Israeli ultimatums and threats spark new exodus of thousands of Palestinians in main Gaza City in the face of continued bombardment and shelling, part of Tel Aviv’s wider genocidal war.
GAZA – Riding donkey carts, bicycles or on foot, thousands of Palestinians have fled Gaza City after Israel issued a third ultimatum for exodus of Palestinians amid its intense shelling and bombardment there.
Civilians have now been forced out of the majority of Gaza’s largest city, where thousands of families had sought shelter from Israeli attacks elsewhere.
“Where do we go now?” asked Abdullah Khammash, who described how he left his latest refuge at 03:00 am (local time).
Backed by fighter jets and drone strikes, tanks entered the city centre as an army spokesperson warned residents of the Sabra, Rimal, Tal Al-Hawa and Al-Daraj districts to flee to so-called “humanitarian zones”.
The civil defence agency in Gaza said even before the latest ultimatum that it had reports of “dozens” of killed and wounded from different parts of the city.
The Israeli military issued an ultimatum to Gaza City’s Al-Ahli Arab Hospital as well after “a large amount of firing from drones” nearby on Sunday, the Episcopal Church’s Jerusalem Diocese said in a statement.
The hospital was “compelled to close” by the invading army and is now “out of operation,” the Diocese said.
It expressed “dismay” and said “sick and wounded people have few other options” for treatment in the territory where, according to the United Nations, fewer than half the hospitals are even partly functional.
‘God knows what will happen now’
The Israeli military has been assaulting for nearly two weeks the Shujaiya district of the city where it issued an ultimatum of forced exodus on June 27.
Israel said the assault targets included the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in Gaza City.
For Muhammad Bisan, it all meant “an indescribable night”.
“Planes and artillery are bombing, and drones are firing from all directions, and we do not know where to run, right or left,” Bisan told the AFP news agency.
The other resident, Khammash, expressed frustration that the military “tell us to leave this area and go to another area, and then they come from that area.”
He said his family “slept in the streets. People felt sorry for us and gave us blankets, and here we are again living in the rubble.”
With a plastic bag under his arm, he said: “God knows what will happen now. Just bury us alive and make this end.”
Israel has killed nearly 38,200 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded over 87,900 others so far, according to local health authorities. According the Lancet study, Israel’s war on the enclave may have claimed more than 186,000 lives of Palestinians.
Tel Aviv, accused of genocide, has reduced much of Gaza to ruins, causing a massive shortage of basic necessities, including food, water, electricity and medicine.
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