Palestinians flee within Gaza after Israel orders mass evacuation and stages brief ground incursions

DEIR AL-BALAH(WNAM Monitoring): Palestinians scrambled to flee northern Gaza on Saturday after Israel ordered nearly half the population to flee south and carried out limited ground forays ahead of an expected land offensive, as the war appeared set to escalate a week after Hamas’ bloody, wide-ranging attack into Israel.
Israel has ordered some 1 million people to flee, including the entire population of Gaza City, despite warnings from the UN and aid groups that such an exodus would cause untold human suffering, with hospital patients and others unable to relocate.
Israeli army spokesman said forces  will allow safe movement for Gazans on two main roads south in territory between 10:00-16:00.
Families in cars, trucks and donkey carts packed with their possessions crowded a main road heading southward from Gaza City as Israeli airstrikes continued to hammer the besieged territory. Hamas’ media office said warplanes struck cars fleeing south, killing more than 70 people.
The Israeli military said its troops conducted temporary raids into Gaza to battle militants and hunted for traces of some 150 people — including men, women and children — abducted in Hamas’s shocking Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel.
In urging the evacuation, Israel’s military said it planned to target underground Hamas hideouts around Gaza City. But Palestinians and some Egyptian officials fear that Israel ultimately aims to push Gaza’s people out through the southern border with Egypt.
The UN called on Israel to reverse the unprecedented directive.
Hamas told people to ignore the evacuation order. Families in Gaza faced what agonizing dilemmas in deciding whether to leave or stay, with no safe ground anywhere. Israeli strikes have leveled entire city blocks, and Gaza has been sealed off from food, water and medical supplies — all under a virtual total power blackout.