GAZA CITY, Palestine: Palestinian families streamed out of Gaza City on Sunday, some crammed into pick-up trucks, others on foot, as Israeli forces pressed their assault on the besieged territory’s main urban centre.
Parents carried their children while the elderly hobbled along, AFP reported.
A man in a wheelchair and another on crutches were among the long line of people heading south under Israeli military orders.
The military has issued multiple evacuation warnings for Gaza City, but many residents said they have nowhere else to go, noting that Israel has repeatedly struck the area in the south where it has urged people to move, according to AFP.
The scenes of mass flight from Gaza City came as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel in a show of support, despite an Israeli strike in Qatar this week.
The Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, issued a warning on Sunday to those in Gaza’s port area and Al-Rimal neighbourhood to evacuate immediately to a “humanitarian zone” in the south, where Gazans say there is no more space to pitch tents.
He had said on Saturday that more than 250,000 Gaza City residents had already fled, while Gaza’s civil defence agency said the figure was closer to 68,000.
Panic and Extreme Fear
Prior to the latest assault, the United Nations had estimated that around a million people lived in and around the city, where it officially declared famine last month.
Exhausted families were moving along the coastal road near Nuseirat south of Gaza City, with their belongings stacked high in vehicles, AFP reported.
In recent days, the Israeli military has targeted several high-rise buildings in Gaza City, saying they were being used by Hamas.
Across the Gaza Strip, Israeli strikes have killed 23 people since dawn Sunday, according to the Gaza civil defence agency.
