Exhausted Gazans defy evacuation orders as Israel presses new offensive
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Israel’s military is ordering civilians to leave large parts of northern Gaza as it conducts an offensive against Hamas militants in Jabalia refugee camp. But many Palestinians are staying put, because they are trapped by fighting around them, exhausted by a year of repeated evacuations or fearful that nowhere in the Gaza Strip is safe.
The evacuation demands, affecting parts of Gaza City, Jabalia camp and the northernmost swath of the strip, are the most sweeping since Israel’s operation in May to take the Rafah area in southern Gaza. The orders come as the Israeli military says it is aiming to stop Hamas from regrouping in the north of the enclave, particularly in Gaza City and the densely built Jabalia camp. Samah Al-Haddad, a 30-year-old English teacher from Gaza City, said she is determined to stay in her family home despite the intensity of airstrikes and ground fire.
She said she has heard of people being killed while trying to flee south. Some of her relatives made it but haven’t found shelter or safety, she said. “I could never consider evacuating to the south," she said.
“They’re living in tents, and the situation there isn’t any better" than in the north. While Israel expands its campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, its war on Hamas in Gaza rumbles on with little indication that Israel is close to its declared goal of destroying the militant Palestinian group. With political plans for Gaza still on the drawing board, the continued lack of clarity over who should govern Gaza after Hamas has left a vacuum that the U.S.-designated terrorist group has sought to exploit, seeking to reassert its authority and recruit new members in areas that Israeli forces have left.
Read more on livemint.com
