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“UTTER HORROR”
International aid groups have condemned the succession of orders to flee from one area to another, saying that civilians were running out of options.
“Palestinians in Gaza are living in utter, deepening horror,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk told a press conference, calling for an urgent ceasefire and charging that Gazans are being “collectively punished” for the Hamas attacks.
Following demands to create areas where civilians could shelter, Israel’s army published a map it said was intended to enable Gazans to “evacuate from specific places for their safety if required”.
But the UN children’s agency UNICEF criticised the map, saying it was “not possible” to create safe zones for civilians to flee to inside Gaza.
According to UN figures, about 1.9 million people are displaced in Gaza – roughly 80 per cent of the narrow coastal territory’s population.
Fighting resumed after the collapse on Friday of a Qatar-mediated truce that saw scores of Israeli and other hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
The Israeli army said Wednesday that the number of its troops killed inside Gaza since the war began had risen to 83.
The war has sparked fears of a wider regional conflict, with frequent exchanges of fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah across Israel’s border with Lebanon and a surge of deadly violence in the occupied West Bank.
A Lebanese soldier was killed by Israeli fire on a military post near the country’s southern border Tuesday, the army said.
In the West Bank, Israeli troops raided the northern Faraa refugee camp early Wednesday, sparking clashes that killed two people, one of them aged 16, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
According to Palestinian authorities, during the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza, more than 250 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, by Israeli fire or in settler attacks.
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