Israel orders evacuation of 1.1 million in north Gaza within 24 hours, says UN

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Israel orders evacuation of 1.1 million in north Gaza within 24 hours, says UN

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13 October,2023 01:43 pm

UNITED NATIONS (AFP/Reuters) – The United Nations said early on Friday it has been told by the Israeli military that some 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza should relocate to the enclave's south within the next 24 hours.

The Israeli military did not immediately provide comment on the warning, which came as Israel amassed tanks near the Gaza border and pounded the Palestinian enclave with air strikes following a deadly Hamas militant attack in Israel.

Israel's military chief said "Now is the time for war" as his country amassed tanks near the Gaza Strip ahead of a planned ground invasion to annihilate the Palestinian militant Hamas group that rules the enclave and was behind deadly weekend attacks.

Israel has pounded Gaza from the air since the weekend incursions, the deadliest by Palestinian militants in its history, and has been preparing for a ground invasion.

"The United Nations considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

"The United Nations strongly appeals for any such order, if confirmed, to be rescinded avoiding what could transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation," he said.

Dujarric said the order by the Israeli military also applied to all UN staff and those sheltered in UN facilities, including schools, health centres and clinics.

The United Nations was informed on Thursday that Israel had ordered 1.1 million residents of northern Gaza to relocate to the south of the territory within 24 hours, a UN spokesperson told AFP.

UN seeks $294m aid

The United Nations on Thursday issued an emergency appeal for $294 million to address "the most urgent needs" in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where more than 400,000 Palestinians have fled their homes in recent days.

The funds would be used to help more than 1.2 million people, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, adding that recent fighting in the region had left aid groups without adequate resources.

On Saturday, Hamas gunmen swept into small towns, kibbutzim and a music festival in Israel, indiscriminately killing more than 1,200 people and taking about 150 hostages.

Israel has retaliated by raining air and artillery strikes on Gaza – a densely populated enclave of 2.3 million people – flattening buildings and killing more than 1,500 people, many of them civilians.

Humanitarian needs compounded by the May 2023 escalation in Gaza and the deterioration of the situation in the West Bank "have left humanitarian organizations without the resources required to adequately respond to the full range of needs of vulnerable Palestinians," OCHA said in its appeal.

The UN has previously estimated it would need $502 to fund operations to aid 2.1 million Palestinians in 2023, a goal that is less than 50-percent financed.

Nearly 60 percent of households in Gaza were considered food insecure before the start of the new hostilities.

As of late Thursday, the number of displaced in Gaza rose by over 84,400 people to reach more than 423,300, according to OCHA figures.

After Israeli strikes on water infrastructure and the cessation of water supplied by Israel to the enclave since Sunday, "most residents in the Gaza Strip no longer have access to drinking water from service providers or domestic water through pipelines," OCHA said.

"UNICEF reports some have already begun drinking seawater" in response, it added.

Additionally, "health facilities are overwhelmed, medical stocks are in short supply and access to hospitals and medical care is being hindered by the ongoing hostilities and damaged roads."

Gaza is home to some 50,000 pregnant women -- 5,500 of whom are due to give birth in the coming month -- "who are struggling to access essential health services as healthcare workers, hospitals and clinics come under attack."

While much of the focus has been on Gaza, "the situation in the West Bank remains tense," OCHA said, citing confrontations between the military and Palestinians, "settler violence" and "extensive closures... imposed around West Bank cities" impacting access to essential services.

Russian foreign ministry calls for Gaza ceasefire

Russia's foreign ministry urged Israel on Thursday to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza to allow in food and medicine and said it was unacceptable that what it called the "indiscriminate" bombing of the Gaza Strip was causing so many civilian casualties.

Moscow issued the statement after Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov spoke to Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary general of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), by phone.

Israel said earlier on Thursday there would be no humanitarian exceptions to its siege of the Gaza Strip until all its hostages were freed, after the Red Cross pleaded for fuel to be allowed in to prevent overwhelmed hospitals from "turning into morgues".

The Russian foreign ministry said Bogdanov and Al-Sheikh had agreed on the need for a ceasefire and for the opening of human corridors to deliver food and medicine to Gaza's population.

Both also agreed that water and electricity supplies to Gaza should be restored, it said.

"The unacceptability of the indiscriminate bombardment leading to numerous civilian casualties was emphasised," the Russian statement said.

"The goal of preventing an exodus from the Gaza Strip, which should become part of an independent Palestinian State on the basis of the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, was (also) emphasised."

In a second statement later on Thursday, the Russian foreign ministry said that four Russian citizens had been killed in southern Israel which Hamas attacked on Saturday, slaughtering hundreds of civilians. A further six Russian citizens were still missing, the ministry said.

"We strongly condemn any manifestations of extremism, terrorism, hostage-taking, blockading people, deliberately creating unbearable living conditions and other violent acts against civilians, along with the indiscriminate use of force in the conduct of military operations," the same statement said.

Israel refused request to bring food, medical supplies into Gaza – PLO

Israel refused a request to bring food and medical supplies into the Gaza Strip, Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary general of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization PLO said on Tuesday.

"We call on the international humanitarian institutions and the international community to intervene urgently to stop the aggression, allow the entry of relief materials, and restore electricity and water, because the Gaza Strip is facing a major humanitarian catastrophe," he said.

Israel links aid to hostages' release

Gaza moved closer to a humanitarian catastrophe on Thursday as the death toll rose and vital supplies ran low, while Israel massed tanks on the enclave's border ahead of an anticipated ground invasion amid international calls for restraint.

Israel's government showed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO defence ministers graphic images of children and civilians killed by Hamas, as it builds support for its response.

Israel has vowed to annihilate the Hamas movement that rules the Gaza Strip, in retribution for the deadliest attack on civilians in Israeli history, when hundreds of gunmen crossed the barrier and rampaged through towns on Saturday. Blinken has urged Israel to show restraint but reiterated America's support: "We will always be there by your side."

The head of the Israeli military, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, said lessons would be drawn from the security failures around Gaza that enabled the attack. "We will learn, investigate, but now is the time for war."

Israel's parliament approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's emergency unity government late on Thursday, including a number of centrist opposition lawmakers, to display their determination to fight Hamas.

Public broadcaster Kan said the Israeli death toll had risen to more than 1,300. Most were civilians gunned down in their homes, on the streets or at a dance party. Scores of Israeli and foreign hostages were taken back to Gaza; Israel says it has identified 97 of them.

Israel has responded so far by putting Gaza, home to 2.3 million people, under total siege and launching by far the most powerful bombing campaign in the 75-year-old history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, destroying whole neighbourhoods. Gaza authorities said more than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed and more than 6,000 have been wounded.

Israel ministers suggest the start of an invasion is a matter of when not if.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said fuel powering emergency generators at hospitals in Gaza could run out within hours and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned food and fresh water were running dangerously low.

"The human misery caused by this escalation is abhorrent, and I implore the sides to reduce the suffering of civilians," ICRC regional director Fabrizio Carboni said.

Amid international calls for a ceasefire to allow in aid, Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said there would be no halt to the siege without freedom for Israeli hostages.

Egypt, which has a single border crossing with Gaza, said it was trying to get aid through there but this was hampered by Israeli bombardments.

Also read: Israeli artillery fires on Gaza every 30 seconds

Like clockwork, every 30 seconds Israeli artillery goes into action against a barely visible target somewhere in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Israel has vowed to "crush" Hamas after gunmen from the Palestinian Islamist group stormed across the border and killed 1,200 people -- the deadliest attack on the country since it was founded 75 years ago.