Gaza City residents to be ‘evacuated’ within two months, Israeli army chief says: Report
Israel’s army chief has said plans are in place to “evacuate” Gaza City residents within two months, before an expanded military operation, according to an Israeli media report.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said in closed discussions in recent days that “the expected evacuation process of residents from Gaza City will take less than two months, and we are preparing for the complexities in relocating residents – so we are preparing a set of tools to encourage them to leave the city towards humanitarian areas.”
Zamir also said that once that stage is complete, “the stages of surrounding Gaza City, entering it, and occupying it will be carried out.” He added that the military would seek to “minimise the use of reserve forces as much as possible”.
The remarks come as the Israeli government is holding talks with at least five countries – Indonesia, Somaliland, Uganda, South Sudan and Libya – about taking in displaced Palestinians from Gaza, Channel 12 previously reported. The Associated Press also earlier reported that Israel had discussed transferring Palestinians to South Sudan.
Rights groups have said the Israeli plans amount to forcible displacement.
Air-dropped aid box kills elderly man in Gaza
An elderly man has died of injuries sustained when an aid box fell on a tent for displaced people in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, Nasser Hospital has reported.
Several people have been killed or injured by air-dropped aid pallets in Gaza in recent weeks.
Aid agencies have said that air drops are dangerous and ineffective when Gaza’s entire population of more than two million people is facing famine, and have repeatedly called on Israel to allow the unfettered distribution of aid in Gaza through land crossings.
Five Palestinians die from malnutrition in 24 hours
The Health Ministry in Gaza says five Palestinians have died due to malnutrition in the past 24 hours, including two children. This brings the total death toll from starvation and malnutrition since Israel’s war on Gaza began to 263, including 112 children.
Killings at aid sites in Gaza behind surge in deaths, MSF says
Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, says its staff in Gaza are witnessing a surge in mass casualties linked to Israel’s ongoing siege and its distribution of aid.
“The indiscriminate killings, and the counts of mass casualties we still [see] on a daily basis right now, hasn’t stopped, but only increased in its scale,” said Nour Alsaqqa of MSF.
She said one MSF facility in Rafah, located near an aid distribution centre, has been overwhelmed with wounded Palestinians, including children.
“We are receiving baby injuries and killings from the distribution sites. People who are coming with gunshots, with different injuries, related to the distribution sites and they go only seeking food,” she said.
“They go out of desperation and they risk their lives to access aid, which is still inaccessible due to Israel’s siege.”
Since the establishment of the GHF aid sites at the end of May, nearly 2,000 people have been killed while trying to access aid, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
