Tens of thousands of Palestinians were fleeing eastern parts of Gaza City in the north of the territory on Sunday after Israel warned of a major offensive.
The messages on social media from the Israel Defense Forces warned of “military operations [that] will escalate, intensify, and extend westward to the city centre to destroy the capabilities of terrorist organisations” and directed those living in several crowded neighbourhoods to al-Mawasi, a coastal area much further south that is already overcrowded and has very limited facilities.
Witnesses described scenes of chaos as entire families tried to pack their remaining belongings, tents and meagre stocks of foods on to donkey carts, bicycles, improvised pickup trucks and cars.
Huge numbers of Palestinians displaced from homes or camps to the north of Gaza City moved there after renewed Israeli operations and clashes with Hamas since a fragile ceasefire collapsed in March.
The warnings from Israel came after days of Israeli airstrikes and shelling across Gaza that have killed hundreds.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said 23 Palestinians had been killed on Sunday by Israeli strikes, including at least three children.
Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesperson for the agency, said two children were killed in a strike on their home in Zaytun, just to the east of Gaza City, in the early morning.
A resident in nearby Jabaliya, Ahmed Arar, 60, said his family’s house had been destroyed after they received a warning it would be bombed from a person identifying himself as an Israeli army officer.
The Israeli military said it was not able to comment on the reported incidents but said it was fighting “to dismantle Hamas military capabilities”.
The 20-month war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack, during which militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 250.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 56,500 people in Gaza, again mostly civilians.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Sunday that his country’s “victory” over Iran in their 12-day war had created “opportunities”, including for freeing hostages held in Gaza.
“Many opportunities have opened up now following this victory. First of all, to rescue the hostages,” Netanyahu said. “Of course, we will also have to solve the Gaza issue, to defeat Hamas, but I estimate that we will achieve both goals.”
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The main group representing hostages’ families welcomed “the fact that after 20 months, the return of the hostages has finally been designated as the top priority by the prime minister”.
Meanwhile there has been rising concern over how food is being distributed in Gaza. Hundreds of desperate Palestinians have been killed over the past month as they make their way to distribution sites and after gathering at points where they expect convoys of aid trucks will be forced to stop, local hospitals and officials have said.
After claiming victory in the war against Iran that ended with a ceasefire on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it was focusing on the “primary front” in Gaza, where Palestinian militants still hold 50 hostages, of whom more than half are thought to be dead.
Donald Trump used social media on Sunday to call for a swift end to the war in Gaza. “Make the deal in Gaza, get the hostages back,” the US president posted on his Truth Social platform.
Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, brokered by Qatar and Egypt, are continuing but without obvious sign of any breakthrough. Many analysts say only direct pressure from Trump or Netanyahu will bring about a new ceasefire as neither Israel nor Hamas currently look likely to make the necessary concessions.
