LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
- Hamas tells civilians to ignore an Israeli Defense Forces call for 1.1 million civilians to evacuate to northern Gaza for southern areas within 24 hours “for their own safety."
- The United Nations says 423,000 people displaced in Gaza.
- Russia circulates U.N. Security Council draft resolution calling for a humanitarian cease-fire.
- The war has claimed at least 3,200 lives on both sides since Hamas launched an incursion on Oct. 7.
Palestinians living in the northern Gaza Strip scrambled Friday as the clock ticked down on an Israeli order to evacuate to the southern part of the Strip within 24 hours, ahead of what many fear will be a major Israeli ground offensive into the Hamas-controlled territory.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed early Friday that it had notified residents in Gaza City to leave for "their own safety and protection."
"You will be able to return to Gaza City only when another announcement permitting it is made," IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said in a live-streamed briefing on the social media platform X.
Hamas has called for everyone to "remain steadfast in your homes and to stand firm in the face of this disgusting psychological war waged by the occupation," according to The Associated Press.
Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour told reporters Friday that Israel's evacuation order amounts to "ethnic cleansing" of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have nowhere to flee.
"We don't know what's happening at this moment in the northern part of Gaza where the Israeli occupying forces told people to evacuate — people don't know where to go," Mansour told reporters. "There is no safe place in the Gaza Strip."
In Tel Aviv, Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee told Alhurra, an Arabic language satellite TV sister organization of the Voice of America, "In every sense of the word, we are escalating our raids and attacks on Hamas' hideouts in the Gaza Strip, and this is what is actually happening, after we targeted geographical areas that Hamas exploited to establish its hideouts there, such as Al-Rimal neighborhood, Beit Hanoun, and so on.
"We are now warning the residents of Gaza City and calling on them to leave those areas because they are being used by Hamas to lead and direct military operations against Israel. Therefore, as we said and announced clearly, Israel will intensify its strikes in this region," Adraee said.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke to reporters on his way to a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council Friday afternoon.
"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," he said.
Israel put Gaza under a "complete siege" Monday, in response to Saturday's deadly Hamas attacks, which killed more than 1,300 Israelis.
Palestinians are currently without electricity, water and fuel, making a mass evacuation even more risky and complex. Israeli strikes have killed about 1,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Russia circulated a draft resolution to the 15-nation U.N. Security Council, proposing an immediate humanitarian cease-fire and the unimpeded provision and distribution of assistance, including food, fuel and medical treatment. It also calls for the secure release of all hostages.
The text, seen by VOA, condemns "all acts of terrorism" but does not condemn Hamas's attacks or the state Israel's right to self-defense, which are likely to be points of contention among some council members.
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said he hopes the council can discuss it and vote on it quickly.
Chaos in Gaza
"This is chaos, no one understands what to do," Inas Hamdan, an officer at the United Nations' Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza City, told the AP, adding that U.N. staff are evacuating northern Gaza.
Dujarric said the order also applies to all U.N. staff and those sheltering in U.N. facilities — including schools, health centers and clinics.
The U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees — the United Nations Relief and Works Agency — says it has relocated its central operations center and its international staff of about 300 to southern Gaza to continue its humanitarian work. UNRWA has about 13,000 staff in Gaza, the overwhelming majority of whom are Palestinian.
"They are U.N. facilities. They must be protected... and must never come under attack in accordance with international humanitarian law," UNRWA said in a statement.
Military build up
Israel has positioned 300,000 reservists near the border with Gaza but has said no decision has been made on moving forward with an offensive. In the meantime, it continues heavy bombardment of Gaza, vowing there will be no letup until Hamas releases an estimated 150 hostages.
Israeli and Lebanese media reported clashes Friday along the countries' mutual border.
A Reuters videographer was killed there Friday. The news agency said Issam Abdallah was killed and two of their other journalists were injured in an Israeli artillery strike. Reporters from AFP and Al-Jazeera were also injured. Reuters says it is "urgently seeking more information."
Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists has documented at least seven journalists killed in Gaza since Saturday.
Blinken and Austin in region
The United States has said that 27 Americans were killed in the terror attack and 14 are missing.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Friday with Jordan's King Abdullah in Amman, a day after holding talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel.
In Amman, Blinken also met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The Palestinian leader has been reluctant to condemn the Hamas attacks despite no love between the two Palestinian factions but appeared to take a step in that direction Friday.
"We reject the practices of killing civilians or abusing them on both sides because they contravene morals, religion and international law," the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, quoted Abbas as saying according to Reuters.
From Jordan, Blinken traveled to Qatar, for another meeting with top leaders. At a news conference Blinken was asked about the fate of Palestinians Israel ordered to evacuate from northern Gaza, he said the situation is complex because Hamas is using Palestinian civilians as human shields and is reportedly blocking roads so people cannot flee.
"Our focus now is on helping to create safe zones," Blinken said. "We're doing that with the leading international organizations; we're doing that by engaging with Israel; and we're working with other countries."
Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Israel Friday for meetings with senior government leaders and to see firsthand some of the U.S. weapons and security assistance that Washington has rapidly delivered to Israel with more to come.
VOA White House Correspondent Anita Powell, State Department Correspondent Cindy Saine, U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer and Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb contributed to this report. Some information for this article came Alhurra, as well as from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
