ISRAEL’S military has ordered more than 1 million people to evacuate as they prepare to unleash their troops into Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to crush Hamas terrorists after gunmen stormed over the border and brutally shot down men, women and children.
AFPA ball of fire erupts in Gaza City after an Israeli air strike[/caption]
AlamyPalestinian women flee following an Israeli strike in Gaza[/caption]
AFPFamilies clutch their belongings as they leave for safer areas of Gaza[/caption]
As the bloody war rages into its seventh day, Israel has urged those living in Gaza City to flee their homes as the war-torn country aims to eradicate Hamas in revenge for its grisly assaults.
Israel’s military has been massing 360,000 soldiers on the border as it gets ready to discharge a huge ground offensive.
In a hint the expected invasion is imminent, the IDF warned: “This evacuation is for your own safety.”
It added that Hamas militants are hiding inside tunnels underneath the city and inside buildings where citizens live.
The IDF said: “In the following days, the IDF will continue to operate significantly in Gaza City and make extensive efforts to avoid harming civilians.”
But Hamas has called on Palestinians to stay in their homes as it dismissed orders as “fake propaganda”.
The terrorist group took full control of the territory in 2007 after ousting the rival Fatah movement.
Sweeping evacuation orders for almost half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population were delivered shortly before midnight, UN officials said.
All 1.1 million have been told to leave north of Wadi Gaza including Gaza City for the south within 24 hours.
The Israeli military also sent an order directly Friday morning, warning the hundreds of thousands of civilians of Gaza City to flee deeper south into the Gaza Strip.
It sent panic rippling through civilians and workers already struggling under Israeli airstrikes and a blockade.
Inas Hamdan, an officer at the UN Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza City, said: “This is chaos, no one understands what to do.”
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She said all the UN staff in Gaza City and northern Gaza had been told to evacuate south to Rafah.
Meanwhile, Nebal Farsakh, a spokesman for the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza City, said there was no way more than one million people could be safely moved that fast.
She said: “Forget about food, forget about electricity, forget about fuel.
“The only concern now is just if you’re going to make it, if you’re going to live.
“What will happen to our patients? We have wounded, we have elderly, we have children who are in hospitals.”
Israel halted all deliveries of food, water, fuel and medicine to the tiny enclave after Hamas launched its assault on Saturday.
On Wednesday, Gaza’s only power station ran out of fuel and shut down – leaving only lights powered by scattered private generators.
Harrowing photos showed blooded babies and children crammed into hospital wards as medics struggled with demand.
A senior official with the International Committee of the Red Cross warned that the lack of electricity could cripple hospitals.
Farsakh said many of the medics were refusing to evacuate hospitals and abandon patients.
The flurry of evacuation orders signals an already expected Israeli ground assault – but this has not been confirmed by the military yet.
UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps insisted Israel has the right to defend itself.
Speaking to Sky News, the Defence Secretary was asked if the order to evacuate northern Gaza is feasible and acceptable for the Israelis to ask.
Mr Shapps said: “Israel, unlike Hamas, is doing all it can to provide advance notice and warning in order that they can go after those terrorists who carried out those actions, and by the way have taken hostages as well.
“Hamas can bring all of this to an end, they can release the hostages, they can recognise not just Israel, remove from their founding charter the principle of eradicating all Jews from the earth.”
He added: “Israel on the other hand has the perfect right to defend itself. It is doing that in a manner which is giving people warning in advance when they are going to go after areas.”
Israel has been plotting to unleash troops in Gaza after 1,500 Hamas terrorists rampaged for hours on Saturday and massacred at least 260 revellers at the peace festival.
They dragged an estimated 150 soldiers and civilians – including men, women, children and the elderly – into captivity in Gaza.
AFPPalestinians flee to safer areas in Gaza City[/caption]
GettyIsraeli tanks move near Gaza border as its military deploys troops around the Gaza Strip[/caption]
GettyIsrael struck military targets in Gaza overnight[/caption]
AFPWomen flee as Israel prepares to unleash a ground assault[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
