Israel orders expulsion of 1.1 million Palestinians in north Gaza in 24 hours as ground invasion looms

Over a million Palestinians in the northern half of the Gaza Strip were instructed on Friday morning to leave the area within 24 hours by the Israeli military spokesperson, who said that they would not be allowed to return until further notice. 

"The IDF calls for the evacuation of all civilians of Gaza City from their homes southwards for their own safety and protection and move to the area south of the Wadi Gaza, as shown on the map,” the IDF spokesperson announced.

The instructions – tantamount to the forced mass displacement of over a million Palestinians – were called “propaganda” by the Gaza Interior Ministry in a statement issued shortly after the instructions became public. The Gaza Interior Ministry urged people to disregard the orders and stay in place.

Israel has been amassing heavy weapons at the siege wall to the north of Gaza in preparation of an expected ground invasion and conducting an unprecedented bombing campaign that has killed over 1,537 Palestinians in retaliation for the Hamas-led operation into Israeli-held land last week, where forces from the Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas, briefly seized control over several settlements and took over 100 Israelis hostage. At least 1,300 Israelis were killed in the attack.

American and Greek naval warships have also been stationed off Gaza. The United Kingdom dispatched a maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft on Friday. United States President Joe Biden has pledged his unwavering support of Israel’s “right to defend itself” and pledged to restock its munitions. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was in Israel for regional consultations when the announcement to evacuate Palestinians was made by the Israeli military. 

The United Nations, which operates refugee services in the north of the strip, was also ordered to evacuate just after midnight. In a statement denouncing the evacuation, the UN wrote that it “considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences” and “strongly appeals for any such order, if confirmed, to be rescinded avoiding what could transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation.” 

Many Gazans received warning messages to evacuate, said Zainab al-Ghanimi, director of the Center for Women's Legal Research & Consulting, describing the step as “psychological warfare from the Occupation.” Whatsapp groups for workers of international organizations operating in Gaza also received messages telling them to head south, she said.

Displaced Palestinian households in northern Gaza, on the move due to Israeli shelling near one of the UNRAW schools used as refuges, spoke to Mada Masr from the home of a Gaza resident, Khaled Aboul Haw, who is sheltering them.

"We're very scared. When a rocket falls on us it shakes the ground. They keep sending us messages telling us to evacuate, but all the roads are destroyed," a member of the Haw family said over the sound of IDF drones and panicked voices in the background.

A mother from one of the families taking shelter in the Haw household told Mada Masr, “we cannot leave or go back to our home. The shelling is everywhere, there is no safe zone in Jabalya. The children are frozen with fear, everyone’s lost, and everyone’s running in the streets. We came to our relatives’ house, now there are 50 people here.”

The families in the Haw home have no water or power, Abu Khalid al-Haw confirmed, noting that “UNRWA has stopped taking in humanitarian cases and wants to evacuate us from Beit Hanoun in the north to beyond Wadi Gaza in the south.”

“We will continue to stay on our lands and be resilient, God willing,” he added.

Evacuating the area within the 24-hour time frame specified by the IDF is impossible, said Ghanimi. “People would need roads first to be able to walk out of their homes. All streets were destroyed, mobility is impossible. Where would people go when the south itself is destroyed?” 

The situation in Gaza has become increasingly dire over the last week. 

Northern Gaza is almost completely destroyed, Ghanimi explained. “Beit Hanoun is almost empty, and the bombing is intense on Beit Lahiya, Al-Atatra, Al-Sudaniya area and Jabalya. Entire families were wiped out in those areas.”

Israel’s heavy bombing and alleged use of white phosphorus on the most densely populated urban area in the world, which has been subject to a siege by Israel and Egypt for nearly 16 years, has been paired with Israel’s decision to cut off water, electricity and fuel supplies. Fuel at Gaza’s only power station ran out on Wednesday, plunging the population into darkness as it faces constant bombardment and the threat of ground invasion. 

As a result of the bombing campaign, 423,000 Palestinians have been internally displaced, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs announced on Friday. More than two-thirds of those displaced are being housed in UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees-affiliated schools. 

“I don’t know what to take with me. Family photos? In the end, I cannot pack my home and our feelings in my handbag. Plus, the people around are all terrified, and I also fear for myself and my family,” Ghanimi concludes.

Gaza’s already overcrowded and undersupplied hospitals are also being put in danger by the Israeli evacuation order. One of Gaza’s largest hospitals, Shifa Hospital, is in the area that Israel ordered to be evacuated on Friday. A spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent said that medical staff are defying Israeli orders to leave northern Gaza, claiming people cannot be moved safely within their 24-hour deadline. 

Humanitarian aid convoys have also been blocked from reaching Gaza by Israel, which denied Egypt’s requests to send trucks into the south of the strip through the Rafah border crossing, which Egypt jointly administers with the Palestinian Authority. 

The border crossing, the only entrance or exit point into Gaza that is not controlled by Israel, was bombed three times by Israeli airstrikes in a 24-hour period earlier this week, leading to its indefinite closure, according to what sources at the crossing told Mada Masr at the time. 

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry noted yesterday, however, that the crossing “was never closed at any stage since the start of the current crisis,” but its working was affected by damages to the Palestinian side of the crossing due to the Israeli airstrikes. The ministry also designated Arish International Airport a site for the entrance of international aid into Egypt, in order for it to pass on to Gaza.  

Aid arrived in Arish from Jordan yesterday, with planes from Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq arriving today. 

In response to the escalating violence, Hamas has fired a constant stream of rockets toward Israel, most of which have been deterred by the US-funded Iron Dome missile deterrence system. However, some have struck civilian areas in northern Israel, including the airport located in Tel Aviv.

On Friday morning, the Qassam Brigades announced that 13 people who were taken prisoner in the Hamas-led operation had been killed in the intense bombing of Gaza by the Israeli military.