Thousands of Palestinians flee Gaza City after renewed calls from Israeli military to evacuate

The army announced on Monday that it had “begun an anti-terrorist operation” in Gaza City.

Thousands of Palestinians fled Gaza City on Monday, July 8, where the Israeli army deployed with tanks. On foot or by cart, thousands of residents fled, according to witnesses and the Civil Defense. For the third time since June 27, the army issued calls to evacuate, which now concern neighborhoods in the center of the city after that of Shujaiya, in the east, and its surroundings.

The army announced on Monday that it had “started an anti-terrorist operation” in Gaza City, including around buildings of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. According to Hamas’ armed wing, the ongoing fighting is “the most intense in months”.

In the south of the territory, where the population has also been called upon in recent days to evacuate large areas, the army announced that it had “eliminated more than 30 terrorists” in Rafah and struck rocket launch sites in Khan Younis. Israeli soldiers launched a ground offensive on Rafah, on the Egyptian border, on May 7, then presented as the last stage of the war against Hamas. But fighting has since resumed in areas that it had claimed to control, particularly in the north.

Some of the displaced civilians are heading towards Deir el-Balah, in the centre of the territory, where the humanitarian situation is worsening, warned Maysa Saleh of the NGO Norwegian Refugee Council on Monday. “In Deir el-Balah, I have not seen anything resembling aid. It is almost non-existent”this humanitarian leader testified to AFP.