CAIRO: Israeli strikes killed 40 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Friday, most of them in Gaza City, where many residents are staying put despite Israeli evacuation orders because they have nowhere safe to go.
Israel has stated its intention to take full control of the ruined city, where about a million people are sheltering, as part of its plan to wipe out Hamas, and has been intensifying its attacks.
“The explosions never stopped since yesterday,” said father-of-two Adel, 60, who lives in Gaza City close to a refugee camp.
“Many families left their homes and that is what the occupation wants,” he said via a chat app. “By these bombardments they are telling people ‘You either leave your area or die there’.”
The Israeli army said it had completed five waves of air strikes on Gaza City this week, targeting “more than 500 sites”.
Palestinian health authorities said several deadly strikes had hit targets in the south of the territory, where some of those fleeing the bombardment of Gaza City have been heading.
Amjad Al Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGOs Network, which liaises with the UN and international aid groups, said an estimated 10 per cent of people in Gaza City had left since Israel announced its plan to take control a month ago.
The Israeli army said it had started expanding an area of the southern Gaza Strip it calls “Crossing 147” in order to increase the volume of aid entering a designated humanitarian zone.
This was in preparation to receive the population leaving the northern area, it added.
Evacuation order condemned
The UN and many foreign governments, including those of countries traditionally allied with Israel, have condemned the Gaza City evacuation order, called for a ceasefire, and criticised conditions in the humanitarian zone.
Israel’s military assault on Gaza has killed more than 64,000 people, mostly civilians, caused a hunger crisis and wider humanitarian disaster, and reduced much of the enclave to rubble.
The territory’s health ministry has said 411 people, including 142 children, have died of malnutrition and starvation in the enclave.
On Friday, Israeli police said an attacker from a Palestinian area of the occupied West Bank had been arrested after carrying out a stabbing attack on guests of a hotel at a kibbutz near Jerusalem.
Israel’s ambulance service said two people had been taken to hospital.
Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2025