Israel has declared Gaza City, in northern Gaza, a combat zone in an effort to pressure Hamas, leaving residents with a stark choice: “whether to live or die.” Certain areas have been marked as “red zones,” with orders for people to evacuate ahead of expected heavy fighting.
Since the announcement last Friday, only a small fraction of Gaza City’s nearly one million residents have managed to leave. By Monday, roughly 14,840 people had fled south, according to Site Management Cluster data cited by news agencies, while another 2,200 were displaced to other parts of the city after their homes were damaged by Israeli attacks.
Residents of Gaza Face Deadly Dilemma Amid Evacuation Orders
Evacuation is fraught with difficulty. Costs run into thousands of dollars, and the already crowded southern areas offer little space, even for a single tent. Many residents had returned to northern Gaza during a ceasefire in January, hoping their homes had survived, only to face another wave of displacement.
As Israeli forces continue clearing land in occupied areas, and political leaders urge Palestinians to leave, many fear that leaving now could mean never returning. Amjad Shawa, director of a Palestinian NGO network, said his family would comply if ordered to evacuate, but warned that this exodus would be far more dangerous than the previous one, as southern cities like Rafah and Khan Younis were intact during the last evacuation.
Majority of Gaza Reduced to Rubble by Israel
Satellite images reviewed by the Associated Press from early August and September show vast parts of Gaza City, including the nearby Sabra neighborhood, reduced to empty, sandy lots.
For residents, especially medical staff, the elderly, and the sick, leaving Gaza City is nearly impossible. They are trapped between the imminent threat of attack and the lack of safe places to seek refuge, facing an agonizing dilemma amid one of the region’s deadliest conflicts.
Meanwhile, the UAE warned that if Israel annexes the occupied West Bank, it would cross Abu Dhabi’s “red line” and harm the Abraham Accords, which normalized UAE-Israel ties. In August, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said construction on a delayed settlement would start, dividing the West Bank and separating it from East Jerusalem, effectively ending hopes for a Palestinian state.
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