Palestinians In Gaza Face Evacuation Ultimatum As Israel Prepares For Ground Assault

New Delhi: Israel gave more than a million Palestinians in northern Gaza until Saturday to escape south, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel’s retaliation for Hamas’ onslaught on southern Israel last week was just starting. U.S. President Joe Biden said he was talking to regional governments about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where trapped Palestinians suffered from a power outage and lack of food and water amid intense Israeli bombing. Israel swore to destroy Hamas for the assault a week ago in which its militants killed 1,300 Israelis, mostly civilians, and took many hostages.

Israel has since besieged the Gaza Strip, controlled by Hamas and home to 2.3 million Palestinians, and pounded it with unprecedented air strikes. Gaza officials say 1,900 people have perished. More than one million inhabitants of northern Gaza got 24 hours warning from Israel on Friday to evacuate south before a likely ground invasion. Hamas pledged to resist until the end and urged residents to remain.

Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said troops with tanks had launched attacks to target Palestinian rocket launchers and collect data on the whereabouts of hostages, the first official confirmation of ground forces in Gaza since the crisis erupted. “We are hitting our foes with unparalleled force,” Netanyahu said in an uncommon statement broadcast on Friday after the Jewish Sabbath started. “I stress that this is only the outset.”

The United Nations estimated that tens of thousands of Palestinians had moved south from northern Gaza following the Israeli command, which said more than 400,000 Palestinians had been internally displaced by the conflict before the order. Many others, though, said they would not leave. “Death is preferable to departure,” said Mohammad, 20, near a building wrecked by an Israeli air strike in the middle of Gaza.

Mosques relayed the message: “Stick to your houses. Stick to your soil.” The United Nations and other groups cautioned of a catastrophe if so many people were compelled to flee, and said the blockade should be lifted to allow aid.

“We require immediate humanitarian access across Gaza, so that we can deliver fuel, food and water to all those in need. Even wars have norms,” U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Friday.

Biden, in a speech at a Philadelphia port, said tackling the humanitarian crisis was a main concern. U.S. teams in the area, he said, were collaborating with Israel, Egypt, Jordan, other Arab governments and the United Nations.

“The vast majority of Palestinians had no involvement with Hamas and Hamas’ dreadful attacks,” he said. “And they’re paying the price as well.”