In Pictures

Thousands of Palestinians flee north Gaza amid intensified Israeli attacks

Israel kills at least 115 Palestinians since Friday as it intensifies bombardment amid widespread forced starvation.

Displaced Palestinians fleeing Beit Lahiya amid continuing Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip arrive in Jabalia, northern Gaza. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]

Thousands of Palestinians have been ordered by the Israeli forces to flee parts of northern Gaza as indiscriminate air strikes have killed at least 115 people in the territory.

Palestinians in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya area fled their homes with essential belongings on Friday, after intense Israeli air strikes hit the area.

More than 19,000 Palestinians have been displaced in Gaza since Thursday afternoon, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). “Many with nothing but the clothes on their backs,” the organisation said in a post on X. “Nowhere is safe in Gaza.”

Nearly all of Gaza’s population has been displaced at some point during the genocide, with several forced to flee many times over. Israel has increasingly issued forced displacement orders as it escalates its attacks in the enclave.

In a statement in Arabic on Saturday, the Israeli military said it has launched the “initial stages” of what it calls Operation Gideon’s Chariots, a new offensive for “the expansion of the battle in the Gaza Strip, with the goal of achieving all the war’s objectives, including the release of the abducted and the defeat of Hamas”.

A separate statement in English said the army was “mobilising troops to achieve operational control in areas of the Gaza Strip”.

Israel has killed at least 115 Palestinians in Gaza since dawn on Friday as it intensifies bombardment of the enclave amid widespread forced starvation. More than 100 other Palestinians were killed on Thursday in similar attacks.

Since October 2023, Israel has killed at least 53,119 Palestinians and wounded 120,214 others, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The enclave’s Government Media Office updated the death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.

The Israeli army has ordered Palestinians in parts of the northern Gaza Strip to leave. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]

UNRWA has documented at least 23 displacement orders by the Israeli military since March 18. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]

Palestinians flee with their belongings to areas they consider safe after the Israeli army's intense attacks in the Gaza Strip. [Mahmoud İssa/Anadolu]

Thousands of people have fled the north of the enclave amid Israeli forced evacuation orders, but they say nowhere is safe. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]

Palestinians in Gaza are experiencing a surge in Israeli attacks. [Mahmoud İssa/Anadolu]

The Israeli military said “extensive attacks” on Palestinians over the past 24 hours are the initial moves of what it calls Operation Gideon’s Chariots. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]

UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence says “this week’s intensification [in attacks] raises fears of the start of an even wider Israeli offensive” in Gaza. “We urge all parties, including third states with direct influence, to stop the assault,” he said. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]

More than 19 months into its war on Gaza, Israel shows few signs that it is relenting. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]

The past week has shown an intensification of violence across the besieged Palestinian territory, leaving hundreds dead, and hundreds of thousands terrified of what comes next. [Jehad Alshrafi/AP Photo]