The Israeli military is extending its ground operations deep into Gaza, creating a large buffer zone between the Strip and Israeli territory and pushing hundreds of thousands of civilians into an ever-smaller area on the Mediterranean coast.
By CNN’s tally, the Israel Defense Forces has issued 20 evacuation orders since March 18, encompassing large parts of Gaza, including all of Rafah in the south.
World
World Middle East
Israel’s Gaza offensive pushes hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into an ever-shrinking bubble
By Tim Lister and Oren Liebermann
6 minute read
Published 8:49 AM EDT, Sat April 12, 2025
Palestinians, displaced by the Israeli military offensive, shelter in a tent camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 6, 2025.
Palestinians, displaced by the Israeli military offensive, shelter in a tent camp in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 6, 2025. Hatem Khaled/Reuters
CNN
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The Israeli military is extending its ground operations deep into Gaza, creating a large buffer zone between the Strip and Israeli territory and pushing hundreds of thousands of civilians into an ever-smaller area on the Mediterranean coast.
By CNN’s tally, the Israel Defense Forces has issued 20 evacuation orders since March 18, encompassing large parts of Gaza, including all of Rafah in the south.
In all, according to the United Nations, some 400,000 people have been told to move over the past three weeks, as the Israeli military intensifies efforts to force Hamas to free Israeli hostages. In the process much of Gaza has become uninhabitable or out of bounds.
The streets of Gaza City were crammed with waves of fleeing civilians Friday, carrying what they could as they left other parts of central and northern Gaza.
One displaced man, Raed Radwan, watched as hundreds more people entered the neighborhood of Sheikh Radwan, describing it as “completely filled with tents and displaced families.”
“I see tents and people lining both sides of the road in heartbreaking conditions.
Bulldozers are clearing the rubble of bombed homes to make space for more tents,” he told CNN.
Hatem Abdulsalam, also in Gaza City, told CNN that he could not “describe what we’re suffering due to garbage, flies, mosquitoes and strange insects, they are everywhere due to the waste piling up in the streets.”
“You see tents for the displaced everywhere, even among piles of garbage, because of the lack of space.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Friday that more than two-thirds of Gaza is now either under active displacement orders or designated as “no-go” zones – areas where humanitarian teams are required to coordinate their movements with Israeli authorities.