Israel opens new route out of Gaza City as thousands flee

The Israeli military said it was opening an additional route till Friday noon that Palestinians could use to leave Gaza City as it stepped up efforts on Wednesday to empty the city of civilians and confront thousands of Hamas combatants. Hundreds of thousands of people are sheltering in the city and many are reluctant to follow Israel’s orders to move south because of the dangers along the way, dire conditions, a lack of food in the southern area and fear of permanent displacement. At least 50 people were killed by Israeli strikes and gunfire across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including 39 in Gaza City, local health authorities said. They said the latest fatalities took the Palestinian death toll from the two-year war between Israel and Hamas past 65,000. Palestinian officials and rescue workers say the true figure is likely to be higher as many people’s remains are trapped under the rubble of destroyed buildings.

The IDF said the air force struck some 50 targets in the Strip overnight, most of them in Gaza City, with some 140 targets hit over a 24-hour period. The military said the targets included tunnels, buildings used by terror groups, cells of operatives, and other infrastructure, but provided few additional details about the intensified operation. On Wednesday, the military estimated that some 400,000 Palestinians had so far evacuated Gaza City. But it remains heavily populated despite a general evacuation order from the IDF, which has instructed civilians to move south to a humanitarian zone.

As per The Times of Israel report,Terror groups in Gaza are holding 48 hostages, including 47 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists during the October 7, 2023, attack that launched the war. Twenty hostages are believed to still be alive, while there are grave concerns for two others. The remainder are thought to be dead. Hamas is also holding the body of an IDF soldier killed in 2014.

The United Nations, aid groups and foreign governments have condemned Israel’s offensive and the proposed mass displacement. In a separate response to the Gaza conflict in general, a U.N. Commission of Inquiry concluded on Tuesday that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Israel called the assessment “scandalous” and “fake”. Israeli forces control Gaza City’s eastern suburbs and have been pounding three areas in the southeast, north and northwestern coastal areas of the city, from which tanks have been pressing towards the centre and western areas.