Palestinians flee Gaza City under Israeli bombing

PALESTINIAN families streamed out of Gaza City yesterday, some crammed into pickup trucks, others on foot, as Israeli forces pressed their assault on the territory's main urban centre.

- AFP

Parents carried their children while the elderly hobbled along, an AFP journalist reported.

A man in a wheelchair and another on crutches were among the long line of people heading south under Israeli military orders.

The military has issued multiple evacuation warnings for Gaza City, but many residents have told AFP they have nowhere else to go, noting that Israel has repeatedly struck the area in the south where it has urged people to move.

The scenes of mass flight from Gaza City came as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Israel in a show of support, despite an Israeli strike in Qatar this week.

The Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, issued yesterday a warning to those in Gaza’s port area and Al-Rimal neighbourhood to evacuate immediately to a “humanitarian zone” in the south, where Gazans say there is no more space to pitch tents.