The Israeli military yesterday said it was opening an additional route for 48 hours that Palestinians could use to leave Gaza City as it stepped up efforts to empty the city of civilians and confront thousands of Hamas combatants.
Hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering in the city, and many are reluctant to follow Israel’s orders to move south because of dangers along the way, dire conditions, a lack of food in the southern area and fear of permanent displacement.
At least 63 people were killed by Israeli strikes and gunfire across the Gaza Strip yesterday, with most of the casualties in Gaza City, local health authorities said. They said the latest fatalities took the Palestinian death toll from the two-year war between Israel and Hamas past 65,000.
Huge numbers of Palestinians were fleeing Gaza City by any means on Wednesday as the Israeli military pressed its ground offensive, killing dozens in strikes.
AFP 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 had announced the day before that the US-backed campaign in the Gaza Strip’s largest city had begun, pledging 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 area 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 people on Wednesday, including 41 in Gaza City.
Media restrictions in the territory and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the details provided by the civil defence or the Israeli military.
The offensive 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.
On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it was opening “a temporary transportation route via Salah al-Din Street”, as AFP images showed fresh bombardments.
Its Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, said the corridor would remain open for just 48 hours from midday (0900 GMT).
