‘No Safe Zone’: Exodus from Gaza City Swells as Evacuation Orders Mount

Gaza City is emptying out—again. Israeli military estimates reported in local media say roughly 200,000 people have fled the north in recent weeks, with tens of thousands more leaving in the past few days as airstrikes intensify and fresh forced evacuation calls rain down.

Rights groups, including Amnesty International, warn the escalating offensive in northern Gaza risks “catastrophic and irreversible consequences” for civilians. Israel says it’s ramping up targeted strikes on what it calls Hamas strongholds and preparing the next phase of military operations; leaflets and phone alerts have told about a million residents to get out of Gaza City.

The choices are bleak. Families pile into pickups and donkey carts, or hoist what they can carry and head south—toward overcrowded tent camps that Israel has also struck at intervals.

“There is no safe zone in the Gaza Strip,” said Fawzi Muftah as vehicles groaned under mattresses and water jugs. “Danger is everywhere.”

Amal Sobh, displaced with 30 relatives, including 13 orphans, said their vehicle died for lack of fuel.

“We don’t have good blankets or bedding, and winter is coming… We don’t even have a proper tent,” she said.

Her husband, she added, was arrested earlier in the war.

Others are simply too exhausted—or too broke—to move.

“We don’t have enough money to flee,” said Ahmed Al-Dayeh, who had just buried a friend killed in a strike. Another father, Abu Ahmed, summed up the year: “Our life revolves around war. We go from this area to that area. We can’t take it anymore.”

Israeli forces say they have stepped up strikes around Gaza City, hitting high-rises and “terrorist infrastructure”—cameras, recon posts, sniper nests, anti-tank launch sites, and command hubs. Troops have been operating in Shejaia, Zeitoun, and Tuffah, with brief armor incursions into Sheikh Radwan. Leaflets dropped over Al-Naser (Nasser) in the west warned residents that troops intend to take control of the neighborhood next.

Last week the military said it controls about 40% of the city and promised more “focused” attacks to weaken Hamas before the next phase.

The toll is staggering. Since October 2023, at least 64,656 Palestinians have been killed and 163,503 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, with unknown thousands still under rubble. Health officials say more than 400 people—over 140 children—have died from malnutrition-related conditions, including at least 126 in Gaza City since a famine declaration on Aug. 22.

Israel says it is letting hundreds of aid trucks in, but UN agencies and NGOs say that’s far short of what’s needed as disease spreads, markets collapse, and people risk death just searching for food.

The war began after Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people in Israel and saw 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s stated goal is to dismantle Hamas; it also frames Gaza City as the group’s “final stronghold.”

Cease-fire diplomacy looks shaky. Talks mediated by Qatar were already fragile; regional media say they’ve been further complicated by reports of an attempted strike targeting Hamas political leaders in Doha this week. (Details remain murky; there’s been no formal public confirmation from Israel.)

For families still in Gaza City, the day-to-day calculus hasn’t changed: leave and risk the road—or stay and risk the next blast.

“No rest, no settling down, not even sleep,” Abu Ahmed said, loading his kids onto a motorcycle-towed trailer. “We can’t take it anymore.”

Reuters, Al Jazeera, and the Times of Israel contributed to this report.