Humanitarian operations in Gaza on pause
Khan Younis: Hundreds of thousands of people fled northern Gaza to Khan Younis and other parts of the south earlier in the war, part of an extraordinary mass exodus that has left three-quarters of the population displaced and facing widespread shortages of food, water and other supplies.
Since the resumption of hostilities, no aid convoys or fuel deliveries have entered Gaza, and humanitarian operations within Gaza have largely halted, according to the U.N.
The International Rescue Committee, an aid group operating in Gaza, warned the return of fighting will "wipe out even the minimal relief" provided by the truce and "prove catastrophic for Palestinian civilians."
Some 2 million people almost Gaza's entire population are crammed into the territory's south, where Israel urged people to relocate at the war's start and has since vowed to extend its ground assault. Unable to go into north Gaza or neighbouring Egypt, their only escape is to move around within the 220-square-kilometre area.
In response to US calls to protect civilians, the Israeli military released an online map, but it has done more to confuse than to help.
It divides the Gaza Strip into hundreds of numbered, haphazardly drawn parcels, sometimes across roads or blocks, and asks residents to learn the number of their location in case of an eventual evacuation.
"The publication does not specify where people should evacuate to," the UN office for coordinating humanitarian issues in the Palestinian territory noted in its daily report. "It is unclear how those residing in Gaza would access the map without electricity and amid recurrent telecommunications cuts."
In the first use of the map to order evacuations, Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military's Arabic spokesperson, specified areas in the north and the south to be cleared out Saturday in posts on X, formerly Twitter.
Adraee listed numbered zones under evacuation order - but the highlighted areas on maps attached to his post did not match the numbered zones.
Egypt has expressed concerns the renewed offensive could cause Palestinians to try and cross into its territory. In a statement late Friday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said the forced transfer of Palestinians "is a red line."
