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DEIR AL-BALAH, 14 Oct: Palestinians struggled Saturday to flee from areas of Gaza targeted by the Israeli military while grappling with a growing water and medical supply shortage ahead of an expected land offensive a week after Hamas\u2019 bloody, wide-ranging attack into Israel.<\/p>\n
Israel renewed calls on social media and in leaflets dropped from the air for Gaza residents to move south, while Hamas urged people to stay in their homes. The U.N. and aid groups have said such a rapid exodus would cause untold human suffering, especially for hospitalized patients, older adults and others unable to relocate.<\/p>\n
The evacuation directive covers an area of 1.1 million residents, or about half the territory\u2019s population. The Israeli military said \u201chundreds of thousands\u201d of Palestinians had heeded the warning and headed south. It gave Palestinians a six hour window that ended Saturday afternoon to travel within Gaza without being harmed along two main routes.<\/p>\n
A week after Hamas\u2019 attack, Israel was still working to assess the casualties. With special rabbinic approval, workers at a military base in central Israel continued the grueling task of identifying the bodies of the Israelis and foreign nationals who were killed, mostly civilians. Work is normally halted on Saturday, the Jewish sabbath.<\/p>\n
On Saturday night, the Israeli military said in a statement it was preparing a coordinated offensive in Gaza using air, ground and naval forces. Israel has not said when the offensive will begin.<\/p>\n
It was not clear how many Palestinians remained in north Gaza by Saturday afternoon, said Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. \u201cWhat we know is that hundreds of thousands of people have fled. And that 1 million people have been displaced in total in one week,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
An estimated 35,000 displaced civilians have crammed into the grounds of Gaza City\u2019s main hospital, sitting under trees in the empty grounds, as well as inside the building\u2019s lobby and corridors, hoping they will be protected from the fighting, medical officials said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople think this is the only safe space after their homes were destroyed and they were forced to flee,\u201d said Dr. Medhat Abbas, a Health Ministry official. \u201cGaza City is a frightening scene of devastation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Families in cars, trucks and donkey carts packed with possessions crowded a main road heading away from Gaza City as Israeli airstrikes continued to hammer the 40-kilometer (25-mile) long territory, where basic necessities like food, fuel and drinking water were running low because of a complete Israeli siege.<\/p>\n
Water has stopped coming out of taps across the territory. Amal Abu Yahia, a 25-year-old pregnant mother in the Jabaliya refugee camp, said she waits anxiously for the few minutes each day or every other day when contaminated water trickles from the pipes in her basement. She then rations it, prioritizing her 5-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. She said she is drinking so little herself, she only urinates every other day.<\/p>\n
Near the coast, the only tap water is contaminated with Mediterranean Sea water because of the lack of sanitation facilities. Mohammed Ibrahim, 28, said his neighbors in Gaza City have taken to drinking the salt water.<\/p>\n
The Israeli military\u2019s evacuation would force the territory\u2019s entire population to cram into the southern half of Gaza as Israel continues strikes across the territory, including in the south.<\/p>\n
Rami Swailem said he and at least five families in his building decided to stay put in his apartment near Gaza City. \u201cWe are rooted in our lands,\u201d he said. \u201cWe prefer to die in dignity and face our destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others were looking desperately for ways to evacuate. \u201cWe need a number for drivers from Gaza to the south, it is necessary #help,\u201d read a post on social media. \u201cWe need a bus number, office, or any means of transport,\u201d read another.<\/p>\n
The U.N. refugee agency for Palestinians expressed concern for those who could not leave, \u201cparticularly pregnant women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities,\u201d saying they must be protected. The agency also called for Israel to not target civilians, hospitals, schools, clinics and U.N. locations.<\/p>\n
Al-Shifa hospital was receiving hundreds of wounded every hour and had used up 95% of its medical supplies, hospital director Mohammad Abu Selim said. Water is scarce and the fuel powering its generators is dwindling.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation inside the hospital is miserable in every sense of the word,\u201d he said. \u201cThe operating rooms don\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patients and personnel from the Al Awda Hospital in Gaza\u2019s far north spent part of their night in the street \u201cwith bombs landing in close proximity,\u201d the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said.<\/p>\n
An Israeli military spokesperson, Jonathan Conricus, said the evacuation was aimed at keeping civilians safe and preventing Hamas from using them as human shields. He urged people in the targeted areas to leave immediately and to return \u201conly when we tell them that it is safe to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Palestinian civilians in Gaza are not our enemies. We don\u2019t assess them as such, and we don\u2019t target them as such,\u201d Conricus said. \u201cWe are trying to do the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thousands of people crammed into a U.N.-run school-turned-shelter in Deir al-Balah, a farming town south of the evacuation zone. Many slept outside on the ground without mattresses, or in chairs pulled from classrooms. (AP)<\/p>\n
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