Israel’s defence minister issued a final warning for Gaza City residents to flee south on Wednesday, as Hamas weighed US President Donald Trump’s plan to end nearly two years of war in the Palestinian territory.
Witnesses reported heavy bombardment in Gaza’s largest urban centre, as Israel Katz warned the military was tightening its encirclement of the city.
“This is the last opportunity for Gaza residents who wish to do so to move south and leave Hamas operatives isolated in Gaza City,” Katz posted on X, adding that those who remained would “be considered terrorists and terrorist supporters”.
Katz said the military had captured the Netzarim corridor in the central Gaza Strip through to the western coast, a move he said cut the north of Gaza off form the south.
He added anyone leaving Gaza City for the south would have to pass through Israeli military checkpoints.
The announcement came hours after the military said it was closing the last remaining route for residents of southern Gaza to access the north.
On the ground in Gaza City, 60-year-old Rabah Al-Halabi, who lives in a tent on the premises of Al-Shifa Hospital, described relentless explosions.
“I will not leave because the situation in Gaza City is no different from the situation in the southern Gaza Strip,” he told AFP by telephone.
“All areas are dangerous, the bombing is everywhere, and displacement is terrifying and humiliating,” he said.
“We are waiting for death, or perhaps relief from God and for the truce to come.”
– ‘Ceasefire at any cost’ –
The International Committee of the Red Cross on Wednesday said that intensified military operations in Gaza City had forced it to temporarily suspend its activities there, warning that “tens of thousands… face harrowing humanitarian conditions”.
It came days after medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it had been forced to suspend its work there because of Israel’s offensive.
UN agencies and some aid organisations still operate in Gaza City.
Meanwhile, Hamas mulled a peace plan put forward by Trump and backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which calls for a ceasefire, the release of hostages within 72 hours, Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
A Palestinian source close to Hamas’s leaders told AFP that “no final decision” had been made and that “the movement will likely need two to three days”.
“Hamas wants to amend some of the items such as the disarmament clause and the expulsion of Hamas,” the source said.
They added that Hamas had informed mediators of the “need to provide international guarantees for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and guarantees that Israel will not violate a ceasefire through assassinations inside or outside Gaza”.
Gaza’s civil defence agency — a rescue force operating under Hamas authority — reported that Israeli strikes killed at least 13 people in Gaza City on Wednesday.
When asked by AFP, the Israeli military said it was looking into the reports.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swathes of the territory mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence and the Israeli military.
Fadel Al-Jadba, 26, said he would not leave Gaza City.
He said tanks were in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood and that he “would not be surprised if they advance into Al-Rimal”, where he was sheltering.
“We want a ceasefire at any cost because we are frustrated, exhausted, and find no one in the world standing with us.”
– ‘Two opinions’ in Hamas –
Trump told reporters on Tuesday that Hamas had “about three or four days” to accept his 20-point Gaza plan, later warning that the Islamist movement would “pay in hell” if it refused.
A source familiar with negotiations taking place in the Qatari capital Doha told AFP that “two opinions exist within Hamas”.
“The first supports unconditional approval, as the priority is a ceasefire under Trump’s guarantees, with mediators ensuring Israel implements the plan,” the source said.
“The second has serious reservations regarding key clauses, rejecting disarmament and the expulsion of any Palestinian from Gaza. They favour conditional approval with clarifications reflecting Hamas’s and the resistance factions’ demands,” the source added.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 66,148 Palestinians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.
These figures do not specify the number of fighters killed, but indicate that more than half of the dead are women and children.
bur-az-acc/csp
