Israel tells 1.1MILLION people in Northern Gaza to
evacuate south within 24 hours as it prepares to launch ground assault
and continues bombardments - which Hamas claims have killed 13 hostages
since yesterday
- Israel's military today said order was 'for [civilians] own safety and protection'
- On Thursday, Israeli officials it said that while it was preparing, a decision has not yet been made on a large-scale retaliation to the attacks
By Stephen M. Lepore For Dailymail.Com and Chris Jewers and Associated Press
Israel has ordered more than one million people to evacuate northern Gaza within 24 hours ahead of a feared Israeli ground offensive aimed at eradicating Hamas.
The
order this morning sent panic through civilians and aid workers already
struggling under Israeli airstrikes and a blockade, while the United Nations called such an evacuation 'impossible' that would turn an tragedy into calamity.
It
comes as Hamas claimed at least 13 Israeli and foreign hostages held in
northern Gaza have been killed in Israeli air strikes in the past 24
hours.
'Thirteen
prisoners... including foreigners' were killed in five locations
targeted by Israeli fighter jets, Hamas's armed wing said Friday.
Israel's
military sent one evacuation order directly on Friday morning, telling
the 1.1 million people living north of an area called Wadi Gaza to move
south. This would mean the entire population of Gaza City and its
surroundings fleeing their homes.
The
UN says it is impossible to move that many people without devastating
humanitarian consequences, and has urged Israel to rescind the order.
The
2.3 million people living in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip are densely
packed into a sliver of land that is just 25 miles long and 7 miles wide
which is already largely without power and where hospitals are
overwhelmed.
Israel has killed more
than 1,530 people in Gaza with airstrikes and cut off food, water and
electricity since Hamas terrorists killed more than 1,300 in Israel.
Israel's directive, which comes seven days after Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza, charged that Hamas terrorists were hiding in tunnels under the city.
Meanwhile,
a Hamas official called the evacuation order 'fake propaganda', urged
Palestinians to stay in their homes and not to 'fall for it'.
The
Hamas Authority for Refugee Affairs called on residents in the north of
the territory to 'remain steadfast in your homes and to stand firm in
the face of this disgusting psychological war waged by the occupation'.
Israel has ordered more than one
million people to evacuate northern Gaza within 24 hours ahead of a
feared Israeli ground offensive aimed at eradicating Hamas
The
order sent panic through civilians and aid workers already struggling
under Israeli airstrikes and a blockade, while the United Nations called
such an evacuation 'impossible' that would turn an tragedy into
calamity. Pictured: Children are seen in a Gaza City hospital
A Palestinian man runs amid the rubble of a building hit in an Israeli air strike on October 13
Smoke billows following Israeli
strikes amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian
Islamist group Hamas, in Gaza, October 13, 2023
Israeli
army soldiers ride in the turret of a Merkava battle tank deploying
along the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel on October 13
A column of heavy armoured
personnel carriers (APCs) at an area along the border with Gaza,
southern Israel, as Israel gathers its forces around the enclave
Israel's military sent one
evacuation order directly on Friday morning, telling the 1.1 million
people living north of an area called Wadi Gaza to move south. This
would mean the entire population of Gaza City and its surroundings
fleeing their homes
The flurry of directives was
taken as signalling an already expected Israeli ground offensive,
though the Israeli military has not yet confirmed such a decision.
On Thursday it said that while it was preparing, no official decision has been made.
Any
ground offensive would be the strongest response yet to Hamas' shock
assault, and would likely bring even higher casualties on both sides in
brutal guerrilla warfare as Israeli soldiers go house-to-house and hunt
down Hamas terrorists.
'This evacuation is for your own safety,' the Israeli military said, in a warning it said was sent to all Gaza City civilians.
The
UN said it received a separate directive from the Israeli military
shortly before midnight, giving all 1.1 million civilians of northern
Gaza 24 hours to flee south.
It said
the broad evacuation warning it received for all of Gaza's north also
applies to all UN staff and to the hundreds of thousands who have taken
shelter in UN schools and other facilities since Israel launched
round-the-clock airstrikes.
'The UN
considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without
devastating humanitarian consequences,' spokesman Stephane Dujarric
said.
'The United Nations strongly
appeals for any such order, if confirmed, to be rescinded avoiding what
could transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation,'
Dujarric said.
Another UN official said
that the United Nations is trying to get clarity from Israeli officials
at the senior most political level.
'It's
completely unprecedented,' the official said, speaking on condition of
anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly.
Lieutenant
Colonel Jonathan Conricus, spokesman of the Israel Defence Forces (lDF)
said in a video update Friday that the evacuations were a 'humanitarian
step.'
'The IDF calls for the
evacuation of all civilians from Gaza City from their homes southwards
for their own safety and protection and to move to the area south of the
River Gaza.'
'The Hamas terrorist
organisation waged a war against the state of Israel and Gaza City is an
area where military operations are taking place,' he continued.
Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan
Conricus, spokesman of the Israel Defense Forces (lDF) said in a video
update Friday that the evacuations were a 'humanitarian step'
Smoke plumes billow during Israeli air strikes in Gaza City on October 12
A fireball erupts from an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on October 12
An Israeli army M109 155mm self-propelled howitzer fires rounds near the border with Gaza in southern Israel on October 12
Palestinians stretcher an injured man following an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip Thursday
Israeli tanks move near Gaza border as Israeli army deploys military vehicles around the Gaza Strip, Israel on October 12
Israeli tanks head towards the Gaza Strip border in southern Israel on Thursday
Mourners attend the funeral of Israeli soldier Shilo Rauchberger at the Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem
'This
evacuation is for your own safety. You will be able to return Gaza City
only when another announcement permitting it is made.'
Conricus
claimed the IDF has distributed a map showing Gaza City residents where
to migrate and warned they should not go near any security fences.
'Do
not approach the border, only go south,' he added, saying that they
needed to distance themselves from Hamas members 'who are using you as
human shields.'
'The IDF will continue
to operate with significant force in Gaza City and will make significant
efforts to avoid harming civilians.'
He said that civilians are 'not our enemy' and will not target them.
As
Israel pounds Gaza from the air, Hamas militants have fired thousands
of rockets into Israel, with attacks also coming from Hezbollah, in
Lebanon to the north.
Amid concerns
that the fighting could spread in the region, Syrian state media
reported Israeli airstrikes on Thursday put two Syrian airports out of
service.
Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to 'crush' Hamas after the militants stormed
into the country's south on Saturday and massacred hundreds of people,
including killings of children in their homes and young people at a
music festival.
Amid grief and demands
for vengeance among the Israeli public, the government is under intense
pressure to topple Hamas rather than continuing to try to bottle it up
in Gaza. However, the civilian toll is mounting.
Inas
Hamdan, an officer at the UN Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza City,
said the order had sparked more chaos in the Gaza Strip.
'No
one understands what to do,' she told a reporter with the Associated
Press as she grabbed whatever she could throw into her bags as the
panicked shouts of her relatives could be heard around her.
She
said all the UN staff in Gaza City and northern Gaza had been told to
evacuate south to Rafah, a city that sits on the southern border with
Egypt.
Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson
for the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza City, said there was no way
more than one million people could be safely moved that fast.
'Forget
about food, forget about electricity, forget about fuel. The only
concern now is just if you're make it, if you're going to live,' Farsakh
said, breaking into sobs.
'What will happen to our patients?' she asked. 'We have wounded, we have elderly, we have children who are in hospitals.'
Farsakh
said many of the medics were refusing to evacuate hospitals and abandon
patients. Instead, she said, they called their colleagues to say
goodbye.
A view of an explosion following a strike by IDF fighter jets on Hamas targets at a location given as the Gaza Strip
Fire and smoke rise above buildings in Gaza City during an Israeli air strike early Friday
Destroyed and damaged buildings
of the Islamic University are seen in the aftermath of Israeli strikes
amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist
group Hamas
The body of a Palestinian killed during Israeli air strikes is carried in a sheet on Thursday
Palestinians carrying their belongings flee to safer areas in Gaza City after Israeli air strikes, on October 13
A boy carries a mattres as
Palestinians with their belongings flee to safer areas in Gaza City
after Israeli air strikes, on October 13
Palestinians flash the V for victory sign as they flee to safer areas in Gaza City after Israeli air strikes, on October 13
Earlier,
the Israeli military pulverised the Gaza Strip with airstrikes,
prepared for a possible ground invasion and said its complete siege of
the territory - which has left Palestinians desperate for food, fuel and
medicine - would remain in place until Hamas militants free some 150
hostages taken during a grisly weekend incursion.
As
the full scale of the horrors of the weekend were coming into focus,
Israel's military was ramping up preparations for a ground invasion, and
Hamas was continuing to launch rockets into Israel.
'Now
is the time for war,' said Israel's military chief, Lieutenant General
Herzi Halevi, as his country amassed tanks near the Gaza Strip.
Seeking
to build support for its response, Israel's government showed U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO defense ministers graphic
images of children and civilians they said Hamas had killed in a weekend
rampage in Israel.
Blinken said they showed a baby 'riddled with bullets,' soldiers beheaded and young people burned in their cars.
'It's simply depravity in the worst imaginable way,' he said. 'It's really beyond anything that we can comprehend.'
Israel has vowed to retaliate for the attack - the deadliest by Palestinian militants in Israeli history.
Like
others across the globe, Blinken urged Israel to show restraint, but he
also reiterated America's support, saying: 'We will always be there by
your side.'
On Friday he was due to
meet King Abdullah and Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority
in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in Jordan as part of a Middle East
tour aimed at stopping spillover from the war.
America's
top diplomat, Blinken planned to visit key U.S. allies Qatar, Saudi
Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates - some with influence on
Hamas, an Islamist group backed by Iran.
Halevi said lessons would be drawn from the security failures around Gaza that enabled the attack.
'We will learn, investigate, but now is the time for war,' he said.
The
U.S. military is placing no conditions on its security assistance to
Israel, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, adding Washington
expected Israel's military to 'do the right things' in prosecuting its
war against Hamas.
Austin was due in Israel on Friday and planned to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
An armed Palestinian militant leading a man during the Supernova music festival
An
armed Palestinian militant is seen walking around the Supernova music
festival near Kibbutz Reim in the Negev desert in southern Israel
Sitting
on the back of a terrorist's motorcycle, her outstretched arms pointing
towards her helpless boyfriend, student Noa Argamani pleads for her
life
Aftermath: Burnt-out and abandoned cars where revellers tried to escape the onslaught
At
least 260 were killed in the massacre while many are still missing –
either dead or taken hostage by the bloodthirsty militants
Hamas
called on Palestinians to rise up on Friday in protest at Israel's
bombardment of the enclave, urging Palestinians to march to East
Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque and clash with Israeli troops in the occupied
West Bank.
Israel has responded so far
by putting Gaza, home to 2.3 million people, under siege and launching a
bombing campaign that destroyed whole neighborhoods.
'Not
a single electricity switch will be flipped on, not a single faucet
will be turned on and not a single fuel truck will enter until the
Israeli hostages are returned home,' Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz
said on social media.
Lt. Col. Richard
Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman, told reporters Thursday that
forces 'are preparing for a ground maneuver' should political leaders
order one.
A ground offensive in Gaza,
which is ruled by Hamas and where the population is densely packed into a
sliver of land only 25 miles long, would likely bring even higher
casualties on both sides in brutal house-to-house fighting.
As Israel pounds Gaza from the air, Hamas militants have fired thousands of rockets into Israel.
Amid
concerns that the fighting could spread in the region, Syrian state
media reported that Israeli airstrikes on Thursday put two Syrian
international airports out of service.
The
relentless barrage on Gaza - which the military said has so far
involved 6,000 munitions - left Palestinians running through streets,
carrying their belongings and looking for safety
A
strike Thursday afternoon in the Jabaliya refugee camp took down a
residential building on families sheltering inside, killing at least 45
people, Gaza's Interior Ministry said.
At least 23 of the dead were under the age of 18, including a month-old child, according to a list of the casualties.
The
home belonging to the al-Shihab family was packed with relatives who
had fled bombing in other areas. Neighbors said a second house was hit
at the same time, but the toll was not immediately known.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
'We
can´t flee because anywhere you go, you are bombed,' one neighbor,
Khalil Abu Yahia, said. 'You need a miracle to survive here.'
The
number of people forced from their homes by the airstrikes soared 25%
in a day, reaching 423,000 out of a population of 2.3 million, the U.N.
said Thursday. Most crowded into U.N.-run schools.
Families
were cutting down to one meal a day, said Rami Swailem, a 34-year-old
lecturer at al-Azhar University, who had 32 relatives sheltering in his
home. Water stopped coming to the building two days ago, and they have
rationed what´s left in a tank on the roof.
Alaa
Younis Abuel-Omrain has been staying in a U.N. school after a strike on
her home killed eight members of her family - her mother, aunt, a
sister, a brother and his wife and their three children. Most bakeries
stopped producing bread for lack of electricity.
A shell goes off in the water off the beach of Gaza during an Israeli air strike
Palestinians evacuate wounded after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah refugee camp on the southern Gaza Strip
Israel has vowed to 'crush' Hamas
after gunmen from the Palestinian Islamist group stormed across the
border and killed 1,300 people
'Even if there is food in some areas, we can´t get to it because of strikes,' she said.
On
Wednesday, Gaza´s only power station ran out of fuel and shut down,
leaving only lights powered by scattered private generators.
Hospitals,
overwhelmed by a constant stream of wounded and running out of
supplies, have only a few days worth of fuel before their power cuts
off, aid officials say.
'Without
electricity, hospitals risk turning into morgues,' said Fabrizio
Carboni, regional director of the International Committee of the Red
Cross. Newborn incubators, kidney dialysis machines, X-ray equipment and
more, are all dependent on power, he said.
Ambulance crews carrying bodies to the morgue at Gaza´s biggest hospital, Shifa, found no space left.
Dozens
of full body bags were lined up in the hospital parking lot. Fourteen
health facilities have been damaged in strikes, health officials said
Thursday.
With Israel sealing off the
territory, the only way in or out is through the crossing with Egypt at
Rafah, but Egypt's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that airstrikes on
Rafah have prevented it from operating.
Egypt has been trying to convince Israel and the United States to allow aid and fuel through the crossing.
People are seen around destroyed buildings and debris at the Al-Shate'e refugee camp after an Israeli airstrike
An explosion at a residential tower caused by Israeli bombing raids in the northern Gaza Strip
Israel is employing a new tactic of leveling whole neighborhoods, rather than just individual buildings.
Hecht,
the military spokesman, said targeting decisions were based on
intelligence on locations being used by Hamas and that civilians were
warned.
'Right now, we are focused on
taking out their senior leadership,' Hecht said. The military said
strikes have hit Hamas´ elite Nukhba forces, including command centers
used by the fighters in Saturday´s attack, and the home of a senior
Hamas naval operative used to store weapons.
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to 'crush' Hamas after the
militants stormed into the country´s south on Saturday and massacred
hundreds of people, including killings of children in their homes and
young people at a music festival.
Netanyahu
said Hamas' atrocities included beheading soldiers and raping women,
descriptions that could not immediately be independently confirmed.
Amid grief and demands for vengeance among the Israeli public, the government is under intense pressure to topple Hamas rather than continuing to try to bottle it up in Gaza.
In
a video released Thursday, civilian Hamas figures defended the group´s
rampage and decried the civilian deaths in Gaza from six days of Israeli
airstrikes.
The solemn video lacked
the bravado of a recording aired Saturday by Hamas´s military wing that
hailed 'the greatest battle' as the massacres were still taking place.
Netanyahu said Hamas' atrocities
included beheading soldiers and raping women, descriptions that could
not immediately be independently confirmed
Basem
Naim, a former Hamas government minister, said that in the 'swift
collapse' of the Israeli military on Saturday, 'chaos prevailed and
civilians found themselves in the middle of the confrontation.'
The
claim is contradicted by countless videos and survivor accounts of
Hamas militants deliberately targeting and killing civilians in Israel.
Naim added that there would be no action to free the 150 captives taken back into Gaza while Israel's operation continued.
Israel
was a nation in mourning. At a funeral for a 25-year-old woman killed
with at least 260 other people at a desert rave, and at another service
for a slain Israeli soldier, mourners sat cross-legged on the ground
next to caskets, wailing or quietly weeping.
In
Gaza, too, mourners buried families together in shrouds. At one
funeral, they placed the battered body of a little girl in the arms of
her slain father.
