Israeli advance deepens dilemma for Palestinians

Reuters :

Palestinians in the relatively unscathed Nasser area of Gaza City were having to decide whether to stay or go on Thursday after the Israeli military dropped leaflets warning that troops would take control of the western neighbourhood.

Israel has ordered the hundreds of thousands of people living in Gaza City to leave as it intensifies its all-out war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas, but with little safety, space and food in the rest of Gaza, people face dire choices.

“It has been almost two years, with no rest, no settling down, not even sleep,” said Abu Ahmed, a father, as he and his family prepared to flee the city in a truck pulled by a motorcycle, laden with some of their belongings.

“We can’t sit with our children just to sit with them. Our life revolves around war,” he said. “We have to go from this area to that area. We can’t take it anymore, we are tired.”

Israeli forces killed 18 people across the territory on Thursday, according to medics and local health authorities, including 11 in strikes on various parts of Gaza City, five in a strike on a single location in Beach refugee camp, and two who were searching for food near Rafah in the south.