Thousands of Palestinians flee the city of Gaza while Israeli troops advance

Thousands of Palestinians continue to flee the city of Gaza, one day after Israel said that it had started a large offensive on the ground aimed at occupying the city.

In the midst of large-scale bombings overnight, the Ministry of Health managed by Hamas in Gaza said that the Al-Ranitisi children’s hospital had been targeted in three distinct attacks, forcing half of its patients and their families to flee.

The Israeli army said it was examining reports. Earlier, he announced that he had reached more than 150 “terrorism targets” in the city of Gaza in two days.

Israel says that his goal is to defeat up to 3,000 Hamas fighters in what he describes as the group’s last bastion and release his hostages.

But the offensive aroused a general condemnation.

The leaders of more than 20 aid agencies called on the world leaders to act, claiming that “the inhumanity of the situation in Gaza is unacceptable” and calls for “urgent intervention”.

For days, enormous columns of Palestinians have south from Gaza City in donkey carts, rickshaws, vehicles attached to personal effects and on foot.

So far, they have been forced to flee a single coastal road to a “humanitarian zone” designated by Israel in Al-Mawasi.

But Wednesday, Israeli Defense Forces (FDI) announced that it would open a second route to leave, on the central road of Salah al-Din. He indicated that the route would be open for 48 hours from 12:00 p.m. local time (10:00 am BST).

Many Palestinians say they are unable to move south due to the increase in costs associated with the trip. Some say that the rental of a small truck now costs approximately 3,000 shekels ($ 900; £ 660), while a tent for five people sells around 4,000 shekels.

Lina Al-Maghrebi, 32, mother of three children from the city Sheikh Radwan district, told the BBC: “I was forced to sell my jewelry to cover the cost of travel and a tent.”

“It took us 10 hours to reach Khan Younis, and we paid 3,500 shekels for the journey. The line of cars and trucks seemed endless.”

The help groups, the United Nations and others agencies say that the “humanitarian zone” in which they should move is strongly overcrowded and insufficient to support the 2 million Palestinians who are supposed to pile up there.

Some Palestinians who followed the military orders to evacuate towards the area say that they have found no space to present their tents and therefore returned to the north.

The FDI said on Tuesday that around 350,000 people had fled Gaza City, while the UN has put the figure at 190,000 since August. Estimates suggest at least 650,000 remains.

As part of its operations, the FDI would be used by old military vehicles loaded with explosives that have been modified to be controlled remotely.

They are taken to Hamas positions and have exploded, according to Israeli media.

Meanwhile, the families of the 48 hostages remaining held by Hamas – 20 of which would be alive – protested against the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Tuesday and Wednesday, arguing that the offensive would endanger their loved ones.

“All day long, you boast of killing and destruction,” said Macabit Mayer, aunt of Gali and Ziv Berman hostages. “Bringing buildings in Gaza – to whom do you bring these buildings back?”

“Could it be that you bring these buildings right now on Gali and Ziv and all the souls who have stayed there – the living and the deceased?”

The offensive has aroused a general condemnation, the UN Volker Türk UN Head of Human Rights describing it as “totally and totally unacceptable” and the United Kingdom’s Foreign Affairs Secretary, Yvette Cooper, calling him “totally reckless and appalling”.

But US Secretary of State Marco Rubio seemed to offer tacit support for Israel’s operation at a joint press conference with Netanyahu on Monday.

He said that the United States preferred an end negotiated in war, but that “sometimes when you are dealing with a group of savages like Hamas, it is not possible”.

He then came that a United Nations commission of inquiry concluded that Israel had committed a genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.

Among its conclusions, there was that the Israeli security forces perpetrated gender violence, directly targeted the children in order to kill them and led a “systemic and generalized attack” against religious, cultural and educational sites in Gaza.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel said that it had categorically rejected the report, denouncing it as “distorted and false”.

Israel launched his war in Gaza in response to the attack led by Hamas against southern Israel on October 7, 2023, during which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, at least 64,964 people were killed by Israel during its campaign.

Famine having already been declared to Gaza City by a food security organization supported by the UN, the UN has warmed an intensification of the offensive which pushes civilians to “an even deeper disaster”.