Israel is making preparations to mass-displace Gazans starting Sunday, relocating them from combat zones to the south of the enclave "to ensure their safety," the military claimed Saturday.
This comes days after Israel said it intended to launch a new offensive to seize control of northern Gaza City, the enclave's largest urban center, in a plan that raised international alarm over the fate of the demolished strip, home to about 2.2 million people.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Sunday said that before launching the offensive, the civilian population will be evacuated to what he described as "safe zones" from Gaza City, which he called Hamas' last stronghold.
The shelter equipment will be transferred via the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza by the United Nations and other international relief organizations after being inspected by Defense Ministry personnel, the military said.
A spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs expressed concern over Israel's plans to relocate people to southern Gaza, saying it would only increase suffering.
But the U.N. body welcomed Israel’s recognition that shelter is a desperate need and that tents and other shelter equipment will be allowed again into Gaza. "The U.N. and its partners will seize the opportunity this opens," the spokesperson said.
The U.N. warned on Thursday that thousands of families already enduring appalling humanitarian conditions could be pushed over the edge if the Gaza City plan moves ahead.
Palestinian and United Nations officials have said no place in the enclave is safe, including areas in southern Gaza where Israel has been ordering residents to move to.
The military declined to comment when asked whether the shelter equipment was intended for Gaza City's population, estimated at around 1 million people presently, and whether the site to which they will be relocated in southern Gaza would be the area of Rafah, which borders Egypt.
Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said Saturday that the plans for the new offensive were still being formulated.
Hamas said Sunday that Israel's planned Gaza relocation plan constitutes a "new wave of genocide and displacement" for hundreds of thousands of residents in the area.
The group said the planned deployment of tents and other shelter equipment by Israel in the southern Gaza Strip was a "blatant deception."
The Palestinian resistance group Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, said that the military's announcement, "as part of its brutal attack to occupy Gaza City, is a blatant and brazen mockery of international conventions."
However, Israeli forces have already increased operations on the outskirts of Gaza City over the past week. Residents in the neighbourhoods of Zeitoun and Shejaia have reported heavy Israeli aerial and tank fire.
Residents there have also reported explosions throughout the day, resulting from Israeli tank shelling against homes in the eastern parts of the neighbourhood.
The Israeli military on Friday said that it had begun a new operation in Zeitoun to locate explosives, destroy tunnels and kill resistance members in the area.
The war was triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas incursion of southern Israel, which caused around 1,200 deaths and took 251 hostages, according to Israeli authorities, and 20 of the remaining 50 hostages in Gaza are still alive.
Israel's genocidal war, in comparison, has killed over 61,000 Palestinians, Gaza's Health Ministry says. It has also caused a hunger crisis, internally displaced most of Gaza's population and left much of the enclave in ruins.
Negotiations to secure a U.S.-backed 60-day ceasefire and hostage release ended in deadlock last month, and mediators Egypt and Qatar have been trying to revive them.
