Israeli military orders evacuation of Gaza City

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Israeli military on Wednesday called on all Palestinians to leave Gaza City and move south, continuing a new offensive in the north, south and center of the contested territory that has killed dozens of people in the past 48 hours.

The increased military activity coincided with a meeting between American, Egyptian and Qatari mediators and Israeli government officials in the Qatari capital Doha. The aim of the talks was to reach a long-unfinished ceasefire agreement with the militant Hamas group in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of dozens of Israeli hostages held by Hamas there.

Israel says it is tracking Hamas fighters regrouping in various parts of Gaza nine months after the war began, but the heavy attacks across the area in recent days may also be aimed at putting more pressure on Hamas in ceasefire talks.

During a visit to central Gaza on Wednesday, Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi said the armed forces were deployed in different ways in several parts of the territory “to carry out a very important mission: to exert pressure. We will continue to operate to bring the hostages home.”

Israel informed Gazans of the evacuation order by dropping leaflets urging “everyone in Gaza City” to take two “safe routes” south to the area around the central city of Deir al-Balah. Gaza City, it said, would “remain a dangerous fighting zone.”

Months ago, Israel ordered residents of the northern Gaza Strip, including Gaza City, to flee south, and a large part of the population left the country at the beginning of the warLarge parts of Gaza city and surrounding urban areas have been razed to the ground or left a devastated landscape as a result of previous Israeli attacks.

According to the United Nations, there are still about 300,000 Palestinians in the hard-hit north, the majority of them in Gaza City.

Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants are crammed together in miserable tent camps in the centre and south of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli troops have advanced into parts of Gaza City in recent days, prompting thousands of Palestinians to flee artillery shelling and airstrikes. Last week, the military ordered Palestinians to leave the eastern and central parts of the city, but Wednesday’s order did not lead to an immediate mass exodus from the city. Many Palestinians have concluded that there is no safe haven in war-torn Gaza.

The evacuation order came after a series of deadly attacks in other parts of the territory over the past two days. Israeli bombardments early Wednesday hit four homes in Deir al-Balah and the nearby Nuseirat refugee camp, killing 20 Palestinians.

Among the dead were six children and three women, according to officials at the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital, where the injured were taken. An Associated Press reporter counted the bodies. The house that was hit in Deir al-Balah was located within the “humanitarian security zone” where the Israelis are supposed to seek refuge.

The overnight attack came hours after Israeli warplanes struck the entrance to a school housing displaced families outside the southern town of Khan Younis. The toll from the attack rose to 31 dead, including eight children, and more than 50 injured, officials at the nearby Nasser Hospital said on Wednesday.

Al Jazeera television footage showed children playing football in the schoolyard when a sudden bang shook the area, sparking cries of “Strike, strike!”

The Israeli army said it was investigating the airstrike near the school and reports of civilian casualties. It claimed the strike targeted a Hamas fighter who was involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war, but offered no immediate evidence. The military blames Hamas for the civilian casualties because the fighters fight in densely populated, urban areas. But the army rarely comments on what its individual attacks target, which often kill women and children.

In nine months of bombing and offensives in Gaza, Israel has killed more than 38,200 people and injured more than 88,000, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its count. Almost the entire population has been driven from their homes. Many have been relocated multiple times.

In the attack on October 7, the militants killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities. The militants took about 250 people hostage. About 120 of them are still in captivity, and about a third are said to be dead.

Israel’s new Ground attack in Gaza’s largest city has led to what the UN called a “dangerously chaotic” exodus. People are scattering in all directions, not knowing where to go. Some have fled to other parts of the north. The Israeli military’s new leaflets called for a mass movement south to the supposed “humanitarian zone” and promised that people leaving Gaza City along designated routes would not be stopped at Israeli checkpoints. Many Palestinians fear arrest or humiliation by troops at the checkpoints.

After Israel called for the evacuation of eastern and central parts of Gaza on Monday, staff at two hospitals – Al-Ahli Hospital and Patients Friends Association Hospital – immediately began transferring patients and then closed their operations, the United Nations said.

Hospitals in Gaza have often been preemptively evacuated for fear of attack as soon as signs of possible Israeli military action were apparent. Over the past nine months, Israeli forces have attacked at least eight hospitals, resulting in the deaths of patients and medical staff and massive destruction of facilities and equipment. Israel claims that Hamas uses hospitals for military purposes, but has provided limited evidence.

According to the United Nations humanitarian office, only 13 of the 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip are functioning, and even then only partially.

In the face of ongoing violence, international mediators renewed concerted efforts to push through a proposed deal on a ceasefire and the release of the hostages.

Israel and Hamas seemed close the gaps of the last few daysBut obstacles remain, even after Hamas agreed to back down from its central demand that Israel commit to ending the war as part of any agreement.

Hamas continues to demand that mediators ensure that the negotiations end with a permanent ceasefire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stressed that he will not sign an agreement that forces Israel to end its campaign in Gaza without eliminating Hamas. Hamas accused Netanyahu on Monday of “putting further obstacles in the way of the negotiations,” including the operations in Gaza City.

An Egyptian official said Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel traveled to Doha to attend talks on the deal. The official said U.S. and Israeli officials were also present. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the press on the meetings.

The day before, CIA Director William Burns, who led the American mediation, met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo.

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Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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For more AP reports, see https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war