JERUSALEM: (Xinhua)/FLOWERBUDNEWS: — Israel’s military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on Wednesday that the evacuation of Gaza City was “unavoidable,” urging residents to head south ahead of “the next stage of the war.”
In a video message posted in Arabic on social media platform X, Adraee said, “Every family that relocates to the south will receive the maximum humanitarian assistance currently being prepared.” He claimed that the military was bringing in tents and preparing sites for aid distribution centers, water lines, and other facilities.
Adraee denied what he called “false rumors” that there was no space left in the south, saying there were “vast empty areas” in central Gaza camps and in al-Mawasi.
The planned offensive — already in its early stages, according to the military — involves mass displacement and the destruction of Gaza’s main urban center, where famine has already taken hold. Rights groups and aid officials have warned that moving hundreds of thousands of displaced people into the central camps and the narrow coastal strip of al-Mawasi risks extreme overcrowding. The area is only a few square kilometers and lacks basic infrastructure, raising fears of disease outbreaks and worsening hunger.
Heavy strikes continued overnight in Khan Younis in southern Gaza and in the north. The military said troops from the Givati Brigade were engaged in operations in Jabaliya and on the outskirts of Gaza City to expand its push and prevent militants from regrouping.
Ten more Palestinians died of starvation in the past 24 hours, including two children, bringing the death toll from famine and malnutrition to 313, among them 119 children, the Gaza health authorities said.
Israeli strikes and gunfire have killed at least 62,819 people and wounded 158,629 in Gaza since the war began, according to the authorities.
