Thousands of Palestinians are fleeing Gaza City as the Israeli military intensifies its ground offensive. Photo / Getty Images
Huge numbers of Palestinians have been fleeing Gaza City by any means as the Israeli military presses its ground offensive, killing dozens in strikes.
Images showed a steady stream of Gazans heading south on foot, by car, and on donkey carts, with their few belongings piled high as Israel bombarded the city.
Israel said the US-backed campaign in the Gaza Strip’s largest city was a bid to destroy the militant group Hamas in the area.
The offensive has sparked outrage among the international community, with the Palestinian territory already devastated by nearly two years of war and the Gaza City region gripped by a UN-declared famine.
Gaza’s civil defence agency, a rescue force operating under Hamas authority, said Israeli fire had killed at least 64 on Wednesday, including 41 in Gaza City.
Media restrictions in the territory and difficulties in accessing many areas mean media is unable to independently verify the details provided by the civil defence or the Israeli military.
The Israeli military said it was opening a temporary new route to allow people to flee, after unleashing a massive bombardment and pushing its troops deeper into Gaza City.
It came as a United Nations probe accused Israel of committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials had incited the crime.
The Israeli military said it was opening “a temporary transportation route via Salah al-Din Street”, as images showed fresh bombardments.
Its Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said the corridor would remain open for just 48 hours.
The United Nations estimated at the end of August that about one million people were living in Gaza City and its surroundings.
The Israeli military said that more than 350,000 had so far fled south.
But many Gazans say nowhere is safe and have vowed to stay in their homes.
“I won’t leave Gaza. There’s shelling here and there,” said Umm Ahmed Yunes, who is living in her partially destroyed home.
“Where would I find $1000 or $2000 for transport costs? Where would I buy a tent? There are no tents and prices are insane,” said the 44-year-old.
“Death is cheaper and more merciful.”
Mother of four Fatima Lubbad left Gaza City with 10 relatives but said the ordeal was unbearable.
“I wish we would all die together,” said the 36-year-old.
“Last night we slept in the street by the sea in Deir el-Balah – there was nowhere to put a tent ... I cried all night as I looked at my children sleeping on the ground.”
The Israeli military said it had struck more than 150 targets in Gaza City since launching its ground assault earlier this week.
In Gaza City’s Shati camp, an Israeli airstrike killed four people, including a woman and her child, according to the civil defence agency.
“Enough, we want to be free. We want to live, we don’t want to die, who told you we want to die? Tell Netanyahu: we don’t want to die!” said Mohammed al-Danf, a witness.
The families of hostages taken by Palestinian militants in their October 2023 attack protested the Gaza City offensive in front of Netanyahu’s house in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
“My boy is dying over there. Instead of bringing him back, you have done the exact opposite – you have done everything to prevent his return,” Ofir Braslavski, whose son Rom is held captive in Gaza, said addressing the Prime Minister.
Of the 251 people taken hostage by Palestinian militants in October 2023, 47 remain in Gaza, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.
The attack also resulted in the deaths of 1219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 65,062 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
On Tuesday, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry (COI), which does not speak for the world body, found that “genocide is occurring in Gaza and is continuing to occur”, commission chief Navi Pillay told AFP.
Israel said it “categorically rejects this distorted and false report” and called for the “immediate abolition” of the COI.
On Wednesday, Qatar became the latest country to urge Israel to stop its assault on Gaza City, calling it “an extension of its genocidal war against the Palestinian people”.
Doha was joined by China, Pope Leo XIV and others in condemning the offensive.
On September 9, Israel targeted Hamas leaders in a strike on Qatar, a key mediator in Gaza ceasefire talks.
Ghazi Hamad, a top official in the Islamist movement appeared on Wednesday in a live interview broadcast by Qatari channel Al Jazeera, in the first appearance of a Hamas leader since the Israeli attack.
“The rockets came down consecutively, without a pause, around 12 missiles in less than a minute,” Hamad said.
“God destined us to survive this treacherous aggression against us and sister Qatar,” he said.
– Agence France-Presse