Israeli forces in Gaza drop leaflets warning Palestinians to flee
ISRAELI forces have dropped leaflets warning Palestinians to flee parts of southern Gaza, residents said.
The move signals a possible expansion of Israel’s offensive to areas where hundreds of thousands of people who heeded earlier evacuation orders are crowded into Un-run shelters and family homes.
Meanwhile, soldiers yesterday continued searching Shifa Hospital in the north in a raid that began early on Wednesday.
They displayed guns they say were found hidden in one building, but have yet to release any evidence of the central Hamas command centre that Israel said is concealed beneath the complex. Hamas and staff at the hospital, Gaza’s largest, deny the allegations.
Broadening operations to the south – where Israel already carries out daily air raids – threatens to worsen an already severe humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory.
More than 1.5 million people have been internally displaced in Gaza, with most having fled to the south, where food, water and electricity are increasingly scarce.
It is not clear where else they could go, as Egypt refuses to allow a mass transfer on to its soil.
The war, now in its sixth week, was triggered by a wide-ranging Hamas attack into southern Israel on October 7 in which the militants killed more than 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and captured 240 men, women and children.
Israel responded with a weeks-long air campaign and a ground invasion of northern Gaza, vowing to remove Hamas from power and crush its military capabilities.
More than 11,200 Palestinians have been killed, two-thirds of them women and children, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Another 2,700 have been reported missing, with most believed to be buried under the rubble. The official count does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths, and Israel says it has killed thousands of militants.
US President Joe Biden has said he believes Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza will only stop once the militant group’s ability to kill and injure Israelis is degraded.
He said he was urging Israel to exercise caution as it carries out military operations in Shifa Hospital.
Mr Biden was speaking at a news conference late on Wednesday after meeting China’s leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-pacific Economic Cooperative (Apec) conference in California.
“I think it’s going to stop when Hamas no longer maintains the capacity to murder,” Mr Biden said of the war.
Mr Biden said he had discussed with the Israelis their need to “be incredibly careful” as they worked to clear Shifa Hospital.
He maintained that “the only ultimate answer here is a two-state solution” with Israel and Palestinians living side by side.
The war has inflamed tensions elsewhere. Yesterday, gunmen shot and wounded four people at a checkpoint on the main road linking Jerusalem to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Police said three attackers were killed and a search for others was under way.
The leaflets, dropped in areas east of the southern town of Khan Younis, warned civilians to evacuate and said anyone in the vicinity of militants or their positions “is putting his life in danger”. Similar leaflets were dropped over northern Gaza for weeks ahead of the ground invasion.
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the ground operation will eventually “include both the north and south. We will strike Hamas wherever it is”.
The military says it has largely consolidated its control of the north, including seizing and demolishing government buildings. Video released by the army yesterday showed soldiers moving between heavily damaged buildings through holes blown in their walls.
The military said it had blown up a residence belonging to Ismail Haniyeh, a senior Hamas leader based abroad. It was unclear if anyone was inside the building.
With most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people crowded into the territory’s south, residents say bread is scarce and supermarket shelves are bare. Families cook on wood fires for lack of fuel. Central electricity and running water have been out for weeks.
The worsening fuel shortage threatens to paralyse the delivery of humanitarian services and shut down mobile phone and internet service.
Israel allowed a small amount of fuel to enter Gaza on Wednesday, for the first time since the war began, so that the UN agency for Palestinian refugees could continue bringing limited supplies of aid.
The fuel cannot be used for hospitals or to desalinate water.
The only ultimate answer here is a two-state solution