IDF PLANS MASS DISPLACEMENT OF GAZA RESIDENTS AS MILITARY OPERATIONS INTENSIFY: REPORT

Sat 16 August 2025:

The Israeli military announced on Saturday that, starting Sunday, Gaza residents will receive tents and shelter supplies to facilitate their relocation from combat areas to designated “safe” zones in the southern part of the enclave, Reuters reported.

This comes days after Israel said it intended to launch a new offensive to seize control of northern Gaza City, the enclave’s largest urban centre, in a plan that raised international alarm over the fate of the demolished strip, home to about 2.2 million people.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that before launching the offensive, the civilian population will be evacuated to what he described as “safe zones” from Gaza City, which he called Hamas’ last stronghold.

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The shelter equipment will be transferred via the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza by the United Nations and other international relief organisations after being inspected by defence ministry personnel, the military said.

The military declined to comment when asked whether the shelter equipment was intended for Gaza City’s population estimated at around one million people presently, and whether the site to which they will be relocated in southern Gaza would be the area of Rafah, which borders Egypt.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that the plans for the new offensive were still being formulated.

However, Israeli forces have already increased operations on the outskirts of Gaza City over the past week. Residents in the neighborhoods of Zeitorun and Shejaia have reported heavy Israeli aerial and tank fire which has destroyed many houses.
The Israeli military on Friday said that it had begun a new operation in Zeitun to locate explosives, destroy tunnels and kill militants in the area.

Since March 18, when Israel resumed its military assault after breaking a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement, the ministry said 10,362 Palestinians have been killed and 43,619 injured.

The Health Ministry also reported that Israeli forces continue to target Palestinians attempting to access humanitarian aid. In the past 24 hours, 26 people were killed and 175 injured in such incidents.

Since May 27, Israeli forces have killed 1,924 Palestinians and injured 14,288 others as they tried to reach desperately needed food and supplies.

Israel’s blockade, which has completely sealed off the Gaza Strip since early March, has plunged Gaza’s 2.4 million residents into a worsening humanitarian disaster marked by widespread famine, disease, and the collapse of basic infrastructure.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice over its war on the enclave.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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