Israeli Army Calls for Evacuation of Northern Gaza; UN: This Order Should Be Revoked

While the Israeli army announced in a statement that residents of northern Gaza should leave the area 'for their security', the spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General called for the revocation of this order to prevent the current dire situation from becoming 'catastrophic'. The Israeli army announced early Friday that it would intensify operations in Gaza and requested residents of northern Gaza to leave their homes. The Israeli army stated that Hamas forces are hiding in tunnels beneath residential homes occupied by innocent civilians. In its statement, the Israeli army claimed that 'Hamas terrorists' are 'exploiting' people as 'human shields' and urged them to distance themselves from northern Gaza 'for their safety'. Hamas, which controls Gaza and attacks Israeli positions from there, described the evacuation order for northern Gaza as a 'psychological war' by the Israeli army and called for the people of Gaza to ignore it. The Gaza Strip consists of several cities, including Gaza, Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis, and Rafah, and it is estimated that over one million people live in northern Gaza. Hours after the Israeli army's announcement, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, stated that the organization considers the forced evacuation of the entire population of northern Gaza, approximately 1.1 million people, impossible without devastating humanitarian consequences. He emphasized that the UN strongly requests the revocation of this order to avoid what could turn a tragedy into a catastrophic situation. Following this statement, Gilad Erdan, Israel's ambassador to the UN, called the organization's reaction to revoke the request to transfer the people of northern Gaza 'shameful' and stated that this army order is 'an action to reduce harm to civilians'. He added that Israel warns residents before carrying out any airstrikes on Gaza and tries to minimize harm to those not involved in Hamas's military operations. He further stated that the UN has turned a blind eye to the arming of Hamas for years. Since Hamas's attack on Israeli positions on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds, the Israeli army has also begun its assault on the Gaza Strip, where over a thousand people have been killed so far. The Israeli army claims that Hamas uses people in the Gaza Strip as human shields. Earlier, the UN had reported that about five hundred thousand people in Gaza have already left their homes due to Israeli military attacks. An emergency closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council is scheduled for Friday evening to discuss the situation in Gaza.