The Israel Defense Forces has warned residents of Gaza City — who number about 200,000 at this point — to evacuate the city ahead of planned combat in the area.
The residents were urged to move to the humanitarian safe zone in Deir el-Balah, in the southern part of the enclave.
On Tuesday, the IDF announced its forces had located and destroyed six long tunnels in the Shejai’ya section of Gaza City, about six kilometers (3.7 miles) long. While searching the subterranean passages, the forces found a branched tunnel system in which there were terrorists’ hideouts, along with control and command centers, as well as weapons and intelligence documents.
“As part of the precautionary measures taken to minimize the risk posed to civilians in active combat areas, the IDF called on the civilian population in specific areas to move towards the humanitarian area,” the IDF said Wednesday in a statement.
“We emphasize that the call was only made to civilians in specific areas and did not include the evacuation of the hospitals and medical facilities in the area. This message was conveyed to Palestinian health system officials and the international community,” the IDF added.
IDF flyers were distributed in northern Gaza calling on all residents of Gaza City to evacuate south to the humanitarian area, according to multiple sources.
The move was unusual because the IDF announcement was a general notice to residents of the entire city.
The IDF has been operating in the Gaza City area for the past few days against terrorist infrastructure and terrorist operatives.
Over the past day, IDF troops eliminated dozens of terrorists in the area of Shejai’ya.
Israeli forces spotted 10 terrorists observing the troops from a nearby building, and in a combined aerial and ground strike, “the structure in which the terrorists were operating was struck,” the IDF said.
In central Gaza, the IAF struck and eliminated several Hamas terrorists, including operatives who were in the underground tunnels and participated in Hamas anti-tank missiles units.
Targeted intelligence-based operational activity is still taking place in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, along the Egyptian border. The troops eliminated a number of terrorists, located weapons and dismantled terrorist infrastructure in the area over the past day.
