The Israeli army has ordered the evacuation of Palestinians from southern Gaza as it continues bombing in the area after a week-long truce collapsed on Friday. But Palestinians and rights groups are questioning Israel’s decision to step up bombing in the south of the besieged enclave, which was declared a safe zone when the war began about two months ago.
This leaves Palestinians in Gaza with virtually nowhere to go.
Here’s what we know so far:
How many people were displaced from the north to the south?
More than a million Palestinians have been displaced from northern Gaza since October 13, when the Israeli army ordered the population to evacuate to the south with 24 hours’ notice. More than 15,500 Palestinians were killed and northern Gaza has since been devastated in weeks of indiscriminate bombing.
Around 958,000 displaced Palestinians have been registered in 99 UNRWA shelters in central and southern Gaza, according to the UN humanitarian agency OCHA; 70 of these centers are in the southern towns of Rafah and Khan Younis. Another estimated 191,000 people were in informal collective shelters: 124 public schools, hospitals, wedding halls, offices and community centers. The others were hosted by families, OCHA added.
OCHA reported that UNRWA shelters are now overcrowded and have poor sanitary conditions, leading to outbreaks of infections and diseases such as hepatitis A.
What is happening in Khan Younis?
Israel declared Khan Younis a “dangerous combat zone” after the truce ended, hitting the second-largest city in the besieged enclave, home to 430,000 residents.
On Sunday, the Israeli military designated around 20 percent of Khan Younis for immediate evacuation. The demarcated area is home to 21 shelters and 50,000 internally displaced people, mainly from northern Gaza, according to OCHA.
Israel ordered the evacuation as it stepped up its bombing, killing more than 800 Palestinians in Gaza over the past three days. Residents say they were asked to move to Rafah, which was also not spared.
Khan Younis was a designated safe space before the truce ended and 215,000 displaced Palestinians were sheltering in 34 UNRWA shelters in the city. Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have found refuge in other places made available by local authorities.
What Israel’s evacuation map tells us
The Israeli army published an online map of the Gaza Strip on Friday, dividing the enclave into more than 600 numbered blocks. He asked civilians in Gaza to identify the block corresponding to their area of residence and to evacuate on order.
On Saturday, Israel used the grid system to order evacuation first came when military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted warnings online, calling on Palestinians to evacuate around 20 areas of Gaza, with three arrows on a map, all pointing south indicating where people should go.
However, leaflets distributed ordering the evacuation did not match online warnings, causing confusion among residents.
Additionally, several Gaza residents have no reliable way to access the card, with little access to electricity or internet since the blockade of the 365-square-kilometer (141-square-mile) strip resulted in the collapse of telecommunications infrastructure.
The military offensive continues as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Saturday that the war would not end until its goal of destroying Hamas was achieved, despite international outcry over the staggering number of Palestinian casualties. Nearly 70 Israeli soldiers were killed during the ground invasion of Gaza.
Israel has vowed revenge after the Hamas armed group carried out a surprise attack on October 7 in Israel, killing up to 1,200 people.
Are there safe zones in Gaza?
“There are no safe zones,” Osama Hamdan, a Hamas official based in Lebanon, said on Sunday.
The Israeli military said Monday on X that it was defining “safe zones” for civilians to minimize harm to them. However, Tel Aviv Tribune journalists and people on the ground say it is difficult to listen to these orders in real time when there is no longer a safe place in the enclave.
Even the shelters are not safe: as of November 23, UNRWA reported that at least 191 Palestinians displaced in the shelters had been killed and 798 injured.
An analysis of casualty figures shows that nearly 80 percent of those killed in Israeli attacks are civilians.
Israel on Saturday ordered residents of eastern Gaza City neighborhoods, including Shujayea, Zeitoun and the Old City, to evacuate to the west.
Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, told Sky News that al-Mawasi, a narrow Bedouin coastal town to the south, is a safe zone and is one of the shelters created with humanitarian organizations. When Sky News correspondents went to al-Mawasi to investigate, they found no accommodation, such as agency tents or canteens.
Some Palestinians are fleeing for the fourth time since the outbreak of violence on October 7.
Rafik al-Rekeb, displaced from Bani Suheila in Khan Younis, told Tel Aviv Tribune: “A safe area must be equipped with everything necessary,” such as tents.
“There is no safe area in Gaza. Am I supposed to sleep with my kids in the rain in this designated safe area? » said al-Rekeb.
The UN has called Gaza a “death zone” and a “children’s graveyard”, calling for a pause in the fighting. It has struggled to deliver aid due to Israel’s total siege of the enclave. The supply of aid, however, accelerated during the week-long truce.
“The people of Gaza are staring into the humanitarian abyss,” former UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness told Tel Aviv Tribune.
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