Thousands flee northern Gaza as Israeli air strikes intensify

17 May 2025 12:58
17 May 2025 13:08

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Middle East
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Thousands flee northern Gaza as Israeli air strikes intensify

Photo: AP

Thousands of Palestinians have been ordered by the Israeli forces to flee parts of northern Gaza as air strikes have killed at least 115 people in the territory.

Palestinians in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya area fled their homes with essential belongings on Friday, after intense Israeli air strikes hit the area, News.Az reports, citing Al Jazeera.

More than 19,000 Palestinians have been displaced in Gaza since Thursday afternoon, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). “Many with nothing but the clothes on their backs,” the organisation said in a post on X. “Nowhere is safe in Gaza.”

Nearly all of Gaza’s population has been displaced at some point during the genocide, with several forced to flee many times over. Israel has increasingly issued forced displacement orders as it escalates its attacks in the enclave.

In a statement in Arabic on Saturday, the Israeli military said it has launched the “initial stages” of what it calls Operation Gideon’s Chariots, a new offensive for “the expansion of the battle in the Gaza Strip, with the goal of achieving all the war’s objectives, including the release of the abducted and the defeat of Hamas”.

A separate statement in English said the army was “mobilising troops to achieve operational control in areas of the Gaza Strip”.

Israel has killed at least 115 Palestinians in Gaza since dawn on Friday as it intensifies bombardment of the enclave amid widespread forced starvation. More than 100 other Palestinians were killed on Thursday in similar attacks.

News.Az