Gaza Strip evacuations
During the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, the Israeli military ordered all communities north of the Wadi Gaza, including Gaza City, to evacuate southward. The order resulted in hundreds of thousands of residents of northern Gaza evacuating south. Beginning on 1 December, Israel began issuing evacuation orders across the Gaza Strip, dividing the territory into 620 zones. The UN stated residents were being pushed into an area one-third the size of the total territory. Israel initially demanded the 1.1 million residents of northern Gaza to evacuate within 24 hours, which was condemned by the UN as "impossible without devastating humanitarian consequences." The UN said the order created "chaos". The order came one week after an offensive on Israel from Gaza was mounted by Hamas.
| Part of the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip | |
Israeli division of the Gaza Strip into 620 zones | |
| Date | 13 October 2023 – present (4 months and 2 days) |
|---|---|
| Location | Gaza Strip |
| Type | Population transfer |
| Organized by | Israel |
| Deaths | 70+ (Israeli attacks on evacuating Palestinians) |
| Displaced | 800,000–1,000,000 fled south |
Israel's ground invasion of Gaza began on 27 October. As of November 4, 2023, between 800,000 and 1,000,000 people moved to the south of the Gaza Strip, while 350,000 to 400,000 remained in the north. By 1 December, 80 percent of the territory's population was in the southern Gaza Strip. Hamas instructed civilians not to evacuate, and there are multiple reports indicating that Hamas physically hindered Gazans from fleeing to the south. Multiple reports also indicated Israel targeted Palestinians during the evacuation process and subjected them to attacks and bombardments in the southern Gaza Strip. Evacuees described the evacuation corridors as unsafe, and full of terror from Israeli soldiers and dead bodies along the road.
Paula Gaviria Betancur, UN special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, condemned the forcible evacuation order as a crime against humanity and violation of international humanitarian law. The displacement resulting from the evacuation was part of a broader humanitarian crisis in Gaza. It is the largest displacement of Palestinians in 75 years. Palestinians have described the evacuation as the "second Nakba."
The first evacuation order on 13 October 2023 was described as "genocidal" by Adila Hassim SC in her speech to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in January 2024 in the South Africa v. Israel case.