WEB DESK
While over one million Palestinians in northern Gaza faced an Israeli deadline on Saturday to evacuate south, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that it was just the beginning for Israel to retaliate for last week’s Hamas rampage through southern Israel.
As the ensnared Palestinians faced severe Israeli bombing, a power outage, and a scarcity of food and water, US President Joe Biden announced that talks with the governments of the region were taking place over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Israel has pledged to eliminate Hamas following a recent attack that killed 1,300 Israelis and seized hostages. The Hamas-run Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, has been under a total siege and bombarded with unprecedented air strikes, resulting in 1,900 deaths.
More than one million residents of northern Gaza on Friday received 24 hours’ notice from Israel to flee south before an expected ground offensive. Hamas vowed to fight to the last drop of blood and told residents to stay.
Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said tank-backed troops had mounted raids to hit Palestinian rocket crews and gather information on the location of hostages, the first official account of ground troops in Gaza since the crisis began.
“We are striking our enemies with unprecedented might,” Netanyahu said in a rare statement televised on Friday after the Jewish Sabbath began. “I emphasise that this is only the beginning.”
Impossible for Gazans to relocate in 24 hours
Tens of thousands of Palestinians were estimated to have headed south from northern Gaza following the Israeli order, according to the United Nations (UN), which said more than 400,000 Palestinians had been internally displaced due to hostilities prior to the directive.
Many others, however, said they would stay. “Death is better than leaving,” said Mohammad, 20, outside a building smashed by an Israeli air strike near the centre of Gaza.
Mosques broadcast the message: “Hold on to your homes. Hold on to your land.”
The UN and other organisations warned of a disaster if so many people were forced to flee, and said the siege should be lifted to let in aid.
“We need immediate humanitarian access throughout Gaza, so that we can get fuel, food and water to everyone in need. Even wars have rules,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday.
Biden emphasised the humanitarian crisis as a top priority, stating that US teams are working with Israel, Egypt, Jordan, other Arab governments, and the UN in the region.
“The overwhelming majority of Palestinians had nothing to do with Hamas and Hamas’ appalling attacks,” he said. “And they’re suffering as a result as well.”
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said it was impossible for Gazans to heed Israel’s order to move south without “devastating humanitarian consequences”, prompting a rebuke from Israel that the UN should condemn Hamas and support Israel’s right to self-defence, Reuters reported.
“The noose around the civilian population in Gaza is tightening. How are 1.1 million people supposed to move across a densely populated war zone in less than 24 hours?” UN aid chief Martin Griffiths wrote on social media.