NUSEIRAT: Israel issued a final warning on Wednesday for people to flee Gaza’s main city as Hamas considered US President Donald Trump’s plan to end nearly two years of war.
Witnesses reported heavy bombardment in Gaza City while Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz announced the army was tightening its encirclement of the urban area.
Katz declared this was the last opportunity for Gaza residents to move south and leave Hamas operatives isolated in Gaza City.
He warned that those who remained would be considered terrorists and terrorist supporters.
The defence minister confirmed the military had seized the Netzarim corridor linking central Gaza to the western coast.
This military action effectively cut off northern Gaza from the southern part of the territory.
Anyone leaving Gaza City for the south would now have to pass through Israeli military checkpoints.
The announcement came hours after the military said it was closing the last remaining route for people to travel from southern Gaza to the north.
Sixty-year-old Rabah al-Halabi described relentless explosions while sheltering in a tent on the grounds of Al-Shifa Hospital.
He stated he would not leave because the situation in Gaza City was no different from the situation in the southern Gaza Strip.
The resident explained all areas were dangerous with bombing everywhere and displacement being terrifying and humiliating.
He expressed they were waiting for death or perhaps relief from God and for the truce to come.
Hamas said Katz’s comments were a prelude to the escalation of war crimes being committed by his army.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said intensified military operations had forced it to temporarily suspend activities in Gaza City.
Doctors Without Borders had halted its work in the city days earlier while some UN agencies and aid organisations still operate there.
Hamas was examining a peace plan proposed by Trump and backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The plan calls for a ceasefire and the release of hostages within 72 hours alongside 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.
The source indicated the movement would likely need two to three days to reach a conclusion.
Hamas wants to amend some items such as the disarmament clause and the expulsion of Hamas members.
The group also wants international guarantees for a full Israeli withdrawal and assurances Israel would not violate a ceasefire.
Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli strikes killed at least 46 people across the territory on Wednesday.
Thirty-six of those fatalities occurred in Gaza City according to the rescue force operating under Hamas authority.
Asked about a strike on a school-turned-shelter that killed eight people the Israeli military said it had struck a Hamas terrorist.
The military added that steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians as much as possible.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing swathes of the territory make independent verification of casualty figures challenging.
Twenty-six-year-old Fadel al-Jadba said he would stay in Gaza City despite the warnings.
He expressed wanting a ceasefire at any cost because they were frustrated exhausted and found no one in the world standing with them.
Late on Wednesday the Israeli military said five projectiles were launched from Gaza into Israel.
Four projectiles were intercepted while one fell in an open area according to their statement.
Trump told reporters on Tuesday that Hamas had about three or four days to accept his 20-point Gaza plan.
The US president later warned the Islamist movement would pay in hell if it refused the proposal.
A source familiar with the talks in Doha said two opinions exist within Hamas regarding the ceasefire plan.
The first opinion supports unconditional approval with the priority being a ceasefire under Trump’s guarantees.
The second opinion has serious reservations regarding key clauses particularly rejecting disarmament and the expulsion of any Palestinian from Gaza.
Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack on Israel 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.
The United Nations considers the Gaza health ministry data reliable despite it not distinguishing between civilians and combatants.
Their statistics indicate that more than half of the dead are women and children. – AFP