Tel Aviv, 13 October 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Seventy people were killed and 200 injured in Israeli air strikes as they fled to the south of Gaza, according to Hamas, which rules the coastal strip.

Most of the dead were children and women, a spokesman for the Islamist organization said, adding that three convoys of refugees were hit in what it called a "massacre."

There was no immediate independent verification of the claim. Israel's military did not confirm the reports, which it said were being examined.

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) earlier called on residents of Gaza City to leave their homes and move further south by 8 pm (1700 GMT).

Observers assume that a ground offensive by Israel may be imminent in retaliation for the killing of hundreds of Israeli civilians by Palestinian militants last Saturday.

The United Nations called on Israel to rescind the order to evacuate, warning that the forced movement of hundreds of thousands of people from the Palestinian territory could precipitate a "humanitarian catastrophe."

Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the US, the EU and Israel, inflicted the worst mass loss of civilian lives in the history of the Israeli state with its attacks in the border area.

Photo: MIA Archive