A woman holding a baby stands at the site of an Israeli strike on the apartment building in Khan Younis in the south Gaza. /Ibraheem Abu Mustafa /Reuters
Hundreds of people fled on foot Saturday after Israel's army ordered the evacuation of Gaza's main hospital where more than 2,000 patients, medics and displaced people were trapped by Israel's invasion of the Strip, as UN experts said the "grave violations" committed against Palestinians pointed to "a genocide in the making."
One journalist witnessed the movement on a road leading south, but health officials in the the enclave said 450 patients unable to be moved remained at Al-Shifa hospital. The facility has become the focus of Israel's ground assault entering its seventh week after Gaza's governing body Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7.
Israel has been pressing military operations inside the hospital, searching for what it says is Hamas' operations center which its claims lies under the medical complex - a charge Hamas denies. It has vowed to destroy Hamas in response to the October attacks which Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, and saw about 240 people taken hostage.
The consequent Israeli air and ground campaign has since killed 12,000 Palestinians, including 5,000 children, according to Gaza's health ministry. On Friday, more than a dozen UN special rapporteurs said in a statement that there was stark evidence of Israel's "increasing genocidal incitement" in the Palestinian territories, adding that they were "deeply disturbed" by the failure of governments to bring about a ceasefire and "prevent genocide."
In Gaza City on Saturday morning, Israeli troops ordered over loudspeakers the evacuation of the Al-Shifa hospital "in the next hour" accordinf to an AFP journalist. They called the hospital's director, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, to instruct him to ensure "the evacuation of patients, wounded, the displaced and medical staff, and that they should move on foot towards the seafront", he said.
Despite a slew of army videos claiming to have found evidence of Hamas activity in the medical facility, Israel has come under mounting pressure to give legitimate examples of its allegations that Hamas is using hospitals as command centers, a charge denied by the resistance group and Al-Shifa hospital staff. The UN estimated 2,300 patients, staff and displaced Palestinians were sheltering at Al-Shifa before Israeli troops entered the facility on Wednesday.
Civilian risks
Israel has told Palestinians to move from the north of Gaza for their safety, but deadly air strikes continue to hit central and southern areas of the narrow coastal territory.
"We're asking people to relocate. I know it's not easy for many of them, but we don't want to see civilians caught up in the crossfire," Mark Regev, an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told MSNBC on Friday.
However, those heading south have accused Israel of deliberately targeting civilians. "They said the south was safer, so we moved," Azhar al-Rifi told AFP, but her family was caught in another strike that killed seven relatives, including her five-year-old nephew.
A flare falls on Gaza as seen from south Israel. /Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
On Saturday morning, a strike on a residential building in the southern city of Hamad killed 26 people, the director of the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis said, with reportedly more than 20 bombs dropped on the area.
Israel has imposed a siege on Gaza, allowing just a trickle of aid in from Egypt but barring most shipments of fuel over allegations Hamas would divert supplies for military purposes. A first consignment of fuel entered Gaza after Israel's war cabinet bowed to pressure from its ally the U.S. and agreed to allow two diesel tankers a day into the Palestinian territory.
The UN's Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) said that was enough for only nine percent of Gaza's daily operations, none of which Israel was allowing for use in water and sewage pumps or hospitals.
Raw sewage
A two-day blackout caused by fuel shortages ended after a first delivery arrived from Egypt late Friday, but UN officials continued to plead for a ceasefire, warning no part of Gaza is safe. A senior U.S. official said Washington had exerted huge pressure on Israel for weeks to allow fuel in.
UNRWA said 70 percent of residents have no access to clean water in south Gaza, where raw sewage has begun to flow on the streets. Under the deal, 140,000 litres of fuel would be allowed in every 48 hours, of which 20,000 litres will be earmarked for generators to restore the phone network, the U.S. official said.
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UN experts genocide warning
A panel of UN special rapporteurs - independent human rights experts whose advise the international body - said in a statement on Friday that Israel's action against Palestinians were pointing to a "genocide in the making."
They illustrated evidence of deliberate intent to "destroy the Palestinian people under occupation," loud calls for a 'second Nakba', and the use of heavy weaponry with indiscriminate impacts, culminating in "a colossal death toll and destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure."
"Many of us already raised the alarm about the risk of genocide in Gaza," the experts said. "We are deeply disturbed by the failure of governments to heed our call and to achieve an immediate ceasefire."
Medics receive an injured Palestinian boy in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. /Rula Rouhana/Reuters
Pointing to the death toll in the Palestinian territories, the experts highlighted the figure that on average, one child is killed and two are injured every 10 minutes during the war, turning Gaza into a "graveyard for children," according to the UN Secretary-General.
Almost 200 medics, 102 UN staff, 41 journalists, frontline and human rights defenders, have also been killed, while dozens of families over five generations have been wiped out.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his military was doing all it can to get civilians out of harm's way amid its campaign in Gaza, including dropping leaflets warning them to flee, but its attempts to minimize casualties were "not successful."
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