Gaza Strip evacuations


During the Gaza war, the Israel Defense Forces ordered mass evacuations in Gaza, which the IDF said were to minimize civilian casualties in its war against Hamas, resulting in one of the largest displacements of Palestinians since 1948. On 13 October 2023, just one week after Hamas' attack on Israel, Israel instructed 1.1 million Gazans north of the Wadi Gaza, including those in Gaza City, to evacuate within 24 hours. This evacuation triggered a humanitarian crisis, which Palestinians have compared to the Nakba of 1948.
Israel's ground invasion of Gaza began on 27 October 2023. By early November 2024, around 800,000 to 1 million Gazans had relocated to the southern part of the Strip, while 350,000 to 400,000 remained in the north. Evacuees described the perilous journey as filled with fear and insecurity, citing attacks by the Israeli military and the sight of corpses along the evacuation routes. Even after reaching the south, evacuees faced continued bombings, leaving no truly safe place in Gaza.
The crisis intensified on 1 December 2023, when Israel began issuing evacuation orders throughout the entire Gaza Strip, dividing it into 620 zones and pushing a majority of Palestinians into an area one-third the territory's size. By mid-2024, close to two-thirds of Gaza's population had been relocated into less than one-fifth of the Strip, with additional evacuation orders placing 83 percent of the entire region under displacement directives by July. By August 2024, Israel's orders became so frequent that some residents stopped complying, believing no part of Gaza was safer than any other, while others could not comply due to overcrowding in designated "safe zones." In October 2024, forced evacuations in the besieged northern Gaza intensified fears that Israel was actively implementing aspects of the "generals' plan" to clear northern Gaza of Palestinians.
These forced evacuations have drawn severe criticism globally, with legal experts, human rights organizations, and diplomats condemning them as war crimes and crimes against humanity. South Africa has referenced these evacuations in its genocide case against Israel.

Evacuation of northern Gaza

Timeline

October 2023

  • After Hamas launched an attack on Israel on 7 October, Israel quickly responded with airstrikes on Gaza.
  • By 11 October, international efforts were being made to open a humanitarian corridor for civilians.
  • 13 October: The Israeli Defense Forces issued a warning to Gazans who live north of the Wadi Gaza, including in Gaza City, to move south within six hours. The United Nations declared this broad evacuation order impractical to execute safely.
  • Over the next two days, hundreds of thousands fled to southern Gaza.

    November 2023

  • On 1 November Egypt allowed the first "critically sick and wounded" Palestinian and "selected" foreign national evacuees to leave Gaza.
  • Around 8 November, Israel announced a daily four-hour humanitarian corridor.
  • By 9 November, estimates of the number of people remaining in northern Gaza ranged from the low hundreds of thousands to at least 900,000. Those who remained had little to no access to water, food, or electricity.
  • On 8 November, an estimated 50,000 people evacuated northern Gaza.
  • * Many fled on an evacuation corridor along Salah al-Din Road, one of Gaza's two north–south highways.
  • * Civilians fled northern Gaza on foot or on donkey carts. As they passed Israeli tanks, civilians waved white flags, though some reported Israeli soldiers firing at them and passing dead bodies along the road.
  • * Evacuees reported having to pass through Israeli checkpoints, where IDF soldiers made arrests.
  • On 10 November, an Israeli spokesman stated 100,000 people had fled northern Gaza in the prior two days.
  • UNICEF's Regional Director Adele Khodr said that thousands of children remained in northern Gaza, whose lives were "hanging on by a thread."
  • On 12 November, Israel announced a temporary four-hour "temporary tactical cessation of military activities" at the Jabalia refugee camp to allow for residents to evacuate south. A Palestinian journalist noted the humanitarian pauses only extended to Salah al-Din Street, but not to any of the roads leading to it.
  • On 12 November, CARE International noted, "The journey to the south is incredibly dangerous and hard. Many of those who have made it out have experienced and witnessed terrible suffering." The same day, the International Committee of the Red Cross released a statement, noting it was "gravely concerned by the precarious and unsafe conditions under which civilians are evacuating." In an article in The Intercept, Gazan journalist Hind Khoudary compared the evacuation to the Trail of Tears, writing, "We kept walking. As we walked, pushing each other, we saw bombed cars and dead bodies inside the cars. Flies filled the cars, feasting on the blood and the bodies inside."
  • On 15 November, OCHA stated Israel was arresting evacuees, reportedly beating and stripping people naked.
  • On 16 November the Palestinian Red Crescent released, on Twitter, a 14-second video of evacuees, including children and wounded on stretchers, walking 11 km from Gaza City to southern Gaza.
  • On 17 November, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics estimated there were still some 800,000 civilians in northern Gaza.
  • Journalist Jihad Abu Shanab, covering the evacuation on Salah al-Din road stated men were being denied access past an Israeli checkpoint into southern Gaza.
  • On 14 November 2023 OCHA said that Palestinians were reportedly being facially scanned while passing through automatic checkpoints.
  • On 18 November Doctors Without Borders condemned a "deliberate Israeli attack" on a medical convoy evacuating northern Gaza.
  • Around 21 November Mosab Abu Toha, a poet, was detained at an Israeli checkpoint.
  • On 22 November UNICEF reported unaccompanied children were evacuating south by themselves.
  • On 22 November Israel leafleted villages east of Khan Younis, ordering residents to evacuate immediately westwards to "known shelters."
  • Evacuees described the evacuation path as full of death and horror.

    December 2023–May 2024

  • In the case of one family, Al Jareeza reported on 3 December, three brothers were apprehended, and their family was left not knowing what happened to them more than two weeks later.
  • On 22 December Israel issued instructions people in several areas to "immediately move to shelters in Deir al-Balah".
  • On 4 January 2024, Israel announced the closure of Salah al-Din Street as a humanitarian corridor and the transfer to al-Rashid Street.
  • Residents on the coastal side of Gaza City were ordered to evacuate on 29 January. The evacuation orders affected an estimated 88,000 people.
  • Speaking in the South Africa v. Israel case, Adila Hassim SC told the International Court of Justice that the first evacuation order on 13 October 2023 was "genocidal".
  • On 6 February, UNOCHA stated that two-thirds of Gaza, 246sq km, and once home to 1.78 million Palestinians, was under evacuation orders by the IDF.
  • The Institute for the Study of War and the Critical Threats Project reported the Israeli army was in Gaza City and planning to clear out the remaining 200,000 people in humanitarian shelters.
  • The ISW reported that Israeli forces were building a road to divide northern and southern Gaza.
  • Israel ordered the residents of the Zeitoun and Turkmen neighborhoods in Gaza City to evacuate to al-Mawasi.
  • The head of communications at Islamic Relief reported that Palestinians in northern Gaza were evacuating by foot due to severe fuel shortages.
  • On 14 May, Israel ordered the immediate evacuations of the al-Karama, Sultan and al-Zuhur neighborhoods.
  • The UN stated that Israel's latest evacuation orders had displaced at least 100,000 people from northern Gaza.
  • 15 people were reportedly killed at the gate of an evacuation center in the Jabalia refugee camp.

    June 2024–present

  • On 30 June, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated that between 60,000 and 80,000 people had been displaced from Shuja'iyya in the prior days.
  • On 7 July, the IDF ordered the central parts of Gaza City to evacuate to the western part of the city.
  • On 9 July, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric stated residents of Gaza City were fleeing Israel's military advancements on the city, stating they were being "displaced under fire and bombardment".
  • On 10 July, Israel ordered the complete evacuation of Gaza City, affecting as many as 250,000 people.
  • * Israel dropped leaflets telling "all those in Gaza City" to go to Deir al-Balah.
  • * In response to the evacuation order, some residents stated they would not leave, stating there was nowhere safe in Gaza.
  • ** The Associated Press reported there was "no mass exodus" since residents believed there was no safe refuge.
  • The International Committee of the Red Cross stated on 13 July that "entire families are trapped and desperately seek security. The huge needs are beyond our capacity to respond".
  • A displaced person from Gaza City in Deir al-Balah stated, "Where should we go next? The entire Gaza Strip is under fire and we are being hunted like deer in a forest. When is enough?"
  • On 7 August 2024, Israel ordered the evacuations of districts in Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya.
  • Israel ordered the evacuation of the Maghazi refugee camp on 17 August 2024. Some residents of northern Gaza refused to evacuate, stating there was nowhere safe in Gaza.
  • Thousands fled Deir el-Balah following Israeli evacuation orders on 22 August 2024. Additional orders were issued for Deir el-Balah four days later.
  • In late-September 2024, Netanyahu was considering a plan to force out all civilians in northern Gaza and place anyone remaining there following the orders under a complete siege. Former National Security Council chief Giora Eiland recommended that the entire northern Gaza Strip be emptied, and that anyone remaining would be killed or arrested.
  • On 6 October, Israel ordered the mass evacuation of the estimated 300,000 people remaining in northern Gaza Strip, with the army reportedly "systematically working to empty northern Gaza."