An improvised displacement camp at Yarmouk Stadium, once a football field, as smoke rises during Israeli strikes on Gaza City, Sep. 4, 2025. (Credit: Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP)
The Israeli army called on Saturday morning for the inhabitants of Gaza City to evacuate to a “humanitarian zone” declared by Israel further south in the Gaza Strip, in anticipation of a forthcoming ground assault on the largest city in the Palestinian territory.
“From now on, and in order to facilitate the departure of the city’s residents, we declare the [coastal] Al-Mawasi area [in southern Gaza] a humanitarian zone,” reads a message in Arabic “to the residents of Gaza City and all those present there,” published on social media by Avichay Adraee, the Israeli army’s spokesperson for the Arabic-speaking public.
“Take this opportunity to move without delay to the humanitarian zone and join the thousands of people who have already done so,” the message adds, while the U.N. estimates around one million people are in the Gaza City area and warns of a “disaster” if the Israeli offensive on the city expands.
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