Thousands flee Gaza city as Israel expands ground offensive

Thousands of Palestinians continue to flee Gaza City as Israel’s major ground offensive aimed at occupying the city enters its second day.

Amid heavy overnight bombardment, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said al-Ranitisi Children’s Hospital was targeted in three separate Israeli attacks, forcing half of its patients and their families to flee.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the report, according to the BBC.

Other hospitals reported that at least 35 people had been killed by Israeli fire across Gaza on Wednesday, most of them in the north.

Earlier, the Israeli military announced that it had struck more than 150 “terror targets” across Gaza City in two days in support of its ground forces.

Israel said its aim was to free hostages and defeat up to 3,000 Hamas fighters in what it describes as the group’s “last stronghold,” but the offensive has drawn widespread international condemnation.

Leaders of more than 20 major aid agencies, including Save the Children and Oxfam, warned that “the inhumanity of the situation in Gaza is unconscionable.” With world leaders set to gather for the UN General Assembly next week, they called for “urgent intervention.”

For days, huge columns of Palestinians have streamed southwards from Gaza City using donkey carts, rickshaws, vehicles stacked with belongings, and on foot.

Until now, they were forced to flee down the main coastal road to an Israel-designated “humanitarian area” in al-Mawasi.

On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced it would temporarily open a second route for people to travel—the central Salah al-Din road—for 48 hours starting at 12:00 local time.

Aid groups, UN agencies, and others warn that the “humanitarian area” is heavily overcrowded and insufficient to support the roughly two million Palestinians expected to cram into it.

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