GAZA CITY: Israeli tanks and warplanes pounded Gaza City on Thursday, prompting long lines of scared Palestinian civilians to flee as the military intensified its assault on the territory's largest urban hub.
Thick columns of smoke billowed into the sky as journalists and witnesses saw a steady stream of Gazans heading south on foot, in vehicles and on donkey carts.
"There is artillery fire, air strikes and drone gunfire. The bombing never stops," said Aya Ahmed, 32, sheltering with 13 relatives in Gaza City.
"The world doesn't understand what is happening. They (Israel) want us to evacuate south - but where will we live? There are no tents, no transport, no money."
Palestinians say the cost of a ride to the south has soared, in some cases topping $1,000. "The situation is indescribable - crowds everywhere, the sound of explosions, women and men crying and screaming as they walked while carrying their belongings," said Shadi Jawad, 47, describing his family's ordeal as they fled their home on Wednesday.
During the journey, their belongings fell off their truck when it suffered a flat tyre.
The offensive has sparked international outrage, with the territory already devastated by nearly two years of war and the Gaza City area gripped by a UN-declared famine.
"The military incursion and evacuation orders in northern Gaza are driving new waves of displacement, forcing traumatised families into an ever-shrinking area unfit for human dignity," World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X.
"Hospitals, already overwhelmed, are on the brink of collapse as escalating violence blocks access and prevents WHO from delivering lifesaving supplies," he warned.
Gaza City's Al Shifa Hospital said it had received the bodies of 20 people killed in Israeli strikes since midnight.
More than 60 people had been killed by Israeli fire on Wednesday, according to Gaza's civil defence agency.
The Israeli military said it continued to target "Hamas infrastructure" and also operated in the southern areas of Rafah and Khan Yunis.
Media restrictions in the territory and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the details provided by the civil defence or the Israeli military.
The US-backed offensive began on Tuesday and came as a United Nations probe accused Israel of committing 'genocide' in the Gaza Strip, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials had incited the crime.
Israel rejected the findings and slammed it as "distorted and false".
Navi Pillay, who headed the investigation, said that she hoped Israeli leaders would one day be jailed.
"I see similarities" to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, she said, pointing to "the same kind of methods". Spain said it will probe "human rights violations in Gaza" to assist the International Criminal Court, which has sought arrest warrants for Israeli officials over alleged war crimes. - AFP
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