Fearing an imminent Israeli ground offensive, thousands of Palestinians have left their homes in eastern parts of Gaza City, now under constant bombardment, for points to the west and south in the shattered territory.
Israel’s plan to seize control of Gaza City has stirred alarm abroad and at home, where tens of thousands of Israelis held some of the largest protests since the war began, urging a deal to end the fighting and free the remaining 50 hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023.
The planned offensive spurred Egyptian and Qatari ceasefire mediators to step up efforts to forge a deal between Israel and Hamas militants, and a Hamas official said Monday the group had approved the latest ceasefire proposal.
The official did not provide further details, and it was not immediately clear what they accepted. Hamas has responded positively in the past while proposing amendments unacceptable to Israel.
“The people of Gaza City are like someone who received a death sentence and is awaiting execution,” said Tamer Burai, a Gaza City businessman.
“I am moving my parents and my family to the south today or tomorrow. I can’t risk losing any of them should there be a surprising invasion,” he told Reuters via a chat app.
At least 123 people have been killed in 24 hours, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says people will be given the opportunity to leave Gaza before a planned ground offensive, but no one is being pushed out.
Dozens of Palestinians held a demonstration in Gaza City on Thursday calling for an end to the war and forced displacement, and for Hamas to intensify talks to avert the Israeli ground offensive.
“Our message remains the same: a plea for humanity. To the world and to those gathered in Cairo, enough displacement, enough deaths,” Mohammed Al-Jarou, 37, told CBC News in Gaza City.
“We plead for our [neighbouring] country Egypt to apply pressure on everyone to put an immediate stop to this war no matter what it costs.”
Umm Ahmed Al-Banna, 36, says Hamas’s demands do not align with what she and others are calling for.
“All we’re asking for is peace and for safety for our children,” said Al-Banna, a widowed mother of four. “The psychological war is mentally killing us. We die a slow death every day.”
Some 1,000 families already fled south
An Israeli armoured incursion into Gaza City could displace hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have been uprooted multiple times during the war.
Ahmed Mheisen, Palestinian shelter manager in Beit Lahiya, a war-devastated suburb abutting eastern Gaza City, said 995 families had departed the Gaza City area in recent days for the south.
With the Israeli offensive looming, Mheisen put the number of tents needed for emergency shelter at 1.5 million, saying Israel had allowed only 120,000 tents into the territory during a January-March ceasefire.
The UN humanitarian office said last week that 1.35 million people were already in need of emergency shelter items in Gaza.
Hundreds of thousands of people across Israel took to the streets demanding the government reach an immediate ceasefire and secure the release of hostages remaining in Gaza. Israel’s government is moving forward in planning new military offensives in the territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described Gaza City as Hamas’s last big urban bastion. But with Israel already holding 75 per cent of Gaza, the military has warned that expanding the offensive could endanger hostages still alive and draw troops into protracted and deadly guerrilla warfare.
Dani Miran, whose son Omri was taken hostage on Oct. 7, said he fears the consequences of an Israeli ground offensive in Gaza City.
“I’m scared that my son would be hurt,” he said in a Reuters interview in Tel Aviv on Monday.
The last round of indirect ceasefire talks ended in late July in a deadlock, with the sides trading blame for its collapse.
Diplomatic deadlock
Israel says it will agree to cease hostilities if all the hostages are released and Hamas lays down its arms — the latter demand publicly rejected by the Islamist group until a Palestinian state is established.
A Hamas official told Reuters on Monday that the group rejects Israeli demands to disarm or expel its leaders from Gaza.
Sharp differences also remain over the extent of an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and how humanitarian aid will be delivered around the enclave, where malnutrition is rife and aid groups warn of unfolding famine.
Underscoring the gaps in talks on a ceasefire, U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on his social media platform on Monday: “We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be.”
On Saturday, the Israeli military said it was preparing to help equip Palestinians with tents and other shelter equipment ahead of relocating them from combat zones to the south of the enclave. It did not provide further details on quantities or how long it would take to get the equipment into the enclave.
“Existing tents where people are living [in the south] have worn out and won’t protect people against rainwater. There are no new tents in Gaza because of the Israeli restrictions on aid at the border crossings,” Palestinian economist Mohammad Abu Jayyab told Reuters.
He said some Gaza City families had begun renting property and shelters in the south and moved in their belongings.
“Some people learned from previous experience, and they don’t want to be taken by surprise. Also, some think it is better to move earlier to find a space,” Abu Jayyab said.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the border into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 61,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Israel’s ensuing air and ground war in Gaza, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants.