GAZA CITY: Israel’s military mentioned on Wednesday (Sep 17) it had opened a short lived new route to permit individuals to flee Gaza Metropolis, a day after launching a serious floor assault aimed toward crushing Hamas.
The Israeli navy unleashed a massive bombardment of Gaza City earlier than daybreak on Tuesday and pushed its troops deeper into the Gaza Strip’s largest city hub.
It got here as a United Nations probe accused Israel of committing “genocide” within the Palestinian territory, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and different senior officers had incited the crime.
On Wednesday, the Israeli navy mentioned it was opening “a short lived transportation route by way of Salah al-Din Avenue”.
Its Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee, mentioned the hall would stay open for simply 48 hours from noon (9am GMT) on Thursday.
Till now, the military had urged residents to depart Gaza Metropolis by way of the coastal street in the direction of what it calls a “humanitarian zone” additional south, together with elements of Al-Mawasi.
Salah al-Din Avenue runs down the center of the Gaza Strip from north to south.
“WE PULLED THE CHILDREN OUT IN PIECES”
The United Nations estimated on the finish of August that round a million individuals lived in Gaza Metropolis and its environment.
AFP journalists have noticed a contemporary exodus in latest days, and the Israeli military mentioned on Wednesday that “greater than 350,000” had thus far fled south.
Many Palestinians interviewed by AFP in Gaza insist there is no such thing as a secure place within the territory and say they’d slightly die of their properties than be displaced but once more.
On Tuesday, individuals spoke of relentless bombing in Gaza Metropolis, a lot of which is already in ruins after practically two years of Israeli strikes.
Solely large piles of rubble remained of a residential block within the north of the town hit by Israel’s bombardment.
“Why kill kids sleeping safely like that, turning them into physique elements?” mentioned Abu Abd Zaquout. “We pulled the youngsters out in items.”
On Tuesday, the Israeli military mentioned it had launched a serious floor operation in Gaza Metropolis to oust Hamas from certainly one of its final strongholds within the war-ravaged territory.
The warfare was sparked by Hamas’ October 2023 assault on southern Israel which resulted within the deaths of 1,219 individuals, most of them civilians, in response to an AFP tally of official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory marketing campaign has killed a minimum of 64,964 individuals, additionally largely civilians, in response to figures from the territory’s well being ministry that the United Nations considers dependable.
The Israeli navy estimates there are 2,000 to three,000 Hamas militants in central Gaza Metropolis, and that about 40 per cent of residents have fled.
