Hundreds of thousands of residents of the northern Gaza Strip are moving south ahead of an expected Israeli ground invasion.
Palestinian men, women and children load cars and trucks with mattresses and their belongings.
Others walked, dragging suitcases and holding their children.
More than a million people live in areas where Israel announced on Friday that civilians had 24 hours to evacuate.
As 300,000 Israeli soldiers gathered at the border, Israel extended the evacuation deadline several times.
However, many Palestinians refused to leave their homes, reportedly fearing they could be killed or injured on the escape route, the Washington Post reported.
An explosion hit a convoy on the evacuation route in Gaza, killing a number of people, including children, on Friday.
Ahmed Okal, 43, who lives in Gaza City’s Zaitoun neighborhood, said he feared civilians traveling south might be targeted by airstrikes.
Palestinians flee their homes amid Israeli attacks after Israeli calls for more than 1 million civilians in northern Gaza to move south.REUTERS
“I must be afraid, very afraid, but I will not risk the lives of my wife and children on the way south,” he said, referring to reports that some of those who escaped were killed in an airstrike.
“Let us die in our houses,” he said. “The road is dangerous.”
Hamas has told Gazans to stay at home.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians travel from northern Gaza through two evacuation routes.AP
The Israeli military claims Hamas has imposed a blockade to ensure Gazans evacuate Gaza City and the north, although it is unclear whether the massive traffic jams are blocking escape routes.
Follow The Post’s live blog for the latest news on Hamas attacks on Israel
“They have time to move south, they need to start moving,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Richard Hecht said Saturday morning.
“We understand this will take time,” he added, but declined to say if, or for how long, the deadline for transfers would be extended further.
As thousands fled northern Gaza, many residents refused to leave, fearing they would be attacked by Israeli attacks like the one that attacked the convoy on Friday. MOHAMMED SABER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Video verified by CNN shows a scene of massive destruction after Friday’s explosion on Jalan Salah Al-Deen.
Many bodies, including children, were seen on top of a truck that appeared to have been used to transport people from Gaza City.
A badly burned and damaged car is also seen in the video.
Parents who took their children and what they could take with them began to leave northern Gaza.AP
The Israeli military said it could not confirm reports of an attack at the location.
United Nations officials considered the order to evacuate 1.1 million people in one day “impossible.”
Another Gaza City resident, Rawan Abu Hamda, 41, tried to evacuate on one of the escape routes but turned back home when he heard reports of Friday’s strike hitting civilians trying to leave.
He told the Washington Post that hundreds of other families had also stayed in his neighborhood, many of them sheltering near al-Shifa hospital.
They hoped the hospital would not be targeted by airstrikes — even though the ceiling of the nursery department collapsed on October 9 after gunfire nearby.
Gazans load their cars and trucks with mattresses and other items as they prepare to evacuate northern Gaza.MOHAMMED SABER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The Israeli military extended the evacuation deadline for Gaza City’s main hospital by an extra 10 hours on Saturday as a ground offensive targeting Hamas terrorists loomed – but medical officials there refused to budge.
The worst attack on Israel in 50 years: How we got here
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip three decades after winning the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: The terrorist group Hamas wins Palestinian legislative elections.
2007: Hamas takes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launched a military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fired rockets into the city of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches its biggest attack on Israel in 50 years.
More than 1,300 Israelis have been killed, more than 3,000 injured and at least 100 taken hostage, with the death toll expected to rise after Hamas terrorists fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of militants into Israeli cities.
Hamas terrorists are seen taking women hostage and parading them through the streets in a gruesome video.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced “We are at war” and promised Hamas would pay an “unprecedented price.”
Gaza health officials reported at least 1,400 Palestinians killed and more than 6,000 wounded.
Palestine Red Crescent Society “cannot evacuate hospital,” the group said in a dissenting statement announcing its intention to ignore the new 9 a.m. ET deadline.
“Al Quds Hospital is offering life-saving services to a large number of Palestinian patients and wounded … in addition to the hundreds of civilians sheltering” there, the PRCS added.
By wire
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
