Israel gives Gazans six more hours to evacuate

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is calling on Gazans to evacuate to the south within six hours, Israeli army spokesman Avichai Adrai said on social media X.

“An important announcement for the residents of Gaza City. In recent days, we have called on you to leave Gaza City, south of Wadi Gaza, in order to maintain your safety. The IDF will allow movement on these streets without any harm between 10:00 and 16:00,” he said.

The Israeli army in its Telegram channel also reportedthat the IDF had previously called on residents of the Gaza Strip to leave their homes due to a military operation being carried out in the area in response to Hamas terrorist attacks. According to the IDF, terrorists are hiding in tunnels under houses in Gaza and in civilian buildings. They also claim that the militants tried to prevent the movement of people in order to “use residents as human shields.”

On October 13, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the IDF notified the organization of the requirement for 1.1 million Gazan civilians (a total of 2.3 million people live in Gaza, writes Reuters) to move to the south within 24 hours. The evacuation call also applies to all UN staff and those taking shelter at UN sites, including schools and hospitals. Dujarric said the UN “deems such a transfer impossible without devastating humanitarian consequences.”

By assessment UN, about 400,000 Palestinians were forced to leave their homes even before the evacuation order. The death toll in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was more than 3,000 on both sides.