Hamas do not want people to evacuate from Northern Gaza: IDF

Tel Aviv [Israel]: Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war that has now completed a month, Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Jonathan Conricus has said that the Hamas terrorists have made specific efforts to stop Palestinians from moving South.

The IDF spokesperson said that most of the combat operations are going on in Gaza because that is where most of the Hamas has its strong hold.

In a video posted on social media platform X, Conricus said, “Most of the combat operations are going on in northern Gaza. there are still other strikes going on , in other areas as well, but we are focussing on Northern Gaza, because that is where most of the Hamas has its strong hold.”

He said that Hamas wants to keep civilians in densely populated areas in order to meet their purposes.

“Now, what we have seen are roadblocks, hamas has made specific efforts to stop Palestinians from moving south, ..they do not want people to evacuate from the north….they want them to stay in a densely populated areas where there is the most serious and difficult fighting ..because they want the civilians on top of their tunnels,” Conricus said.

In a quick update, focussing on humanitarian efforts taken up from IDF side, Conricus mentioned that the forces are trying to get the Palestinian civilians out of Northern Gaza.

“As we have been saying since last two weeks, we are trying to get Palestinian civilians out of this area and down into the south….more than a million and a half pamphlets and flyers have been airdropped, different colors for different days…so that people can understand that these are different pamphlets… we have done almost 20,000 live phonecalls by Israeli intel officers calling people in various neighbourhoods like Jabaliya, in Gaza city and many other locations, telling them relocate to south, not to stay or remain in northern Gaza,” the IDF spokesperson said.

“The sum total of this is serious, relevant timely effort to get the message to the Palestinian population that they should go from the northern part of Gaza to go to south of Gaza…because it is not safe where they are standing,” he added.

The Israeli Army said on Sunday that “significant strikes” are being carried out and the Gaza Strip has been “cut into two”, Al Jazeera reported.

Army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that the Israeli forces “have encircled Gaza City” and “now there exists a south Gaza and a north Gaza”.

“Troops reached the coastline and are holding it”, he added. “There are now widespread strikes on terror infrastructure – below ground and above it,” Al Jazeera quoted Hagari as saying.

In another statement, Chief of the General Staff, LTG Herzi Halevi, during a meeting in the Northern Command, said that the IDF is ready to strike in the northern Gaza at “any moment”.

“We have a clear goal of restoring a significantly better security situation at the borders, not only in the Gaza Strip…We are ready to strike in the north at any moment,” IDF posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had declared that Israel will not agree to a ceasefire until the Hamas terror group releases the hostages it is holding, The Times of Israel reported.

“Take this (word ‘ceasefire’) out of the lexicon. We will continue until we defeat them; we do not have an alternative,” Netanyahu is quoted saying in a statement from his office.
Meanwhile, Israeli envoy to the US, Michael Herzog called Gaza as the world’s “biggest terror complex”, Times of Israel reported.

He said that Gaza is “the biggest terror complex in the world,” with tens of thousands of fighters and rockets, among other weaponry — and 310 miles (500 kilometres) of underground tunnels.

“This is what we’re up against. And we have to uproot it, because if we do not, they will strike again and again,” Times of Israel quoted Herzog as saying at CBS’s “Face the Nation” interview.