The Israeli army on Saturday urged residents of Gaza City to evacuate to the Al-Mawasi “humanitarian zone” in the south, ahead of an anticipated offensive to capture the enclave’s largest urban centre.
Military spokesman Avichay Adraee called on civilians to “take this opportunity to move early to the (Al-Mawasi) humanitarian zone and join the thousands of people who have already gone there.”
The army said Al-Mawasi, located on Gaza’s southern coast, includes field hospitals, water pipelines, desalination facilities, and ongoing supplies of food, tents, medicines, and medical equipment. Relief operations, it added, are being carried out in cooperation with the UN and international organisations “in parallel to the expansion of the ground operation.”
However, Gaza residents remain sceptical. “Some say we should evacuate, others say we should stay,” said Abdel Nasser Mushtaha, a resident of Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood now sheltering in Rimal. His daughter Samia added: “Wherever we go, death pursues us, whether by bombing or hunger.”
Although Israel designated Al-Mawasi a safe zone earlier in the war, it has carried out strikes there, claiming Hamas fighters were embedded among civilians.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. was in “very deep negotiation with Hamas” over the release of hostages still held in Gaza. Militants abducted 251 people during the October 2023 attack on Israel that ignited the war; 47 remain in Gaza, with 25 believed dead.
The UN has warned of a looming “disaster” if Israel presses ahead with its offensive on Gaza City, where nearly one million people remain. It estimates that Israel’s operation could displace another million people further south.
Hamas’s October 2023 assault on Israel left 1,219 dead, while Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,300 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry figures that the UN cites as credible.
What you should know
Israel’s call for Gaza City residents to flee underscores a critical stage in the nearly two-year war that began with Hamas’s October 2023 attack.
With famine declared in Gaza City and nearly one million civilians still there, the UN warns the looming offensive could trigger a humanitarian disaster.
