Israel's army on Saturday called on Palestinians in Gaza City to move to a humanitarian area it designated in the south as it expanded its operations in preparation for seizing the famine-stricken city, including targeting high-rise buildings. Parts of the city, home to nearly 1 million people, are already considered "red zones," where evacuation orders have been issued ahead of the expected offensive, per the AP. Aid groups have repeatedly warned that a large-scale evacuation of Gaza City would exacerbate the dire humanitarian situation, after the world's leading authority on food crises declared the city to be gripped by famine. Palestinians have been uprooted and displaced multiple times during the nearly two-year-long war, with many being too weak to move and having nowhere to go.
- An Israeli military spokesperson wrote on X that the army declared Muwasi—a makeshift tent camp in the southern Gaza Strip—a humanitarian area and urged everyone in the city, which it called a Hamas stronghold and specified as a combat zone, to leave. The army said they could travel in cars down a designated road without being searched.
- The designated safe zone would include field hospitals, water pipelines, food, and tents, and relief efforts "will continue on an ongoing basis in cooperation with the UN and international organizations," the statement said. The declaration of the so-called "humanitarian zone" in southern Gaza was done by the Israeli authorities unilaterally, and the UN and wider humanitarian community aren't part of that designation, according to Olga Cherevko, a rep for the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Israeli forces have struck such humanitarian areas throughout the war, including Muwasi, which they previously declared a safe zone, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry.
- Israel on Saturday issued warnings for two high-rises in Gaza City and the tents around them, saying Hamas had infrastructure inside or near them. It comes a day after Israel struck another high-rise building in Gaza City, saying Hamas used it for surveillance, without providing evidence.
- Despite Israel's warnings, many Palestinians in Gaza City say they won't leave. "They only order us to leave from one town to another? What are we going to do with our children? Those who have an ill person, or an elderly or a wounded, where are we going to take them?" said one woman.
- Israel's offensive has also sparked widespread protests among Israelis who fear it will endanger hostages still held in Gaza, some of whom are believed to be in Gaza City. There are 48 such hostages, 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive.
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