Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz on Wednesday ordered all remaining Palestinians to leave Gaza City, saying that it was their “last opportunity,” and that anyone who stayed would be considered a militant supporter and face the “full force” of Israel’s latest offensive.
At least 21 Palestinians were killed across the territory, according to local hospitals, as Hamas weighed a new proposal from US President Donald Trump aimed at ending the war and returning the remaining captives taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered it.
A Hamas official told reporters that there are some points in the proposal that are unacceptable and must be amended, without elaborating.
Photo: AP
He said the official response would only come after consultations with other Palestinian factions.
About 400,000 Palestinians have fled famine-stricken Gaza City since Israel launched a major offensive last month aimed at occupying it, but hundreds of thousands remain.
“This is the last opportunity for Gaza residents who wish to do so to move south,” Katz wrote on X. “Those who remain in Gaza will be terrorists and terror supporters.”
The road south was packed as Palestinians fled, with hastily loaded vehicles driving alongside people on foot carrying their belongings.
“We left barefoot,” Hussein al-Del said.
The Israelis “were striking at random, with no mercy for anyone,” he said. “We left behind our food, our furniture, blankets, and everything. We left only with our souls.”
The plan requires Hamas to release hostages, leave power in Gaza and disarm in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners and an end to fighting.
The plan guarantees the flow of humanitarian aid and promises reconstruction in Gaza, placing it and its more than 2 million Palestinians under international governance.
Meanwhile, rights advocates on board a flotilla of vessels sailing toward Gaza on Wednesday said that the Israeli Navy had intercepted at least 19 of its boats as they approached the territory.
Israeli authorities said that those on board the detained boats were safe and being transferred to Israel.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, composed of nearly 50 boats carrying a combined 500 people, is carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
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