LIVE Day 7 | Israel orders evacuation of northern Gaza as it readies for ground invasion

Israel's military issued an unprecedented order on Friday (October 13), instructing around 1 million Palestinians to leave northern Gaza and relocate to the southern area of the besieged territory. This directive, affecting nearly half the population, precedes an anticipated ground invasion against the ruling Hamas militant group.

The UN warned that so many people fleeing en masse would be calamitous. Hamas, which staged a shocking and brutal attack on Israel nearly a week ago and has fired thousands of rockets since, dismissed it as a ploy and called on people to stay in their homes.

The evacuation order, which includes Gaza City, home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, sparked widespread panic among civilians and aid workers already running from Israeli airstrikes and contending with a total siege and a territory-wide blackout.

Hamas said Israel's bombardment has killed 13 of the hostages, including foreigners. It did not give their nationalities, saying they were killed over the last 24 hours.

Israeli military spokesperson spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari denied that airstrikes killed hostages, telling Al-Jazeera Arabic that “we have our own information and do not believe the lies of Hamas”.

The military urged all civilians in Gaza's north to move south, according to Hagari — an order that the UN said affects 1.1 million people.

Israel said it needed to target Hamas' military infrastructure, much of which is buried deep underground. Another spokesperson, Jonathan Conricus, said the military would take “extensive efforts to avoid harming civilians” and that residents would be allowed to return when the war is over.

Hamas militants operate in civilian areas, where Israel has long accused them of using Palestinians as human shields. A mass evacuation of civilians, if carried out, would leave their fighters exposed as never before.

But UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said it would be impossible to stage such an evacuation without “devastating humanitarian consequences”. He called on Israel to rescind any such orders, saying they could “transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation”.

Hamas, meanwhile, called on Palestinians to stay in their homes, saying Israel “is trying to create confusion among citizens and harm the cohesion of our internal front.” It called on Palestinians to ignore what it said was “psychological warfare”.

(With agency inputs)

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