Palestinians yesterday scrambled to flee northern Gaza after the Israeli military ordered nearly half the population to evacuate south and carried out limited ground forays ahead of an expected land offensive a week after Hamas’ bloody, wide-ranging attack into Israel.
Israel renewed calls on social media and in leaflets dropped from the air for about 1 million Gaza residents to move south, while Hamas urged people to stay in their homes.
The UN and aid groups have said that such a rapid exodus would cause untold human suffering, with hospital patients and others unable to relocate.
Photo: AFP
Families in cars, trucks and donkey carts packed with possessions crowded a main road heading away from Gaza City as Israeli airstrikes continued to hammer the 40km long territory, where supplies of food, fuel and drinking water were running low because of a complete Israeli siege.
Egyptian officials said the Rafah Border Crossing would open later yesterday for the first time in days to allow foreigners out.
Israel said that Palestinians could travel within Gaza without being harmed along two main routes from 10am to 4pm.
The Israeli military said “hundreds of thousands” of Palestinians had already heeded the warning and headed south, but some live up to 20km away, and roads demolished by airstrikes and a fuel shortage hindered their journeys.
Thousands of people crammed into a UN-run school-turned-shelter in Deir al-Balah, a farming town south of the evacuation zone. Many slept outside on the ground.
“I came here with my children... We don’t have a mattress, or clothes,” said 63-year-old Howeida al-Zaaneen from the town of Beit Hanoun. “I want to go back to my home, even if it is destroyed.”
The military said its troops conducted temporary raids into Gaza to battle militants and hunted for traces of about 150 people who were abducted during Hamas’ assault on southern Israel on Saturday last week.
Hamas said Israel’s airstrikes had killed 13 hostages, including foreigners, but did not provide their nationalities.
The military denied the claim.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza yesterday said that more than 2,200 people have been killed in the territory, including 724 children and 458 women.
The Hamas assault killed more than 1,300 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, and about 1,500 Hamas militants were killed during the fighting, the Israeli government said.
Fearing a mass exodus of Palestinians, Egyptian authorities erected “temporary” blast walls on Egypt’s side of the heavily guarded Rafah crossing, which has been closed for days because of Israeli airstrikes, two Egyptian officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
Raids into Gaza on Friday were the first acknowledgment that Israeli troops had entered the territory since the military began its round-the-clock bombardment in retaliation for the Hamas massacre.
The military said the ground troops left after conducting the raids.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Saudi Arabian Minister of Foreign Affairs Faisal bin Farhan in Riyadh yesterday, and both called for Israel to protect civilians in Gaza.
“As Israel pursues its legitimate right to defend its people and to trying to ensure that this never happens again, it is vitally important that all of us look out for civilians, and we’re working together to do exactly that,” Blinken said.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS