By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Alexander Cornwell and Steven Scheer
CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -The Israeli military said on Wednesday it was opening an additional route for 48 hours that Palestinians could use to leave Gaza City as it stepped up efforts to empty the city of civilians and confront thousands of Hamas combatants.
Hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering in the city and many are reluctant to follow Israel’s orders to move south because of the dangers along the way, dire conditions, a lack of food in the southern area, and fear of permanent displacement.
“Even if we want to leave Gaza City, is there any guarantee we would be able to come back? Will the war ever end? That’s why I prefer to die here, in Sabra, my neighbourhood,” Ahmed, a school teacher, said by phone.
At least 30 people were killed across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in Israel’s latest strikes, including 19 in Gaza City, local health authorities said.
TANKS EDGE FORWARD, OFFICIAL SAYS ASSAULT WILL TAKE MONTHS
A day after Israel announced the launch of a ground offensive to seize control of Gaza’s main urban centre, tanks had moved short distances towards the city’s central and western areas from three directions, but no major advance was reported.
An Israeli official said military operations were focused on getting civilians to head south and that fighting would intensify over the next month or two.
The official said Israel expected around 100,000 civilians to remain in the city, which would take months to capture, and the operation could be suspended if a ceasefire was reached with the Hamas militant group.
The prospects of a ceasefire appear remote after Israel attacked Hamas political leaders in Doha last week, infuriating Qatar, a co-mediator in ceasefire talks.
Defying global criticism of the attack, including a rebuke by Israel’s stalwart ally, the United States, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will strike Hamas leaders anywhere.
Visiting Doha on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there was “a very short window of time” in which a ceasefire could happen, apparently referring to Israel’s stated plans to crush Hamas by force in Gaza.
LEAFLETS URGE GAZA CITY RESIDENTS TO FLEE
In leaflets dropped over Gaza City, the military said Palestinians could use the newly reopened Salahudin Road to escape towards the south and that they had until lunchtime on Friday to do so.
“Movement must only take place via the streets marked in yellow on the map as the route for southward transit. Follow the instructions of the security forces and traffic signs,” they said.
But the situation remained chaotic and dangerous for civilians, who have been streaming away on foot, by donkey cart or in vehicles in recent days.
Much of Gaza City was laid to waste early in the war in 2023, but around 1 million Palestinians had returned there to homes among the ruins. Forcing them out would mean confining most of Gaza’s population to overcrowded encampments in the south where a hunger crisis is unfolding.
The United Nations, aid groups and foreign governments have condemned Israel’s offensive and the proposed mass displacement.
A U.N. Commission of Inquiry concluded on Tuesday that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Israel called the assessment “scandalous” and “fake”.
HIGH-RISE BUILDING HIT IN REFUGEE CAMP
Israeli forces control Gaza City’s eastern suburbs and have been pounding three areas in the southeast, north and northwestern coastal areas of the city, from which tanks have been pressing towards the centre and western areas.
“Gaza is being wiped out. A city that is thousands of years old is being wiped out in front of the whole cowardly world,” said Ahmed, the school teacher.
Palestinian and UN officials say no place is safe, including in the southern area designated by Israel as a “humanitarian zone”. On Tuesday, an airstrike killed five people in a vehicle as they were leaving Gaza City for the south.
In Nuseirat refugee camp in the enclave’s centre, an airstrike destroyed a high-rise building on Wednesday, prompting residents of nearby buildings to flee in panic.
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN GAZA CITY
The Hamas-run Gaza government media office said Israel has destroyed and damaged 1,600 residential buildings since August 10, when Netanyahu announced Israel’s intention to take full control of the territory by force.
Israeli forces have also destroyed 13,000 tents in Gaza City where displaced people had been sheltering, it said.
Israel estimates 40% of people who were in Gaza City on August 10 have since left. The Gaza media office says 190,000 have headed south and 350,000 have moved to central and western areas of the city.
Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, Israeli tallies show. Israel’s military assault against Hamas has killed over 64,000 Palestinians, Gaza’s health ministry says.
(Writing by Estelle Shirbon, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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