THE Israeli military has ordered all Palestinians to leave Gaza City and head south, as it presses ahead with a fresh offensive across the north, south and central area of the Gaza Strip that has killed dozens of people over the past 48 hours.
Leaflets dropped from the air on Wednesday urged “everyone in Gaza City” to leave and to take “safe routes” south towards Deir el-Balah and az-Zawayda.
Gaza’s Interior Ministry has called on residents in Gaza City to refrain from following Israeli evacuation orders, saying the instructions are a part of the Israeli army’s psychological warfare against Palestinians.
The United Nations said the latest evacuations “will only fuel mass suffering for Palestinian families, many of whom have been displaced many times”.
“The civilians must be protected,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.
Reporting from Deir-el Balah, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said that Palestinians in Gaza City – where Israeli attacks have intensified – felt trapped and did not know where to go.
“Let me also remind you that there are no civil defence teams, and there’s no Red Cross. No one is there to evacuate those Palestinians,” she said.
Israel issued the first formal evacuation order for part of the city on June 27, and two more in the following days.
The government says it is pursuing Hamas fighters who are regrouping in various parts of Gaza nine months into the war. The renewed ground assault started in the city’s eastern Shujayea neighbourhood, but this week, tanks also moved to central and western districts, forcing tens of thousands of civilians to flee southwards.
The latest evacuation order comes a day after an Israeli air attack on al-Awdah School killed at least 30 people and wounded 53 others, most of them women and children, according to Palestinian medics.
Exclusive footage from the school, obtained by Al Jazeera, shows young Palestinians playing football outside the school as dozens of people watch. Then a loud explosion is heard, sending people running for cover.
A Palestinian boy told Al Jazeera he lost several relatives in the attack. “We were sitting and a missile fell and destroyed everything,” he said, sobbing. “I lost my uncle, my cousins and my relatives.”
The attack has been condemned by world leaders and the Israeli military has said it is investigating.