Alwaght- Hamas officials say dozens of people, mostly women and children, have been injured and killed in Israeli airstrikes on evacuation convoys in Gaza City.
The UN humanitarian body, OCHA, said several “vehicles of those evacuating the north were hit, killing more than 40 people and injuring 150 others,” citing data from health officials in the Hamas-led Palestinian enclave.
“These incidents prompted many people to abandon their evacuation efforts and return home,” the UN agency added, as “heavy Israeli bombardments, from the air, sea and land, have continued almost uninterrupted.”
Hamas’ media office maintained on Friday that airstrikes hit civilian cars in three separate locations, killing 70 people. The health ministry in Gaza said that Al-Shifa Medical Complex was treating “dozens of victims” injured “as a result of the Israeli occupation forces targeting citizens who were forced to leave their homes.”
On Friday, Israel issued ultimatum to Gazans to move south ahead of a new wave of bombardment. Prior to the evacuation order, more than 400,000 Palestinians had already been internally displaced.
Israel has faced widespread criticism from human rights organizations for the forced relocation order, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urging West Jerusalem to reconsider it, insisting that “even wars have rules” and telling all sides to respect international humanitarian norms.
“Moving more than 1 million people across a densely populated warzone to a place with no food, water, or accommodation when the entire territory is under siege, is extremely dangerous and, in some cases, simply not possible,” Guterres said on X (formerly Twitter) early Saturday morning.
The World Health Organization (WHO) also appealed to Israel to “immediately rescind orders for the evacuation of over 1 million people living north of Wadi Gaza,” saying that a “mass evacuation would be disastrous – for patients, health workers and other civilians left behind or caught in the mass movement.”
“With ongoing airstrikes and closed borders, civilians have no safe place to go,” the WHO said on Friday.
Regional warnings
As Israeli air force keeps pounding besieged Gaza, regional parties issue warnings of consequence to Tel Aviv.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian on Friday warned from Lebanon that new fronts could be opened against Israeli regime if the latter does not stop its bombing campaign against the civilians. He was touring the allied countries of Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria.
The warnings could be a real signal that the war on Gaza can expand into a regional conflict.
Hezbollah, Iraqi groups, and Yemen’s Ansarullah movement also warned that a larger scale war can prompt their attacks on the occupied territories.
These groups are part of a broader regional front called Axis of Resistance. The bloc for decades challenged the American imperialism in the region. Member countries blame the West for the new conflict in the region, saying that Washington cannot prop up Tel Aviv for a long time.
