(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) The Israeli military on Tuesday ordered the full evacuation of Gaza City, where famine is taking place, as it continues to escalate its offensive with the goal of cleansing the city of its Palestinian population and razing every building to the ground.
“To all residents of the city of Gaza and those present in all its neighborhoods, from the Old City and Tafah to the east and up to the sea to the west,” IDF Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote on X.
Adraee said the Israeli military is “determined to eliminate Hamas and will operate in the Gaza city area with great force, as it has operated in various parts of the Strip.”
Adraee told all Palestinian civilians in the area to head to southern Gaza, where the Israeli military continues to bomb and shoot Palestinians. The statement marks the first time since the IDF began its current offensive in Gaza City in August that it ordered the entire city to be cleared. Previous evacuation orders applied to specific sections of the city.
The IDF has estimated that there were more than one million Palestinian civilians in Gaza City before it began its offensive and that about 100,000 people have already fled the city.
About 50,000 Palestinians are believed to have left northern Gaza and gone south of the Israeli-controlled Netzarim Corridor.
There hasn’t been a mass exodus of Palestinians from Gaza City since many do not believe they will be any safer in the south, and for malnourished and sick Palestinians, another forced displacement could be a death sentence. Palestinians also believe that once they leave Gaza City, they will never be able to return, since Israeli officials have made clear that their ultimate goal is ethnic cleansing.
In recent days, the Israeli military has destroyed dozens of high-rise buildings in Gaza City, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who threatened on Monday that the assault on the city would intensify. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz also said the city would be hit with a “powerful hurricane” of Israeli strikes.
This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.
