Israel orders million Gazans to evacuate; U.N. says that’s impossible

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Friday of more than 1 million Palestinians from the northern Gaza Strip, a move that the United Nations described as potentially “calamitous” amid heavy airstrikes and a rapidly declining humanitarian situation.

Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Israel has indicated that it is readying a ground invasion of the besieged enclave, a move aimed at ending the rule of Hamas, the militant group that controls the area and which launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on Saturday, killing more than 1,300 civilians and soldiers, and trucking scores of hostages into Gaza.

But, with exits to Israel and Egypt shut, the retaliatory military operations have effectively turned the narrow 25-mile long Gaza Strip into a kill box. More than 1,500 people have already died in the bombing campaign, a third of them children, and another 6,600 are wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.