Israeli military on Friday said its troops moved into northern Gaza, taking control of more territory around the edge of the enclave, days after the government announced plans to seize large areas with an operation in the south.
According to a statement, soldiers carrying out the operation in Shejaia, a suburb east of Gaza City in the north, were letting civilians out via organised routes, as troops moved in to expand the area defined by Israel as a security zone in Gaza.
Images going viral on social media showed an Israeli tank on Al Muntar hill in Shejaia, in a position that gave it clear sight over Gaza City and beyond to the shoreline.
According to the United Nations, as the Israeli forces moved in, hundreds of residents had already left on a day earlier, carrying belongings or loading them on to vans or donkey carts, after the military issued the latest in a series of evacuation warnings that now cover around a third of the Gaza Strip.
Media Talk Africa reports that Israel resumed its operation in Gaza with a heavy series of air strikes on March 18 and sent troops back in after a two month pause during which 38 hostages were returned in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
The United Nations Humanitarian Agency, OCHA, said over the past two weeks, more than 280,000 people have been displaced in Gaza, adding to the misery of families that have already been displaced multiple times over the past 18 months.
In Gaza City, local people said Israeli strikes had hit a water desalination plant, located east of the Tuffah neighbourhood, that was vital in providing clean drinking water.
On the southern edge of Gaza, Israeli troops have been consolidating around the ruins of the city of Rafah and the OCHA says 65% of the enclave is now within no go areas, under active displacement orders or both.
