Israeli forces on Thursday intensified shelling across the Gaza Strip and ordered more evacuations, triggering a new wave of displacement from northern Gaza, where Palestinians fear they will not be able to return.
As Israeli tanks advanced on Beit Lahiya, one month into the new offensive against northern Gaza, dozens of families poured out, arriving at schools and other shelters housing displaced people in Gaza City with their belongings and food. that they could carry.
The drones flew over the area issuing evacuation orders, which were also transmitted through social networks and audio and text messages sent to residents’ phones, according to one displaced person.
“After displacing most or all of the population of Yabalia, they are now bombing everywhere, killing people on the roads and inside their homes to force everyone to leave,” the man told Reuters via a chat app, giving only one name, Ahmed, for fear of repercussions.
Palestinian officials say Israel is carrying out a plan of “ethnic cleansing” and they and residents say no aid has entered Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun since the incursion began on October 5.
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More families leave northern Gaza as tanks move into area
The Israeli military says it was forced to evacuate Jabalia and begin evacuating nearby Beit Lahiya on Wednesday so it could confront Hamas militants who it says have regrouped there.
It denied media reports that evacuees from northern Gaza would not be allowed to return and said it was continuing to allow aid into northern Gaza and the Jabalia area, where it said it was undergoing “heavy fighting.” .
“The statement attributed to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) in the last 24 hours, stating that residents of northern Gaza will not be allowed to return to their homes, is incorrect and does not reflect the goals and values of the IDF” , he stated.
Palestinian doctors said Israeli fire had killed six people in Jabalia, the largest of the enclave’s eight historic refugee camps, four in Beit Lahiya and seven in Rafah, near the Egyptian border in southern Gaza.
The Israeli military said forces operating in Jabalia had killed about 50 militants in the past 24 hours and facilitated the departure of Palestinians from combat zones through organized routes.
Palestinian and UN officials say there are no safe areas in the enclave, where most of its 2.3 million residents have been internally displaced.
With information from Reuters.
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