The Israeli army urged residents of Gaza City on Saturday to evacuate to a “humanitarian zone” in the south, ahead of the announced ground offensive to take the town, the most populated in the Palestinian territory.
Colonel Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army's Arabic-language spokesman, made the call to evacuate via social media.
The UN estimates that around one million people live in this area and warned of a “disaster” if the offensive expands.
The Israeli army, which claims to control 75% of the Gaza Strip and 40% of the city, maintains that it seeks to take the town to destroy the Hamas terrorist group and free the hostages.
The evacuation call followed remarks by US President Donald Trump on Friday that the United States is in “very deep” talks with Hamas, the organization responsible for the October 7, 2023, attack in Israel that led to the war.
“We told them, ‘Let them all out right now, let them all out, and much better things will happen for them,’” Trump told reporters.
Trump added that some of the hostages may have “recently died.”
The Israeli military estimates that 25 of the 47 captives remaining in Gaza—of the 251 kidnapped on October 7—have died.
The Palestinian Islamist movement accepted in August a ceasefire proposal to release hostages in stages, with mediation by Egypt, the United States and Qatar.
The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is demanding Hamas disarmament and says it intends to regain control of the security of the Gaza Strip.
“Humanitarian zone”
The army spokesman said that to “ facilitate the evacuation of the city's inhabitants ”, an area in Al Mawasi, in the south, was declared a “ humanitarian zone ”.
According to the Army, this area has “ essential humanitarian infrastructure ” and has “ food, tents, medicines and medical equipment ”.
On Friday, Israel stepped up its operations in Gaza City, bombing a building in the center that collapsed after an evacuation notice.
According to the army, Hamas installed “infrastructure” there to “prepare and carry out attacks” against Israel.
The territory's Civil Defense, where Hamas took power in 2007, reported that 42 people were killed Friday by Israeli shelling or firing, half of them in Gaza City.
The October 7 attack left 1,219 dead in Israel, mostly civilians, according to a tally by the AFP news agency based on official data.
Israeli retaliation has left at least 64,300 people dead in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
