The order from Israel faced immediate international objections, including from the U.N., which warned such an evacuation would have « devastating humanitarian consequences. »
The fighting between Israel and Hamas entered a seventh day on Friday with fears of a ground offensive growing stronger following an Israeli order to evacuate the northern region of the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s military told the United Nations late Thursday that all of northern Gaza’s population needs to evacuate to the southern portion of the enclave, a U.N. spokesman said. The Israeli order gave 24 hours for more than 1 million people, nearly half of Gaza’s population, to evacuate. The Israeli order applied to all U.N. staff and those sheltered in U.N. facilities — including schools, health centers and clinics.
Within hours of the order, Israel faced international opposition. « The United Nations considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences, » the U.N. said.
Added Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council: « The Israeli military demand that 1.2 million civilians in northern Gaza relocate to its south within 24 hours, absent of any guarantees of safety or return, would amount to the war crime of forcible transfer. It must be reversed. »
It remains unclear how hospitals and clinics in northern Gaza, treating the wounded and stream of victims from near-constant bombings, could be evacuated. Hospitals are already at full capacity across Gaza.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were already displaced before the Israeli order, many sheltering in U.N.-run schools. The entire territory is under full Israeli siege, with no one allowed out and no fuel, food or even water allowed in. The main Gaza power plant has completely shut.
A simultaneous crisis unfolding is the dwindling food and water supplies that will run out in the next few days in U.N.-run shelters, Lynn Hastings, United Nations Resident Coordinator for the Palestinian territories, told NPR.
