Thousands of Palestinians fled to southern Gaza in search of refuge on Friday after Israel warned them to evacuate before an expected ground offensive against Hamas in retaliation for the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.
In the latest development, a Reuters journalist was killed in south Lebanon, the news agency said in a statement.
Nearly 1,800 Gazans — including over 580 children — have been killed in waves of missile strikes on the densely populated enclave, the Palestinian health ministry said.
According to Israel, Hamas took an estimated 150 Israeli, foreign and dual-national hostages back to Gaza during its initial attack.
Tensions meanwhile rose across the Middle East and beyond, with protests in support of the Palestinians, while Israel faced the threat of a separate confrontation with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The Israeli military has warned it would operate “significantly” in Gaza City in the coming days and civilians would only be able to return when another announcement was made.
Hamas, on the other hand, rejected the Israeli order. The US termed it a “tall order.”
In Gaza, United Nations officials said the Israeli military, whose troops are massing at the border, had told them the evacuation should be carried out “within the next 24 hours.”
It later admitted it would take more time, however, and did not confirm it had set the deadline.
But the United Nations described the immediate movement of some 1.1 million people — nearly half of the 2.4 million in the Gaza Strip — as “impossible.” It urgently appealed for the order to be rescinded. Aid agencies have warned mass evacuations would stretch support to the limit, as fuel, food, and water dwindled due to an Israeli blockade.
Israel has put Gaza, home to 2.3 million people, under siege.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said fuel powering emergency generators at hospitals in Gaza could run out within hours and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned food and fresh water were running dangerously low.
The UN announced that its agency for Palestinian refugees is moving operations and foreign staff to southern Gaza.
Seeking to build support for its response, Israel’s government showed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Nato defense ministers graphic images of children and civilians they said Hamas had killed in a weekend rampage in Israel.
US law enforcement officials in New York and Los Angeles said they had a stepped up police presence for Friday, especially around synagogues and Jewish community centers, but some officials sought to play down the threat.
In Jerusalem, scores of Israelis gathered at the Mount Herzl military cemetery on Thursday to bury their dead.
Key developments
- Israeli military says its ground forces made raids into Gaza over past 24 hours
- UN urges Israel to call off evacuation order, says it can’t take place without ‘devastating human consequences’
- Over 1,800 Gazans killed in Israeli bombardment, 423,000 Palestinians displaced; 9 Palestinians killed today during rallies in West Bank
- Israeli death toll from Hamas offensive rises to 1,300
