‘Gaza is on the brink of collapse’: UN warns Israel’s 24-hour deadline to flee threatens ‘bone-chilling’ crisis

An Israeli order giving more than one million Palestinians just 24 hours to evacuate to south Gaza will push people “into the abyss,” the United Nations has warned.

UN officials warn the movement of an estimated 1.1 million people from north Gaza to the south was “impossible” and would spark a “bone-chilling” humanitarian crisis. They have “strongly” appealed to Israel to rescind the order.

Gaza's Health Ministry has told The Independent it has no means of evacuating the wounded to the south, as all hospitals across the strip are full, and the most critical cases will die en route.

The unprecedented decision applies to almost half the population of the tiny besieged strip and is feared to be a precursor to a ground invasion against the militant Hamas group that rules Gaza, which will bring a surge in casualties.

“The call from the Israeli forces to move more than one million civilians living in northern Gaza within 24 hours is horrendous. This will only lead to unprecedented levels of misery and further push people in Gaza into the abyss,” the United Nation’s Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) said shortly after the order was given.

“The scale and speed of the unfolding humanitarian crisis is bone-chilling. Gaza is fast becoming a hell hole and is on the brink of collapse,” the statement added.

UNRWA also said it would not evacuate its schools, where hundreds of thousands have taken shelter. But it relocated its headquarters to southern Gaza, according to spokesperson Juliette Touma.

Gaza’s deputy health minister Yusuf Abu al-Reesh told The Independent an evacuation of the wounded in the north “was completely impossible”.

“There are no extra beds in any hospitals anywhere for people to be transferred to. Also most of the cases of the injured are unstable - they will die en route,” Dr Abu al-Reesh said from Gaza’s largest hospital, al-Shifa, which is at 150 per cent capacity.

“All the hospitals everywhere in Gaza, even after they have been expanded, are full of patients.”

“No one can imagine what is going on on the ground,” he added, describing it as the new Nakba, the Arabic word for catastrophe that refers to the 1948 war of Israel's creation that led to their mass dispossession.

Haytham Harara told The Independent the whole of Gaza City was ordered to evacuate, but he and his family are resolved to stay. “I won’t leave my land,” he said.

“No place in Gaza is safe now. Bombing is everywhere around us. We hear nothing except for the sound of warplanes, massive bombings, and the sirens of ambulances.“It is like we are waiting until our turn comes.”

He added: “Most of the families in Gaza try to live separately from each other, so if one of the family is hurt or stuck under rubble, the others can get them out of the rubble and bury them.

“The world has to know what is happening in Gaza is massacre. Women, children, aged people, even animals are being targeted by Israel.

“The Palestinians have been suffering one of the most cruel occupations of all time. Why can we not hear the world calling to us?”

By its own admission, Israel has launched an “unprecedented” wave of airstrikes on Gaza after Hamas militants launched a surprise and deadly attack on south Israel on Saturday, killing hundreds of Israelis and taking dozens of people, including British citizens, hostage.

Later Israel announced a “total siege” on the tiny 42-km enclave, cutting off water, electricity, food and fuel in a move rights groups have said amounts to collective punishment and a violation of international law.

Already more than 1,500 people in Gaza have been killed and 6,600 injured in the bombardment.

The World Health Organisation has since warned that the healthcare system is “at breaking point” as Palestinian medics said they had just a few days left of supplies.

Supplies were already low and half the essential medicine list was missing before the recent escalation: Gaza has been subjected to a 16-year blockade by Israel and Gaza since Hamas sieged control in 2007.

The Israeli military defended the evacuation order, saying it was intended to “increase the safety of civilians”.

Israeli military spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, admitted that evacuating more than one million people south to an area which is still under Israeli bombardment “would take time” but defended the order.

Areas in the south including Khan Younis and Rafah have been pounded by Israeli aircraft in recent days.

“We are controlling our attacks in order to provide them a safe way [out],” Rear Admiral Hagari said. “But it is a war zone.”

When asked by The Independent about medical facilities, as an evacuation of the wounded would be near impossible, Rear Admiral Hagari said. "We will do our best not to hit a hospital.”

He accused Hamas of co-locating its military infrastructure in schools and medical facilities.

In Gaza, terrified families told The Independent they had received the news of the order but did not know how to act on the information.

“People here are staying in their houses as there is nothing we can do, there is no place to go,” said Sara, 21, in a town just north of Gaza City describing the overnight bombardment there as a “worst nightmare”.

Sara added: “There are no places to go, everywhere is overcrowded. Even the United Nations schools in the south are extremely full. The people are sleeping in the yards of the school, the bombing is so heavy.”

She said everyone was extremely confused and worried. “Some people said that this is fake news just to terrify us, others said it is critical news and we should take action. We see on the news that most of the UN schools in the north have just evacuated.”

“What should we do?” she begged.

Mother-of-two Najla Shawa, a humanitarian worker, said she felt history repeating itself as she evacuated along with 41 others, including 19 children.

“We left at 4am this morning. They said go down south, so we moved across the Wadi Gaza, and we are at the start of the south now.”

Her voice was thick with exhaustion and defeat as she said: “I don’t know what will happen next. We left our homes. We are feeling what our grandparents talked about in 1948 when they left their homes and they never got them back.

“That’s our biggest fear- that we either come back and never find our homes or we never get back at all.”

Israel has bombarded Gaza round-the-clock since a weekend attack in which Hamas fighters stormed into the country's south and massacred hundreds.

Hamas said Israel's airstrikes killed 13 of the hostages in the past day. It said the dead included foreigners but did not give their nationalities.

Rear Admiral Hagari told Al-Jazeera Arabic that "we have our own information and do not believe the lies of Hamas”.

Israel said on Thursday it would allow no supplies into Gaza until Hamas frees the hostages.

Violence has also flared in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Health Ministry said three Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli forces during protests in support of Gaza in Jerusalem at Friday prayers. Palestinians have said they fear the violence will continue.

"The world needs to understand that this started long before this weekend," said Hassan, 45, outside of Damascus Gate next to the Old City. "What has happened is the result of a blockade on Gaza, of decades of occupation. This is the reason for the violence. It is a global shame."