Israel says it will continue to use 'unprecedented force' in Gaza City

It tells Palestinians to flee south amid ground offensive, but many are unable to make the journey

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The Israeli military warned on Sept 19 it will operate with “unprecedented force” in Gaza City, telling residents to flee southwards as it presses its ground offensive on the territory’s largest urban centre.

Israel has pummelled Gaza City with strikes and tank fire in its bid to seize it, nearly two years into the war that has devastated the Palestinian territory and left the Gaza City area gripped by a UN-declared famine.

The assault comes ahead of a planned move by several Western countries, including France and Britain, to recognise a Palestinian state next week at a UN summit.

The Israeli military launched its major ground offensive on Sept 16 and has for days been telling residents to head south, but many Palestinians say the journey is prohibitively expensive and they do not know where to go.

The UN estimated at the end of August that about a million people were living in Gaza City and its surroundings.

The Israeli military on Sept 19 said it estimated 480,000 of them have fled since late August.

On Sept 19, the Israeli military’s Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee announced the closure of a temporary evacuation route opened 48 hours earlier, saying the only way south was via the Al-Rashid coastal road.

“From this moment, Salah al-Din Road is closed for southbound travel,” he said in a post on X addressing residents of the city, referring to the main north-south artery through the Gaza Strip.