Tel Aviv (TIP)- The Israeli military warned on Friday, Sept 19, it would operate with “unprecedented force” in Gaza City, telling residents to flee southwards as it pressed its ground offensive on the territory’s largest urban center, as strikes and operations continued across the Strip.
The Israel Defense Forces said troops expanded their operations in Gaza City, and in the past day, killed more than 10 operatives and directed strikes on terror infrastructure.
In the Strip’s south, the military said troops operating in Khan Younis and Rafah killed several terror operatives and demolished dozens of sites used by Hamas.
Local Hamas-run health authorities said at least 22 people were killed across the Strip in Israeli strikes. The casualty figures could not be independently verified and did not differentiate between fighters and civilians.
As troops pushed the Gaza City ground offensive, the military announced the as-planned closure of the Salah al-Din Road, a temporary second evacuation route for residents of Gaza City to the southern Strip. Palestinians evacuating Gaza City can now only do so via the Rashid coastal road. “The IDF will continue to act with great and unprecedented force against Hamas and the other terror organizations,” the military’s Arabic-language spokesman said. “For your safety, take the opportunity and join the hundreds of thousands of [Gaza] City residents who have moved south to the humanitarian area, and do not allow Hamas to exploit you as human shields.”
The military on Friday said it estimated 480,000 Gaza City residents have fled since late August.
Around one million Palestinians were estimated to be residing in Gaza City before the IDF launched a major offensive against Hamas in the area.
Ahead of the offensive, the IDF ordered Palestinians in all areas of Gaza City to evacuate immediately to an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in the Strip’s south. In western Gaza City on Friday, Sami Baroud described “relentless and intense shelling.”
“Our life has become nothing but explosions and danger,” the 35-year-old told AFP by telephone.
“We have lost everything — our lives, our future, our sense of safety. How can I evacuate when I can’t even afford transportation?”
Nivin Ahmed, 50, fled south from Gaza City to the central city of Deir el-Balah on Thursday, walking with seven family members. “We walked more than 15 kilometers [nine miles], we were crawling from exhaustion,” she said.
“My youngest son cried from fatigue. We took turns dragging a small cart with some of our belongings.”
Mona Abdel Karim, 36, said she had been unable to secure transport south and had been sleeping with her family on Al-Rashid Street for two nights waiting for a driver.
“I feel like I’m about to explode. We can’t walk on foot — my husband’s parents are elderly and sick, and the children are too weak to walk,” she said.
Amid the growing humanitarian crisis in the Strip, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories said Hamas gunmen “brazenly robbed” four UNICEF aid trucks carrying baby formula in Gaza City on Thursday.
“The trucks were commandeered right outside the UNICEF compound in Gaza City, a direct assault on humanitarian work,” COGAT said in a statement.
UNICEF put out their own statement saying “armed individuals” commandeered four aid trucks outside their compound at gunpoint, and diverted the contents elsewhere, before releasing the drivers and the trucks.
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