Hamas Roadblocks Are Preventing Gaza Residents From Fleeing South to Avoid Israeli Airstrikes: IDF

The Israel Defense Forces have released audio recordings of a phone call between an army officer and a resident of Gaza during which the resident tells the officer that Hamas has blocked one of the main routes out of northern Gaza and is shooting at people attempting to flee to safety from the Israeli airstrikes.During the call, the IDF officer urges the resident to go toward Khan Unis at southern Gaza near the Egyptian border. He tells the resident that it’s urgent, and for his own safety. “All roads are blocked,” is the reply from the resident. “They are sending everyone back home … They are shooting at people.”Israel has for days been warning residents of northern Gaza, which is bearing the brunt of its campaign to crush the Hamas terrorists, to take shelter in the southern part of the strip. Thousands of Gaza residents have already done so, but many thousands more remain in Gaza City in the north. The IDF repeated those warnings before its troops entered the territory briefly Thursday ahead of what is expected to be a full-on ground invasion in the coming days.United Nations officials have repeatedly blamed Israel for the inability of Palestinians in Gaza to seek shelter, claiming that its planes are targeting evacuation routes in the north and preventing the free movement of refugees. The UN humanitarian coordinator for Palestinians, Lynn Hastings, reiterated those claims Thursday, stating that Israel’s advance warnings are useless because “people have nowhere to go to or are unable to move.”“When the evacuation routes are bombed, when people north as well as south are caught up in hostilities, when the essentials for survival are lacking, and when there are no assurances for return, people are left with nothing but impossible choices,” Ms. Hastings said, adding that “nowhere is safe in Gaza.”

Hamas Roadblocks Are Preventing Gaza Residents From Fleeing South to Avoid Israeli Airstrikes: IDF

Hamas Roadblocks Are Preventing Gaza Residents From Fleeing South to Avoid Israeli Airstrikes: IDF

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