The Israeli army ordered the evacuation of more than a million residents of the northern Gaza Strip to the south within 24 hours, the United Nations (UN) reported Friday morning, October 13 , on the seventh day of the war between Israel and Hamas.

In a statement, the IDF calls for “the evacuation of all civilians in Gaza City from their homes to the south for their own safety and protection and to move to the area south of Wadi Gaza,” a stream located south of the city. “You will only be allowed to return to Gaza City when another announcement allowing this is made,” the army added.

Since the start of hostilities, triggered on October 7 by a bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement, around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israel. In the Gaza Strip, massive Israeli strikes launched in response left 1,537 dead, including many civilians, according to local authorities.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the secretary-general of the United Nations (UN), warned that an evacuation of such a scale would affect 1.1 million people and was “impossible without causing devastating humanitarian consequences.” In these circumstances, “the United Nations strongly calls for this order, if confirmed, to be rescinded to prevent what is already a tragedy from becoming a calamitous situation,” he insisted.

“The UN’s response to Israel’s prior warning to the inhabitants of Gaza is shameful,” responded Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, in a message sent to AFP by his services, accusing the UN of having “turned a blind eye to Hamas which was arming itself and using the Gaza Strip to hide its weapons”.

“Now, instead of standing with Israel, whose citizens were massacred by Hamas terrorists, and which is trying to minimize the damage to those involved, [the UN] is lecturing Israel,” he denounced.

A few hours earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised, after an interview in Tel Aviv with American Secretary of State Antony Blinken, to annihilate Hamas. “Just as ISIS was crushed, Hamas will be crushed,” the prime minister said, referring to the Islamic State group.

Around 6,000 bombs dropped on the Gaza Strip

These latest developments suggest a ground offensive in Gaza against Hamas. The Israeli army announced Thursday that it had dropped around 6,000 bombs on the strip of territory for a total of 4,000 tons of explosives since Saturday.

In the Palestinian enclave, the din of explosions, drones and other explosions is incessant, day and night. More than 423,000 Palestinians have been displaced in recent days in the Gaza Strip to flee bombings, according to the UN, which has launched an emergency appeal for donations worth $294 million to meet “urgent needs.” Palestinian territories.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (OCHA), which notably operates schools in the Gaza Strip, welcomes around 64% of these displaced people in 102 of its establishments. “The only power plant in the Gaza Strip ran out of fuel and stopped working, cutting off the only source of electricity” in the enclave where most residents “no longer have access to electricity.” ‘drinking water,’ OCHA reported in a statement. According to this organization, a water reservoir and a desalination plant were hit by airstrikes.

The Gaza Strip, a poor and cramped enclave packed with 2.4 million inhabitants who have suffered a land, air and sea blockade since 2006, is now in a state of siege, deprived of supplies of water, electricity and food, cut off by Israel.

Tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers deployed

In addition to the bombings, the Israeli army has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers around Gaza and on the border with Lebanon, a country from which pro-Iranian Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, regularly launches rockets against Israel.

During his whirlwind visit to the Jewish state, Blinken said he discussed “ways to address the humanitarian needs of Gaza residents in order to protect them, while Israel carries out its legitimate security operations to defend itself against terrorism and try to ensure that this never happens again.” “We will always be at your side,” the head of American diplomacy assured Mr. Netanyahu.

In Jordan, where he arrived overnight from Thursday to Friday, the Secretary of State is due to meet King Abdullah II and the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. The latter rejected the “killing of civilians on both sides” and demanded “an immediate end to the aggression” against the Palestinian people. Mr. Blinken is then expected in Qatar, before going to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Also on Friday, the UN Security Council is due to meet in New York at the initiative of Brazil, which holds the rotating presidency of the institution, to address the situation in the Gaza Strip. A first meeting of the Council on October 8 did not result in any unanimous condemnation of the Hamas attack.

The presidents of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola are in turn expected in Israel on Friday to “express their solidarity with the victims of Hamas terrorist attacks and meet Israeli leaders,” according to a joint statement from the two. institutions.

The heads of German and French diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock and Catherine Colonna, are also due to visit Israel, on Friday and Sunday respectively.