Israel has ordered 1.1 million Palestinians to be evacuated from Northern Gaza in the South within the next 24 hours.
Of course, it’s impossible. Israel knows it. Hamas and the UN know this. The Israeli announcement was a gambit to create chaos and impede Hamas’ response while making the IDF more effective. Israel was looking for a psychological weapon in the form of panicked civilians.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in a statement, said: “Civilians from Gaza City should evacuate south to ensure their own safety and that of their families. Also, they must distance themselves from Hamas terrorists using them as human shields.”
In the days to come, the IDF is expected to continue its significant operations in Gaza City while making extensive efforts to prevent harming civilians.
Social media images showed IDF soldiers dropping leaflets to warn the populace to leave.
The leaflet stated that “for your safety, you should not go home until further notification from the IDF”. “The leaflet added that “all public shelters in Gaza must be evacuated.”
The UN has said that it is impossible to evacuate civilians “without catastrophic humanitarian consequences.”
Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, said in a statement that the UN “strongly appeals for any such order, if confirmed, to be rescinded avoiding what could transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation.”
It’s a question of whether the ground assault on Gaza or the forced evacuation is going to cost more lives. The IDF doesn’t want to kill anyone. The IDF’s only objective is to safeguard the lives of its soldiers. They can also hinder their enemy’s response by sending a few hundred thousand civilians into panic.
CNN:
UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, described Israel’s request to evacuate civilians from Gaza as “horrendous”, adding that the enclave was fast becoming “a hell hole and on the verge of collapse.”
The Norwegian Refugee Council warned that the forced transfer of Gaza’s civilians amounted to a “war crime.” Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council said the order must be reversed.
The IDF accused Hamas in a press briefing of hiding behind Gazans and telling civilians to ignore Israel’s warnings about evacuating to the south. Hagari stated that this was “just one more example” of Hamas not caring about the safety of people in Gaza.
I’m fairly certain that the Biden administration regrets giving Israel a blank check to deal with Hamas however they choose. Israel-hating Democrats, including members of the Biden Administration and top-ranking Democrats from Congress, will soon start yelling about “war crime”. Biden is not shy about his dislike for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. How long will it be before the support of Israel by the administration begins to waver?
According to John Kirby, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, the Biden administration stated Thursday that it is “working very assiduously” with Israel and Egypt in order to ensure a safe exit from Gaza of civilians before a potential ground invasion.
Israel’s response has been firm.
IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Col Jonathan Conricus said to CNN: “We’re at war with Hamas. We won’t allow anything in the Gaza Strip that will support Hamas’s fighting capability.” It’s okay if the cost is inconvenient for the people.
Hamas thinks the order to evacuate is fake and that Israel wouldn’t risk alienating the majority of the world if it caused the deaths of thousands of people through a forced evacuation. The Palestinian Red Crescent warns people to not take any risks.
“Forget food, forget electricity, forget fuel.” “The only thing that matters now is if we’ll survive,” said Nebal Farrasakh, the spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent, Gaza City, as she began to cry.
This is a good way to prepare for the coming tragedy.