Gaza City is emptying out.
Some 600,000 people have now left Gaza City, according to the latest update from the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
Only around 100,000 remain.
The diminishing civilian population may make an Israeli ground assault more likely.
And the number of internally displaced people has reached a new high – nearly half the entire population of the Gaza Strip.
Israel warned on Friday that residents of northern Gaza should evacuate south, using two ‘safe route’ roads. Hamas told residents to ignore the evacuation order.
And footage posted on social media showed cars, some laden with possessions, streaming south.
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People were seen fleeing northern Gaza on donkey-drawn carts as rockets flew overhead on Friday 13 October after the Israel Defence Forces warned residents to head south
However, even the safe routes are not entirely safe.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates shared a video on X, formerly called Twitter, which appears to show an explosion on one of the main evacuation routes, claiming that Israel was “targeting Palestinian civilians with missiles”.
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An explosion on one of the main routes out of Gaza was ‘almost certainly not’ caused by a missile, according to a military expert
Sky News has verified the video, which shows cars driving along the Salah al Deen safe route. But military analyst Sean Bell says that the explosion was “almost certainly not” caused by a missile, pointing out that the explosion seems to have taken place on the road surface or the underside of a vehicle.
Other explosions have been captured on film on the same route, apparently more consistent with missile strikes.
The IDF alleged that Hamas has been blocking evacuation routes. On 14 October it posted this satellite image showing what it says is a roadblock.
Sky News has located the image to Al Rashid road, the other ‘safe’ evacuation route.
But the latest satellite imagery, taken on 13 and 16 October, appears to show no roadblocks.
Satellite image of Al Rashid road taken on 13 October
Satellite image of Al Rashid road taken on 16 October
On Tuesday, the United Nations Human Rights office warned that the evacuation order could amount to the crime of forcible transfer of civilians.
“We are concerned that this order, combined with the imposition of a complete siege of Gaza, may not be considered as lawful temporary evacuation and would therefore amount to a forcible transfer of civilians in breach of international law,” spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said.
Although the IDF has told Palestinians to move south, it is still conducting missile strikes there. With the Rafah crossing to Egypt closed, even those who have fled south are still trapped, along with most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people.
The latest figures from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) show that 2,808 Palestinians have been killed and 10,850 injured.
The OCHA says that 1,300 Israelis have been killed, with 4,121 injured.
