IDF warns: “Remaining in the area is extremely dangerous”

Israel’s military has ordered the entire population of Gaza City to leave immediately, signaling preparations for a full-scale ground offensive against Hamas in the territory’s largest urban center. minotaur fight store | minotaurfightstore

Leaflets dropped from aircraft and posts on social media carried the stark warning: “For your safety, evacuate immediately.” The call, issued by IDF Arabic spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee, directed as many as one million civilians to move southward.

Netanyahu: Airstrikes “only the beginning”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that the waves of airstrikes which had flattened dozens of high-rise buildings in recent days were a prelude to a far more aggressive operation.

“Now begins the main, intensive phase – the ground incursion of our forces,” Netanyahu declared in a video message, urging civilians to leave Gaza City at once. “You have been warned: get out of there.”

According to Netanyahu, at least 50 towers in Gaza were destroyed in just two days of bombardment.

Hamas: “Forced displacement under fire”

Hamas denounced the order as a crime, accusing Israel of attempting mass expulsion under cover of war. “This is forced displacement carried out through bombing, starvation, and death threats,” the group said.

Despite the warnings, photographs showed streams of residents walking along the coastal road toward southern Gaza – some on foot, others in donkey carts or packed vehicles. Still, aid workers reported no evidence of a full-scale exodus.

Hanaa, a mother of three who lost her home earlier in the war, told the BBC she remained in Gaza City because she had no safe destination. “If I knew where to go, I would have left already,” she said.

Student Razan Salha fled two days earlier, paying $375 for a ride south. Now sheltering with 20 relatives in Deir al-Balah, she described the ordeal as “instability and homelessness” that had left her “very, very tired.”

Humanitarian crisis deepens

The UN and aid groups warned the evacuation order could trigger catastrophic consequences. With famine already declared in Gaza City, agencies say many families cannot afford transport or lack anywhere safe to go.

“Ordering hundreds of thousands to relocate may amount to forcible transfer under international law,” UN officials cautioned last week.

Figures released Sunday showed more than 97,000 people displaced since mid-August, but only about half that number managed to reach the south.

Israel has designated the coastal area of al-Mawasi as a “humanitarian zone,” promising field hospitals, food, and water infrastructure in coordination with aid agencies. Yet UN officials stress that al-Mawasi has also come under attack during the war, its tent camps are overcrowded, and local hospitals are operating beyond capacity.

Looming famine

Tom Fletcher, the UN’s humanitarian chief, warned Sunday that time is running out to prevent famine spreading deeper into central and southern Gaza. Since late August, Gaza’s health ministry – run by Hamas – has reported at least 121 deaths linked to starvation or malnutrition.

Israel disputes those figures but says it is expanding aid facilitation while continuing military operations.

Nearly two years of war

The campaign in Gaza began after Hamas’s 7 October 2023 assault on southern Israel that left about 1,200 people dead and 251 taken hostage.

Since then, Gaza’s health ministry says more than 64,600 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes, while 48 hostages remain in Hamas captivity – 20 of them believed to be alive.

With Israel’s security cabinet approving plans to seize all of Gaza after the breakdown of ceasefire negotiations in July, Gaza City has become the central battleground once again.