Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – The Israeli military warned on Friday it would 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 military launched its major ground offensive on Tuesday 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 United Nations estimated at the end of August that about one million people were living in Gaza City and its surroundings.
The military on Friday said it estimated 480,000 of them have fled since late August.
On Friday, the military's Arabic-language spokesman 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," Avichay Adraee, said in a post on X addressing residents of the city, referring to the main north-south artery through the Gaza Strip.
Israel had on Wednesday announced a "temporary" new route for residents to flee along the road, saying it would remain open for just 48 hours from midday (0900 GMT).
"The Israel Defense Forces will continue to operate with unprecedented force against Hamas and other terrorist organisations," Adraee said on X on Friday.
"Take this opportunity and join the hundreds of thousands of city residents who have moved south to the humanitarian area."
The Israeli military has urged Palestinians to head to a "humanitarian area" in the southern coastal area of Al-Mawasi, where it says aid, medical care and humanitarian infrastructure will be provided.
Israel first declared the area a safe zone early in the war, but has carried out repeated strikes on it since then, saying it is targeting Hamas.
Nivin Ahmed, 50, fled south from Gaza City to the central city of Deir el-Balah on Thursday, walking with seven family members.
"We walked more than 15 kilometres (nine miles), we were crawling from exhaustion," she said.
"My youngest son cried from fatigue. We took turns dragging a small cart with some of our belongings."
Mona Abdel Karim, 36, said she had been unable to secure transport south and had been sleeping with her family on Al-Rashid street for two nights waiting for a driver.
"I feel like I'm about to explode. We can't walk on foot -- my husband's parents are elderly and sick, and the children are too weak to walk," she said.
AFP footage from Al-Rashid street on Thursday showed long lines of Palestinians heading south on foot or in vehicles piled high with meagre belongings.
Israeli fire killed at least 22 people across the territory on Friday, including 11 in Gaza City, according to a tally of figures given by Gaza hospitals contacted by AFP.
In western Gaza City on Friday, displaced Palestinian Sami Baroud described "relentless and intense shelling".
"Our life has become nothing but explosions and danger," the 35-year-old told AFP by telephone.
"We have lost everything -- our lives, our future, our sense of safety. How can I evacuate when I can't even afford transportation?"