Tel Aviv/Gaza, 15 October 2023 (dpa/MIA) - The Israeli army issued another time window for civilians in the north of Gaza to head to the south on Sunday.

Residents may leave between the hours of 10 am (0700 GMT) and 1 pm along a designated route, an Israeli army spokesman wrote in Arabic in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) post said the army would not attack the route during this period.

People who care about the safety of their families should head south, the IDF statement said, adding that Hamas, which rules Gaza, cares about its own members and their families.

There were also reports that Hamas was preventing civilians from fleeing. Israel has repeatedly accused the Islamist organization of abusing its own population as human shields.

Israel is also using leaflets to convey these calls to the people of Gaza.

The army says hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have already moved to the south of Gaza following earlier calls to evacuate.

The IDF has ordered the more than 1 million Palestinians in the north to leave as a ground offensive is imminent, observers say.

The United Nations had criticized these orders and warned of a humanitarian disaster.

The Israeli military has been bombarding targets in Gaza since the unprecedented attacks on Israeli civilians carried out by Hamas fighters last weekend.

Photo: MIA Archive