Israeli forces on Tuesday airdropped leaflets over Gaza City ordering residents to evacuate ahead of what Israel said would be a major military assault aimed at eliminating the militant group Hamas, prompting panic, confusion and new pleas from Gaza health officials to protect hospitals and civilians.
The leaflets, dropped over parts of the northern coastal enclave that were home to roughly a million people before the war, urged residents to move south to a designated "humanitarian zone" in the overcrowded Al-Mawasi area. Gaza residents said there was nowhere safe to go and described the move as an agonizing choice between staying under bombardment or heading to areas that have also been struck.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address that residents had been warned and should leave. "I say to the residents of Gaza, take this opportunity and listen to me carefully: you have been warned — get out of there!" he said. Israel's Defence Minister, Israel Katz, warned earlier that the military would unleash a "mighty hurricane" that would destroy Gaza if Hamas did not free its remaining hostages and surrender.
The Israeli military said it would act with "greater force" in Gaza City and that its forces were assembling and organizing to enter the area. The military said it already controlled roughly 40% of the city and has called up tens of thousands of reservists for a potential ground operation, though no large-scale ground advance deeper into the city was reported on Tuesday.
Gaza's health ministry said it would evacuate the strip's two main operational hospitals, Al Shifa and Al Ahli, and that doctors would not leave patients unattended. The health ministry warned of a "humanitarian catastrophe that threatens the lives of thousands of patients and wounded individuals" if intensive fighting hit the city and its medical facilities.
The directive to move to Al-Mawasi — a narrow coastal area in the south where thousands of displaced people are sheltering in tents — added to long-standing fears that nowhere in the territory is safe. Israel has regularly carried out airstrikes in the south, and residents described the evacuation order as creating panic among people who have already been displaced multiple times since the conflict began.
Many Gazans have been forced to flee repeatedly since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked inside Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Israel's subsequent military campaign has produced heavy civilian casualties and widespread destruction. Gaza's health authorities say more than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed and that nearly the entire population of the territory, roughly 2.2 million people, has been internally displaced. Independent verification of casualty figures in the territory is constrained by limited access.
Humanitarian agencies and U.N.-backed monitors have reported rapidly worsening conditions, and a global hunger monitor used by the United Nations has declared famine in parts of Gaza, including areas around Gaza City. Aid deliveries remain insufficient amid damaged infrastructure, collapsed services and restrictions linked to the conflict.
International concern over Israel's conduct has mounted. Several European countries have said they plan to recognize a Palestinian state this month when the U.N. General Assembly meets in New York, a move opposed by Israel and the United States. Diplomats and rights groups have warned that plans to demilitarize the territory and extend prolonged Israeli security control could exacerbate the humanitarian crisis facing civilians.
Efforts to negotiate a cease-fire have been ongoing but fragile. Analysts and mediators have warned that a broad offensive in Gaza City could complicate or undermine those efforts. The Israeli government says defeating Hamas is necessary after the group's Oct. 2023 attacks; Hamas has said it will not disarm without progress toward Palestinian statehood and has conditioned any major concessions on a political settlement.
In a separate development, organizers of a flotilla trying to break Israel's naval blockade and bring aid to Gaza said one of their boats was struck by a drone at a port in Tunisia on Tuesday; organizers reported no injuries among the six people on board. The flotilla includes Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who was part of an earlier effort in June that was intercepted at sea by Israeli forces.
Residents and medical staff in Gaza City said they faced immediate, perilous choices. "Despite the bombardment in the past week, I have resisted leaving, but now I will go to be with my daughter," said Um Mohammad, a 55-year-old mother of six, by text message. Another resident, Um Samed, 59, described the decision starkly: "To stay and die at home in Gaza City, or follow Israel's orders and leave Gaza and die in the south."
Humanitarian organizations and Gaza health authorities called on the international community to press for protection of civilians and medical facilities as fighting threatened to intensify. The coming days were likely to determine whether the evacuation orders would produce mass movement out of Gaza City, an escalation of ground operations, or further diplomatic attempts to halt renewed large-scale fighting.