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UN protests Israel’s evacuation orders as Gaza battles rage on
The army claimed to have killed scores of militants in "close-quarters combat" during its most recent attack in Gaza City, prompting the UN to express disapproval over Israel's most recent demands for mass evacuation from Gaza on Tuesday.
On Monday, Israel expanded its evacuation order to include the majority of Gaza's capital city, and fierce fighting broke out.
Since June 27, Israel has increased the tempo of its military operations and issued three orders for evacuation: one for Gaza City and one for the southern portion of Palestinian territory. Tens of thousands of civilians have fled, according to the UN.
Residents of Gaza City reported hearing helicopter strikes throughout the night in the southwest neighbourhoods, along with "explosions and numerous gun battles."
People who live there report that citizens are still fleeing the city, and many of the displaced have already moved from one evacuation zone only to discover that their new location of safety has now become a target.
New orders to residents, "many of whom have been forcibly displaced multiple times, to evacuate to areas where IDF military operations are ongoing and civilians continue to be killed and injured," have the UN Human Rights Office saying that it is "appalled."
According to the office, the Israeli army "intensified its strikes in the south and west of Gaza City, targeting the very areas where they had instructed people to move to" on Monday, when civilians told to flee west out of central Gaza City were caught up in fresh combat.
The UN office stated that Deir al-Balah, which is in the centre of Gaza City, "is already seriously overcrowded with Palestinians displaced from other areas of the Gaza Strip," and that people of Gaza City have been ordered to relocate there.
The Israeli military declared that it was targeting Islamic Jihad and Hamas targets in Gaza City as part of a "counterterrorism operation."
The military said in a statement, "Over the last day, the troops eliminated dozens of terrorists in close-quarters combat and aerial strikes." They also claimed to have confiscated weapons and disrupted a "underground route."