Israeli authorities have ordered the entire population of Gaza City to evacuate as ground forces prepare to press into the northern Gaza Strip, saying they now have operational control of about 40% of the city. Israeli airstrikes continued to level tower blocks, and the government says hundreds of thousands have moved south; aid agencies and residents say up to a million people remain in the city, many in tents or makeshift shelters, and many have vowed not to leave.
Residents described strikes near their homes and shortages of food, water and money that make travel south impossible for some. After a strike hit a nearby tower block, one Gaza City resident told a BBC freelancer he would remain despite the evacuation order: "Whether you like it or not, Netanyahu, we're not leaving. Go and deal with Hamas, go and kill them. We're not to blame. And even if we're buried here, we're not leaving. This is my land."
The Israeli military says it is building new aid distribution infrastructure about 30 kilometres south, near Rafah, including thousands of tents and a water pipeline from Egypt. Military spokesmen displayed sites they said would allow continuous unloading and distribution and said security around the facilities would be provided by private contractors with Israeli forces securing the perimeter. The military said lessons had been learned from earlier operations and described the new arrangements as safer and closer to displaced populations.
Humanitarian organisations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have questioned those assertions, saying the areas to which people are being told to move are already vastly overcrowded and lack sufficient food, medical care and shelter. The ICRC described the planned mass movement as "unfeasible" and "incomprehensible," saying no place in Gaza can currently absorb such a large displacement.
A BBC correspondent embedded with Israeli forces reported scenes of widespread destruction on the drive toward Rafah, with much of the city reduced to rubble and only a few pockmarked structures remaining. The correspondent noted that embeds are controlled by the Israeli military and do not allow independent access to areas outside Israeli control or to Palestinians in non-secured zones.
Israel says previous operations, including a ground offensive in Rafah earlier in the year, enabled civilians to move out of harm's way while neutralising militants. Aid groups and witnesses dispute the safety of designated humanitarian areas, citing repeated strikes on shelters, tents and zones where displaced people are gathered.
The United Nations has recorded significant civilian harm linked to aid operations and distribution sites. The UN and other agencies say more than 1,100 people have been killed trying to access Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) sites since they began operating in May, and aid convoys and distribution points have at times been focal points of deadly confrontations.
Tensions are elevated inside Israel as well. Political pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from families of hostages has been intense, with some relatives warning that plans to capture Gaza City could imperil those still held in the enclave. Israeli officials have said taking the urban stronghold is necessary to degrade Hamas, whose fighters have increasingly adopted guerrilla and insurgency tactics in built-up areas. Israeli forces reported that four soldiers were killed earlier this week in an attack on the outskirts of Gaza City.
The controversy over the safety of aid sites has also extended to media coverage. U.S. network MSNBC issued a correction after amplifying claims by a former contractor for a GHF subcontractor that Israeli forces had gunned down a young boy at an aid distribution site on May 28. The boy, identified by GHF as Abdul Rahim Muhammad Hamden and known as "Abboud," was later found alive and evacuated from Gaza with his mother, the foundation said.
Anthony Aguilar, a U.S. Army veteran who had been working as a contractor for a GHF subcontractor, told multiple media outlets he had witnessed the child being shot. GHF denied the allegation and subsequently terminated Aguilar's contract. The foundation launched an investigation and said it located the child's mother through interviews with local Palestinians and verified identities using facial comparison with images and biometric data. MSNBC's host said the network was updating viewers that the child was alive; the network corrected the earlier account that had described him as killed.
The disputed reports have heightened scrutiny of operations at aid sites and of the actors running them, including private security providers and organisations working under complex chains of subcontracting. The UN and humanitarians have repeatedly warned that violence at distribution points can deter people from seeking aid and compound an already severe protection crisis.
Analysts say an assault on Gaza City would be among the most complex and dangerous phases of the campaign, with dense urban terrain, tunnel networks and a large civilian population. Israel's military officials maintain that measures are being taken to protect civilians and deliver assistance, while aid organisations and international bodies say the scale and speed of population movements being ordered will exceed Gaza's capacity to absorb them safely.
As diplomatic channels and ceasefire negotiations have stalled, humanitarian agencies have urged expanded safe corridors, independent monitoring of aid distribution and strengthened protections for civilians. The coming days are expected to test whether the newly announced southern aid infrastructure can reduce immediate shortages and whether residents of northern Gaza will be able or willing to move under the prevailing security and economic conditions.