‘Last opportunity’: Israel tells Gaza City residents to evacuate or face ‘full force’
In a big move amid Gaza peace proposal, Israel’s defence minister on Wednesday ordered all remaining Palestinians to leave Gaza City, calling it their “last opportunity”.
Israel’s defence minister issued a final warning for residents in Gaza City to flee south on October 1, as the Palestinian Hamas movement weighed the latest US plan to end the war in the besieged Palestinian territory.(AFP/BASHAR TALEB )
Tel Aviv has also cautioned that anyone who remains in the city will be considered a militant supporter and could face the “full force” of Israel’s ongoing offensive.
While Hamas weighed a new peace proposal from US President Donald Trump aimed at ending the war, Israeli missiles continued to rain down across Gaza, with the latest death toll rising to 16 on Wednesday, according to local hospitals cited by the Associated Press.
“This is the last opportunity for Gaza residents who wish to do so to move south and leave Hamas terrorists isolated in Gaza City,” defence minister Israel Katz wrote on X. “Those who remain in Gaza will be (considered) terrorists and terror supporters.”
Strikes hit schools, hospital
At least seven people, including first responders, were killed and more than three dozen others were injured, when two Israeli strikes, just minutes apart, hit a school sheltering displaced residents in Gaza City, reported AP citing hospital officials.
In a separate incident, another strike struck a tent in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, seriously wounding two people.
Before israeli strikes, earlier on Wednesday the same hospital was hosting a funeral for Palestinian freelance journalist Yahya Barzaq, who was killed Tuesday along with five others in an airstrike while working for Turkish broadcaster TRT.
Since the outbreak of the war, more than 189 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
However, Israel maintains that it seeks to avoid civilian casualties and blames Hamas for embedding militants in populated areas.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 170,000, according to Gaza’s health ministry report cited by AP. The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, does not distinguish between civilians and militants, but has said that women and children make up roughly half of the dead.
The offensive began in response to Hamas’ October 2023 attack on southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and left 251 abducted. Most hostages have been released under previous ceasefire agreements, but 48 remain in Gaza, with Israel estimating that around 20 are still alive.
Trump proposes peace plan
To end the conflict, the US has proposed a plan which has received broad international support. The proposal calls for Hamas to release hostages, relinquish power in Gaza, and disarm in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and an end to fighting.
It also guarantees the flow of humanitarian aid and reconstruction under international governance but does not provide a path toward Palestinian statehood.
The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, as well as Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, have so far welcomed the proposal.
