A six-hour window issued by the Israeli military ordering Palestinian civilians to finish evacuating from Gaza City to the southern part of the strip ended at 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET) on Saturday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told residents to move towards the Gaza Valley, in a message posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. It is unclear how widely the messaging has been received on the ground given the current electricity and internet blackout.
The order from the Israeli military came a day after it told 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza to evacuate their homes.
The IDF has saturated the border with troops and military equipment amid a relentless onslaught on the territory, in retaliation to a large-scale incursion by the militant group Hamas on October 7.
Earlier on Saturday, IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said Israel’s air, land and sea blockade on Gaza will continue into a seventh day.
βWe are preparing for the next stages,” he added, but shared no information if that could be a ground incursion and when.
