The United Nations has said is it “impossible” for Palestinians to move to the south of Gaza in the next 24 hours, after citizens were ordered to evacuate by Israel’s military. Israel’s military issued the evacuation order, in its strongest hint yet that it prepares to launch a ground offensive almost a week after Hamas’s surprise assault. UN officials in Gaza “were informed by their liaison officers in the Israeli military that the entire population of Gaza north of Wadi Gaza should relocate to southern Gaza within the next 24 hours,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement in New York. “This amounts to approximately 1.1 million people,” he added, or nearly half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population. Mr Dujarric said the UN “considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences”. It came after the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said “this evacuation is for your own safety”, but in response, Hamas has called the warning “fake propaganda” and urged Palestinians “not to fall for it”. The UN has appealed for the order to be rescinded to avoid “what could transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation”.
Source: National News Agency – Lebanon