the Gaza Strip, the din of explosions, drones and other explosions is incessant. The Israeli army said it had targeted 750 “military targets” during the night while “massive strikes” hit the Al-Shati camp in Gaza, according to AFP journalists.
“How long will we live under bombs with death everywhere? “, told AFP Oum Hossam, 29, who is seeking refuge with her four children after the destruction of her house.
Other residents refuse to leave, for lack of means or to not give in: “the enemy wants to terrorize us and force us into exile, but we will resist,” Abou Azzam told AFP.
“What will we do in Rafah? “, the large southern city on the border with Egypt, says Mohammed Khaled. “They want us to sleep in the streets with our children? I refuse ! “.
What will Hezbollah do?
More than 423,000 Palestinians have already had to leave their homes in the Gaza Strip to flee the bombings, according to the UN, which has launched an emergency appeal for donations.
The 2.4 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, subject since 2007 to a land, air and sea blockade, are also deprived of water, electricity and food supplies, cut off by Israel.
In addition to the bombings, the army has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers around the enclave and on the border with Lebanon, a country from which pro-Iranian Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, regularly launches rockets against Israel.
Hezbollah is “fully prepared” to intervene against Israel in due time, the number two of this formation assured Friday before a demonstration of its supporters in Beirut.
“Hezbollah tracks enemy movements […]we will take action at the right time,” warned Sheikh Naïm Qassem.
The head of Iranian diplomacy, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, visiting Beirut, had earlier called on the United States to “control Israel if they want to avoid a regional war.
Thousands of people also demonstrated on Friday in Iraq, Iran, Jordan and Bahrain in support of the Palestinians, while, according to the Israeli ministry, Hamas called on “all its supporters in the world to organize a “day of anger”” on Friday .
Furthermore, the head of American diplomacy arrived in Jordan on Friday, before a trip to Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
The UN Security Council is due to meet on Friday to address the situation in Gaza.