- Israel has sent trucks carrying tents to al-Mawasi, a remote area in southern Gaza, where it wants Palestinians to relocate from northern Gaza.
- Israel has been bombing and shelling northern Gaza for weeks, killing thousands of people and destroying homes and infrastructure.
- Palestinians who remain in northern Gaza face a dire humanitarian situation, with no access to food, water, electricity, or medical care.
- Palestinians fear that they will lose their land and their rights if they leave northern Gaza, and compare the situation to the mass displacement of 1948.
Israel has sent trucks carrying tents to al-Mawasi, a remote area in southern Gaza, where it wants Palestinians to relocate from northern Gaza, where it has been conducting a brutal military offensive against Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the coastal enclave.
The Israeli military’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories tweeted a photo on Wednesday that it said showed trucks carrying tents to al-Mawasi, where it has designated a “humanitarian zone” for Palestinians who flee from northern Gaza.
Israel has urged more than a million Palestinians to leave northern Gaza as it continues to bomb and shell the area, targeting Hamas militants and infrastructure. Israel says it is acting in self-defense and is doing its best to minimize civilian casualties, but more than 10,000 Palestinians and 1,400 Israelis have been killed since the conflict began on Oct. 7, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza and the Israeli military.
Palestinians who remain in northern Gaza face a dire humanitarian situation, with no access to food, water, electricity, or medical care. The U.N. and aid groups have been unable to deliver assistance to the besieged area for about a week, due to the ongoing violence and Israeli restrictions.
No bakeries are currently producing bread in northern Gaza due to a lack of supplies, according to the U.N. Thousands of people are taking shelter in hospitals and schools, which have also been hit by Israeli airstrikes.
Dr. Bashar Murad, emergency medical services director at the Palestine Red Crescent Society, who is working at al-Quds hospital in Gaza City said 14,000 people sheltering at the facility were in deep crisis after an Israeli airstrike hit the entrance of the building on Sunday, killing four people and destroying the hospital’s central storage for medicine and other supplies.
“We are facing the worst situation, the most catastrophic one in the PRCS’ history,” he said in a message shared with the Journal by the aid group Medical Aid for Palestinians.
Palestinians fear that they will lose their land and their rights if they leave northern Gaza, and compare the situation to the mass displacement of 1948, known as al-Nakba, the catastrophe. The majority of the more than two million people living in the Gaza Strip are either refugees from 1948 or their descendants.
Israel has severed the Gaza Strip in half, encircling Gaza City while its forces push further into the urban area around the city. Israel says it has opened a corridor for civilians to flee to the south, where they can receive humanitarian aid brought over the border from Egypt.
However, many Palestinians are reluctant or unable to leave, due to the ongoing bombing, the lack of fuel for cars, the Israeli military checkpoints, and the fear of not being able to return.
The al-Mawasi area, where Israel wants Palestinians to relocate, is a stretch of palm-lined beach with little infrastructure in the southern Gaza Strip. It has a painful history for Gazans, who were isolated and restricted there by Israeli forces during the Second Intifada, a Palestinian uprising that started in 2000.
The U.N. and human rights groups have condemned Israel’s demand for evacuation, calling it a form of forced displacement and a violation of international law. They have called for an end to the violence and a respect for the rights and dignity of the Palestinian people.
The situation in Gaza is worsening as Israel intensifies its assault on Hamas, which has been firing rockets into Israel since Oct. 7. Israel has sent tents to al-Mawasi, a remote area in southern Gaza, where it wants Palestinians to relocate from northern Gaza, where they face a humanitarian crisis. Palestinians fear that they will not be able to return to their homes and compare the situation to the mass displacement of 1948. The U.N. and human rights groups have called for an end to the violence and a respect for international law and human rights.
