Even before the Israeli war in Gaza began, territory was one of the most populous places on the planet, and UN officials described it as “field prisons.” Now, the Israeli military is expanding its operations and cramming its population into land that is constantly shrinking.
The latest military attack, named Israel’s “Gideon’s Tank,” aims to ultimately “conquer” the territory, as one government minister said. According to the United Nations, since March 18, when Israel broke a ceasefire with Hamas, nearly 80% of the enclaves have been either evacuated or designated as militarized zones. Since then, Israel has had a declared policy supported by the United States to encourage resettlement of Gaza residents.
As part of the “enhanced operation,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the entire population of Gaza (about 2 million) will be evacuated south of the 140 square miles of territory.
Israeli forces claim that the operation is intended to destroy Hamas and release hostages. Meanwhile, Israeli far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said the operation could lead to a complete acquisition of the territory.
“We are finally trying to conquer the Gaza Strip,” he said after Israeli security ministers approved the expansion campaign.
See what Israel’s expanding operations mean on the ground on five maps.
Approximately 80% of Gaza are covered by evacuation orders and the Chineseized zone in Israel
Some Gazans in the north say they fled to nearby coastlines in a final ditch effort to escape the updated shelling tired of Israel’s 19-month attack. Others sleep in tents surrounded by tiled bleeds in their former home, fearing they would leave in case they were kicked out of Gaza.
Since Israel breached the ceasefire in mid-March, the land border in Gaza is at least 2-3 km (1.2-1.9 miles) is a no-go zone that includes a kilometer (approximately 0.6 miles) of buffer areas next to Israel’s territory, where homes, factories and farmland are systematically leveled.
Access to the Mediterranean Sea is largely prohibited. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), most fishing boats have been destroyed and Palestinian fishing boats from the coast are being targeted.
Another militarized corridor was established in early April – the Israeli assumed “Morag Corridor” in Rapha – stated its purpose of “dividing the strip.” This is one of at least four routes established by the Israeli army to control Gaza, destroying all buildings and farmland and giving way for them.
Since March 18th this year, at least 31 evacuation orders have been issued by the Israeli forces. As a result, an estimated 600,000 people in Gaza have been evacuated between them, according to the UN-led site management cluster (this figure includes people who may have been more difficult to avoid).
Evacuation orders are not always permanent, but Israel has not stated how active they are. CNN asked if the order has expired and how that information is shared with the people of Gaza, but has not received a reply.
In northern Gaza, these orders have recently been accompanied by instructions to move south despite ongoing attacks there. This week, Israeli forces issued evacuation orders for most of the Southern Gaza that directed them to head towards the Almawasi region ahead of what spokespersons said “an unprecedented attack.”
Aid groups criticize the use of these directives and brand them as inaccurate, often inaccurate and overly dependent on internet connections that most people in Gaza have only intermittent access. Delivery mechanisms vary, some will receive text messages and calls before an attack, while the first sign may be an Israeli fire. On the ground, Gaza is no longer familiar to its residents, and it is much more difficult to navigate, including shops, trees, roads, and more, as most landmarks are destroyed or damaged. To move around, people usually need to walk and pass militarized checkpoints.
“There’s no place for my child and I to sleep. I don’t know what to do,” he said that she was kicked out of the north city of Beit Rahia when the Israeli Quadcopters began shooting her and her family.
“I was on the streets with my kids for three days and I couldn’t find a place to settle,” she said. “I always wish for death. I don’t know what to do with my child, where this life will take us. There’s no solution.”
According to the Danish Refugee Council, since Israel launched the war in Gaza following the fatal attacks in October 2023 and Hamas, Gazaans have been exiled on average six times (up to 19 times).
In many cases, repeated displacements mean relating to the trauma of a generation that Palestinians call al-Nakba, or what they call “catastrophe,” or what they call “catastrophe.”
Most of the remaining areas that have not been exposed to evacuation orders or have been militarized have been heavily damaged. An assessment by Cuny Graduate Center found that 60% of the building had been destroyed. According to the United Nations Satellite Centre, 68% of the roads are also damaged, increasing complications of transport aid around the strip.
Of the farmland, about 80% of the tree crops, such as olives and fruit trees, are found, a report published in the Journal of Science of Remote Sensing, by Journal of Remote Sensing, is likely damaged, and 65% of the greenhouses used to grow foods such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and strawberries, could be damaged. FAO also reports that all farmland in Rafa, and almost all farmland of the Northern Governor, are inaccessible.
Almawasi, where many people are directed to go to Israeli forces, is a narrow coastal area in southern Gaza. Once rural farmland was Gaza’s most populous region by February, and almost 6% of the displaced population was displaced there, according to the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Coordination.
In Gaza, ample shelters have become very rare. Omar Alsaqqa, a Gaza resident who works at Khan Younis’ Aid Group Mé decins Sans Frontières, said in a statement provided to CNN that there were no tents left and there was no space for people to set up.
“When a colleague asks where I can go with the kids in the middle of the night, I don’t know what to answer. We’re using up the options to keep us alive,” he said.
Nada Siyam, a displaced person who gave birth in a tent in Gaza last week, told CNN she doesn’t even have a bed to sleep with her newborn Eid. “My child is two days ago and is suffering from the heat. There are a lot of mosquitoes and mice around us. We live on the streets in this filth,” she said.
Further south, aid workers say they are overstretched, burned out and afraid of them, fearing that they will not be able to provide adequate care for the potential influx of more uprooted people.
Can people access the basics (food, medical, water) south of the strip?
Starting March 2, an 11-week lockdown has stopped all humanitarian aid from entering the strip. Although some aid came through the intersection of South Kerem Shalom last week, humanitarian agencies say the food has yet to reach more than half a million people facing starvation across Gaza. “It’s not enough to meet rising humanitarian needs,” said UN spokesman Stephen Dujaric.
Health facilities have already experienced a critical shortage of almost every essential material, from basic consumables to infection prevention and control, to life-saving medicines and life-saving medicines.
“If military operations continue, existing health facilities will simply not be able to deal with the number of displaced persons,” Al Jamal said.
They are also facing “an overwhelming number of cases that require urgent, specialized medical care that can no longer be provided,” Al Jamal added.
“If things don’t change, we don’t expect to receive medical supplies in the near future,” she said.
Like medical aid, experts say Israel’s evacuation plans require a major restructuring of Gaza’s water supply system.
“By enforcing the movement of the population… access to water becomes even more complicated as new water points are required.
Southern Gaza last week failed to receive the 140,000 liters of fuel needed each week to maintain water supply operations, leading to an imminent warning from local staff about a full-scale closure, the UN reported on May 21.
“The situation is particularly disastrous in Almawasi, which is not connected to the water network,” the UN said, adding that the area will be entirely dependent on water supplied via trucks.
Hundreds of truck loads, hygiene and hygiene items are packed outside the strip, UNICEF told CNN Thursday as they are ready to cross the border “once authorized.”
Israel’s evacuation plans have been receiving international backlash in recent weeks, with British, French and Canadian leaders threatening to take “concrete actions” including sanctions if Israel does not stop its latest military operations and aid continues to block its invasion of Gaza.
Netanyahu vowed to advance a new attack. “At the end of the operation, all areas of the strip are under Israeli security controls,” he said last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, despite everything, some Gazaans plan to resist Israel’s latest directives.
“This is our land, we will not leave it. We will resist and we live in our land,” Abdul Nastha Siyam, who shares makeshift tents with 22 other people in northern Gaza, told CNN. “Imagine what would happen if we left and went to another person’s land.”
