By Austin Ogwuda with Agency report
Evacuate 1.1 million residents in North Gaza within 24 hours before commencement of ground offensive, Israel tells UN
Latest development from the war-torn Gaza says that Israel is seeking urgent intervention of the United Nations, UN to evacuate 1.1 million residents in North Gaza within 24 hours before imminent ground offensive.
Spokesperson of the UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, said such a move was “impossible”.
The United Nations in a statement considers it “impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences”.
The move suggests that Israel could be moving to proceed with its ground offensive into the Palestinian enclave to pursue Hamas militants that the Jewish nation has pledged to wipe out.
The entire population of Gaza north of Wadi Gaza was ordered to relocate to southern Gaza “within the next 24 hours,” the Israeli military informed the UN and the Department of Safety and Security in Gaza before midnight local time.
*U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken offered reassurances of ongoing U.S. support to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, heading into a meeting in Tel Aviv, in the wake of bloody attacks perpetrated by Palestinian militant group Hamas against Israel over the weekend.
“We’re here, we’re not going anywhere,” Blinken told Netanyahu.The U.S. has firmly denounced the Hamas attacks and previously proposed a humanitarian corridor for civilians in the Gaza Strip.
The death toll meanwhile continues to mount in Israel and Gaza, as sirens blare and war wages.
Israeli Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Israel Katz said Thursday that the Gaza siege will not be lifted until the country’s hostages, taken by Hamas, are returned home.
*Credit: CNBC coverage of the Israel-Hamas war
