Palestinians living in the northern Gaza Strip scrambled Friday as the clock ticked down on an Israeli order to evacuate to the southern part of the Strip within 24 hours, ahead of what many fear will be a major Israeli ground offensive into the Hamas-controlled territory.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed early Friday that it had notified residents in Gaza City to leave for "their own safety and protection."
"You will be able to return to Gaza City only when another announcement permitting it is made," IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said in a live-streamed briefing on the social media platform X.
Hamas has called for everyone to "remain steadfast in your homes and to stand firm in the face of this disgusting psychological war waged by the occupation," according to The Associated Press.
Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour told reporters Friday that Israel's evacuation order amounts to "ethnic cleansing" of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have nowhere to flee.
"We don't know what's happening at this moment in the northern part of Gaza where the Israeli occupying forces told people to evacuate — people don't know where to go," Mansour told reporters. "There is no safe place in the Gaza Strip."
In Tel Aviv, Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee told Alhurra, an Arabic language satellite TV sister organization of the Voice of America, "In every sense of the word, we are escalating our raids and attacks on Hamas' hideouts in the Gaza Strip, and this is what is actually happening, after we targeted geographical areas that Hamas exploited to establish its hideouts there, such as Al-Rimal neighborhood, Beit Hanoun, and so on.
"We are now warning the residents of Gaza City and calling on them to leave those areas because they are being used by Hamas to lead and direct military operations against Israel. Therefore, as we said and announced clearly, Israel will intensify its strikes in this region," Adraee said.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke to reporters on his way to a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council Friday afternoon.
"Moving more than 1 million people across a densely populated warzone to a place with no food, water or accommodation, when the entire territory is under siege, is extremely dangerous – and in some cases, simply not possible," he said.
Israel put Gaza under a "complete siege" Monday, in response to Saturday's deadly Hamas attacks, which killed more than 1,300 Israelis.
Palestinians are currently without electricity, water and fuel, making a mass evacuation even more risky and complex. Israeli strikes have killed about 1,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Russia circulated a draft resolution to the 15-nation U.N. Security Council, proposing an immediate humanitarian cease-fire and the unimpeded provision and distribution of assistance, including food, fuel and medical treatment. It also calls for the secure release of all hostages.
The text, seen by VOA, condemns "all acts of terrorism" but does not condemn Hamas's attacks or the state Israel's right to self-defense, which are likely to be points of contention among some council members.
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said he hopes the council can discuss it and vote on it quickly.
"This is chaos, no one understands what to do," Inas Hamdan, an officer at the United Nations' Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza City, told the AP, adding that U.N. staff are evacuating northern Gaza.
Dujarric said the order also applies to all U.N. staff and those sheltering in U.N. facilities — including schools, health centers and clinics.
The U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees — the United Nations Relief and Works Agency — says it has relocated its central operations center and its international staff of about 300 to southern Gaza to continue its humanitarian work. UNRWA has about 13,000 staff in Gaza, the overwhelming majority of whom are Palestinian.
"They are U.N. facilities. They must be protected... and must never come under attack in accordance with international humanitarian law," UNRWA said in a statement.
Israel has positioned 300,000 reservists near the border with Gaza but has said no decision has been made on moving forward with an offensive. In the meantime, it continues heavy bombardment of Gaza, vowing there will be no letup until Hamas releases an estimated 150 hostages.
Israeli and Lebanese media reported clashes Friday along the countries' mutual border.