Israel’s top general, Eyal Zamir, said Wednesday the army has entered the second phase of its operation to occupy Gaza, which is expected to displace the blockaded Palestinian enclave's population, amid growing international outrage.
"We have entered the second phase of Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ to fulfill the objectives of the war. Returning our hostages is both a moral and national mission,” Zamir told army troops in the field.
The move came days after the Israeli army declared Gaza City a "dangerous combat zone” on Friday.
On Aug. 8, Israel’s Security Cabinet approved a plan by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to gradually reoccupy the Gaza Strip, beginning with Gaza City.
A senior Israeli military official said on Wednesday that authorities estimated that an imminent offensive in the Gaza Strip would displace one million Palestinians, planning a new "humanitarian area" for them.
The vast majority of Gaza's more than two million people have been displaced at least once during nearly two years of war.
The Israeli military has been gearing up to seize Gaza City, the Palestinian territory's largest urban centre, with the United Nations estimating that nearly a million people live in and around the northern city.
A senior official from COGAT, the Israeli defence ministry body that oversees civil affairs in the Palestinian territories, said that in recent days, "we saw a movement of people from the north to the south."
"Until now, approximately 70,000" Gazans left the north, the official said, briefing journalists on condition of anonymity.
Without giving a specific timeframe, the official said Israeli authorities expected "a million people" to flee south.
In late August, an Israeli military spokesman said the evacuation of Gaza City was "inevitable," while the Red Cross has warned that any Israeli attempt to do so would be impossible in a safe and dignified manner.
The Israeli official said that "we want to identify a humanitarian area" which would be formally announced in the coming days. Israel is notorious for targeting safe zones, hospitals and any areas deemed illegal to target under international law.
The area would extend from a cluster of refugee camps in central Gaza to the southern area of al-Mawasi and eastward.
Israel had designated the coastal area of al-Mawasi a humanitarian zone in the early days of the war, but has repeatedly struck it since.
In mid-August, U.N. human rights office spokesman Thameen al-Kheetan said Palestinians in al-Mawasi had "little or no access to essential services and supplies, including food, water, electricity and tents."
A statement from COGAT last week announced a raft of preparations for "moving the population southward for their protection," including a new water line from Egypt to al-Mawasi, repair works on Israeli water lines, and the connection of a power line to a southern desalination plant.
COGAT also said work had begun to reopen the European Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, which has been closed for several weeks following a military operation that Israel said killed Hamas's presumed leader in Gaza, Mohammed Sinwar.