2m ago
Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Jonathan Conricus is now giving a briefing on the situation in Gaza.
He says yesterday the military issued a demand for Palestinian civilians to move south so that they are not in an area where IDF is “going to enhance our military operations.”
There has been “a significant movement of Palestinian civilians towards the south”, he says, and criticises
Hamas for telling citizens to stay put, accusing the group of using “civilians as their human shields”.
He says “we are not trying to kill or injure any civilians”.
As mentioned in the previous post, Israel’s evacuation order has been criticised by the UN’s secretary general.
12m ago
UN estimates tens of thousands have fled northern Gaza
Here’s a recap of the UN’s estimates on the number of people who have fled their homes in northern Gaza. Overnight, the UN humanitarian office, OCHA, said it believes tens of thousands of people in Gaza have evacuated to the south following Israel’s evacuation warning. Prior to the evacuation order, more than 400,000 Palestinians were internally displaced, OCHA said.
Israel’s military has told about 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to leave ahead of an expected ground invasion.
Hamas urged people to stay put and defy the Israeli military order to evacuate homes.
The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, has said the order is “extremely dangerous – and in some cases, simply not possible”.
Israeli PM posts video to troops saying ‘we are all ready’
www.theguardian.com