Tens of thousands of Palestinians fled the fighting and bombardment in Gaza, as Israel said it was tightening the “stranglehold” around Hamas and again rejected a ceasefire without the release of hostages.
Calls for a ceasefire to protect civilians have built over a month into the war sparked when Hamas attacked Israel and, according to Israeli officials, killed about 1,400 people, mainly civilians, and seized 239 hostages.
Aiming to destroy Hamas, Israel retaliated with a relentless bombardment and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip that, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, has killed more than 10,500 people, many of them children.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again rejected the prospect of a ceasefire in Gaza, amid reports of negotiations for a temporary truce with Hamas to allow in humanitarian aid.
The Israeli army said 50,000 people left north Gaza for the south of the narrow coastal strip on Wednesday as the fighting raged between Hamas’s armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, and Israeli troops.
“We saw today how 50,000 Gazans moved from northern Gaza to southern Gaza,” said military spokesman Daniel Hagari. “They’re leaving because they understand that Hamas lost control in the north, and in the south it’s safer.”বিস্তারিত