[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Israel has ordered more than one million people to evacuate northern Gaza within 24 hours ahead of a feared Israeli ground offensive aimed at eradicating Hamas.
The order this morning sent panic through civilians and aid workers already struggling under Israeli airstrikes and a blockade, while the United Nations called such an evacuation 'impossible' that would turn an tragedy into calamity.
It comes as Hamas claimed at least 13 Israeli and foreign hostages held in northern Gaza have been killed in Israeli air strikes in the past 24 hours.
'Thirteen prisoners... including foreigners' were killed in five locations targeted by Israeli fighter jets, Hamas's armed wing said Friday.
| In other words, Hamas is using kidnapped foreigners and Israelis as human shields to protect key military locations — strictly forbidden by the Geneva Conventions, to which Hamas is not a signatory. |
Israel's military sent one evacuation order directly on Friday morning, telling the 1.1 million people living north of an area called Wadi Gaza to move south. This would mean the entire population of Gaza City and its surroundings fleeing their homes.
Israel has killed more than 1,530 people in Gaza with airstrikes and cut off food, water and electricity since Hamas terrorists killed more than 1,300 in Israel.
Israel's directive, which comes seven days after Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza, charged that Hamas terrorists were hiding in tunnels under the city.
Meanwhile, a Hamas official called the evacuation order 'fake propaganda', urged Palestinians to stay in their homes and not to 'fall for it'.
The UN said it received a separate directive from the Israeli military shortly before midnight, giving all 1.1 million civilians of northern Gaza 24 hours to flee south.
It said the broad evacuation warning it received for all of Gaza's north also applies to all UN staff and to the hundreds of thousands who have taken shelter in UN schools and other facilities since Israel launched round-the-clock airstrikes.
| The article also has maps, photos and video showing some of what happened last Saturday. |
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