Israel is set to halt airdrops over Gaza City and reduce the entry of relief trucks ahead of a major offensive, a source told CNN, as the Red Cross warned that Israeli plans for mass evacuation were “impossible.”
Israel is preparing to fully capture Gaza’s biggest city after nearly two years of war, despite warnings the campaign will have disastrous and unbearable consequences for Palestinians in the besieged region.
The Israeli military has carried out heavy bombing and ground attacks on Gaza City in recent days, eyewitnesses and Palestinian authorities say, choking vital services and leaving hundreds of thousands of people crammed into an ever-shrinking area.
On Friday, the military declared the city a “dangerous combat zone” ahead of the planned assault, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says will target what he calls one of Hamas’ “remaining strongholds.”
This week Israeli drones circled over several areas in and around the city to drop leaflets, according to Gaza City residents, telling people to evacuate to south of Wadi Gaza” – which bisects the Strip.
“To everyone in Gaza City and Jabalya area, as you were previously warned, the Israeli army is expanding its operations toward the west. For your safety, evacuate immediately south from Wadi Gaza,” the leaflets read.
But the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has denounced the move.
“It is impossible that a mass evacuation of Gaza City could ever be done in a way that is safe and dignified under the current conditions,” ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric said in a statement, warning that starving, disabled and injured Palestinians were incapable of moving.
“Such an evacuation would trigger a massive population movement that no area in the Gaza Strip can absorb, given the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and the extreme shortages of food, water, shelter and medical care,” added Spoljaric.
More than one million people are displaced in the central and western parts of Gaza City alone, a municipality spokesperson said on Saturday, warning that conditions are already “dire.”
“We expect a sharp increase in the number of casualties if the occupation expands its military operation,” said Asem Alnabih. “We are facing a total collapse of service, as the occupation continues to prevent the entry of fuel and the machinery we need.”
A senior UN official warned that residents inside Gaza City – who face physical exhaustion, hunger, malnourishment and fatigue – are also under the constant shadow of bombing, weakening their ability to make life or death decisions.
“These people are facing death. Yet, they are now facing the threat of an invasion,” Sam Rose, the head of the UN’s agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza. “They’re being terrorized 24 hours a day.”
The Israeli military also announced plans to stop 10-hour “tactical pauses” in hostilities, which began a month ago after severe aid restrictions, siege and bombing wrought deadly starvation in the enclave.
In the past 24 hours, a further 10 people died of starvation and malnutrition in Gaza bringing the total to at least 332 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, the health ministry reported on Saturday. Of those who died, 124 were children, the ministry added.
Israeli strikes in Gaza following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks have killed 63,371 Palestinians and injured another 159,835 people, according to the Ministry of Health in the enclave.
