Israel-Hamas war live: UN says Israeli military has ordered 1.1 million people in Gaza to move further south in the next 24 hours – The Guardian

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Summary

It is just after 7 a.m. in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here’s how things stand:

• According to the United Nations, the Israeli military has said that about 1.1 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are expected to relocate to the south of the enclave within the next 24 hours. a request she considers impossible “without devastating humanitarian consequences.” “The United Nations considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences,” U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement.

• “The United Nations strongly calls for the reversal of such an order if confirmed “Avoid what could turn an already tragic situation into a catastrophic one,” the UN spokesman said. Dujarric said the Israeli military’s order also applies to all UN staff and those housed in UN facilities, including schools, health centers and clinics.

• The Israeli Air Force had dropped 6,000 bombs on Gaza since Saturday, it was said late on Thursday evening. “Dozens of warplanes and helicopters attacked a number of terrorist targets belonging to the terrorist organization Hamas across the Gaza Strip. So far, the IAF has dropped about 6,000 bombs against Hamas targets,” the IAF said on X. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, 1,500 Palestinians were killed in the attacks, a third of them children. 6,6000 were wounded.

• The United Nations called for $294 million for “urgent needs” in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. The United Nations has issued an emergency appeal for $294 million to meet “the most urgent needs” in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, where more than 400,000 Palestinians have fled their homes in recent days. The funds would be used to help more than 1.2 million people, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said, adding that recent fighting in the region had left aid groups lacking sufficient resources.

• Israel’s parliament approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s emergency unity government on Thursday. including a number of centrist opposition MPs to express their determination to wage war with Hamas in Gaza.

• At the swearing-in of Israel’s unity government, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech in which he promised, referring to the hostages taken by Hamas, “We will not relent in our efforts to bring them home.” With regard to Hamas, he demanded that countries that “maintain their presence” should face sanctions. As he concluded the speech, he said: “Difficult days await us.”

• According to the military, more than 1,300 people were killed in Israel, including 222 soldiers. Most of the deaths occurred in a single day as Hamas militants breached the border and attacked Israeli civilians. Scores of Israeli and foreign hostages were returned to Gaza. Israel says it has identified 97 of them so far.

• According to the United Nations, Israeli bombing destroyed 11 mosques and damaged 90 schools. Additionally, 752 residential and non-residential buildings, including 2,835 housing units, were destroyed, the United Nations says, citing figures from Gaza’s Ministry of Public Works and Housing. Another nearly 1,800 residential units were damaged beyond repair and became uninhabitable, it said. The UN agency also expressed concern about the significant destruction of civilian infrastructure damaged by the shelling.

• More than 423,000 people were forced to leave their homes in the Gaza Strip. The United Nations announced this after heavy Israeli bombings in retaliation for Hamas attacks. As of late Thursday, the number of displaced people in Gaza rose by 84,444 people to 423,378, the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA said in a statement sent on Friday.

• Hundreds of Australians are preparing for repatriation flights from Israel. with two planes flying from Tel Aviv to London in the next 24 hours. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said 1,600 people had registered for repatriation in Israel or the West Bank, including 19 in Gaza, in what was an “extraordinary logistical exercise”.

• Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned that the “continuation of war crimes against Palestine and Gaza” could open a new war front. and that Israel will be “responsible for the consequences.”

Israeli envoy says: “UN response to Israel’s early warning to Gazans is shameful.”

Back to the IDF’s warning to the UN that 1.1 million people should leave northern Gaza in the next 24 hours.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the warning, which came as it deployed tanks near the Gaza border and bombarded the enclave with airstrikes.

But Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan apparently confirmed to Portal that a warning had taken place: “The UN’s reaction to Israel’s early warning to the residents of Gaza is shameful.”

Erdan said the UN should focus on condemning Hamas and supporting Israel’s right to self-defense.

The UN response he was referring to was a statement from UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric in which he said: “The United Nations considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences,” and that “ “The United Nations urges such a movement.” The order, if confirmed, must be repealed to prevent an already tragic situation from becoming a catastrophic one.”

Kirby also told CNN that the US is speaking hourly with the Israeli military about the Hamas hostage crisis.

“I can tell you that we are literally in hourly contact with our Israeli colleagues about the hostage situation. We gave them expertise and advice, of course they know very, very well how to carry out a hostage situation,” he said.

“We are aware of the sensitive nature of this hostage situation as they are most likely being held somewhere in Gaza. It is a war zone, it is a combat zone, which greatly complicates efforts to find them and work toward their release.”

White House national security spokesman John Kirby told CNN that the US is “working very hard, hour by hour” to ensure there is a way for Palestinians to leave Gaza safely.

“Whether there is a ground attack or not – and I’ll let the Israelis talk about their operations – we want to make sure that there is a way for the people who live in Gaza and want to get out to do so, and to do so safely “And fast, so we’re working hour by hour on this very, very hard thing,” Kirby said.

“We believe there should be an opportunity for civilians in Gaza to leave now, yesterday, I mean, immediately.”

The Israeli military says it is preparing for a possible ground operation in Gaza, but the political leadership has not yet decided on one. Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told reporters Thursday that the force was “preparing for a ground exercise if decided.”

However, the evacuation order, if true, appears to indicate that a ground offensive could be imminent.

According to the Associated Press, the military has invested enormous resources in such a scenario, even building a training base in the southern desert to replicate Gaza’s urban landscape.

Troops operating in the Gaza Strip may have a better chance of killing senior Hamas leaders and freeing hostages, but such an attack guarantees far greater casualties on both sides. And it would involve street battles with Hamas fighters who have had years to prepare tunnels and traps, AP reports.

IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus will provide a situation update at 7:40 a.m. local time, just under an hour.

The New York Times reports: “Israeli military officers relayed the information to the heads of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the Ministry of Security and Security in Gaza shortly before midnight local time on Friday,” the UN statement said. The United Nations was told that the marker separating the north from the south was Wadi Gaza, the statement said.”

Meanwhile, Brazil’s president, who holds the rotating chairmanship of the UN Security Council, appealed to his Israeli counterpart to establish a humanitarian corridor to allow people in the Gaza Strip to escape to Egypt, he said on Thursday.

With Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s comments, Brazil joins the voices of European foreign ministers and the World Health Organization calling for the establishment of a route to either allow people to escape the Palestinian enclave or allow humanitarian aid to flow.

He appeared to give no response to the IDF’s order that 1.1 million people be evacuated in the next 24 hours.

“I recently spoke on the phone with Israeli President Isaac Herzog,” Lula said on X, formerly Twitter. “I expressed my call for a humanitarian corridor so that people who want to leave the Gaza Strip via Egypt are safe.”

A Hamas official told Portal the relocation warning was “false propaganda” and urged Gazans “not to fall for it,” the news agency reports.

Updated 05.06 BST

More on this news now via Portal:

The Israeli military told the United Nations late Thursday, New York time, that the 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza should relocate to the south of the enclave within the next 24 hours, a U.N. spokesman said, following fears from Palestinians could be a precursor to a planned Israeli ground offensive.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the warning, which came as Israel deployed tanks near the Gaza border and bombarded the Palestinian enclave with airstrikes following a deadly Hamas attack in Israel.

“The United Nations considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences,” U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement.

“The United Nations urges that any such order, if confirmed, be repealed to avoid turning an already tragic situation into a catastrophic one,” he said.

Dujarric said the Israeli military’s order also applies to all UN staff and those housed in UN facilities, including schools, health centers and clinics.

Israel’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Updated at 04:40 BST

IDF request is ‘impossible’, UN says

If you’re just joining us, Portal reports that the United Nations says it has received an order from Israeli forces that “the entire Gaza population north of Wadi Gaza must be relocated to the southern Gaza Strip within the next 24 hours.” shall be”.

According to the report, there are 1.1 million people.

UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric reportedly said in a statement: “The United Nations considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences.”