Tel Aviv, 21 October 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Some 700,000 Palestinians have so far fled to southern Gaza following evacuation calls to civilians in the northern part of the coastal strip, Israel's military said on Saturday.

Civilians remaining in Gaza City and the northern part of the Palestinian territory should move south of the Wadi Gaza nature reserve for their own protection, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement.

Israel will intensify attacks on Hamas military targets and government facilities in the north, he warned: "We will continue to attack targets that could pose a threat to ground forces in the next stages of the war."

Saturday marked two weeks since hundreds of Hamas-led Palestinian militants killed hundreds of civilians in a surprise attack on Israel. Since then, Israeli retaliatory strikes in Gaza fuelled fears of a humanitarian catastrophe and a regional escalation of the conflict.  

The United Nations estimates that around 1.4 million people in the Gaza Strip have already been displaced from their homes amid the Israeli counter-attack.

More than 544,000 of these sought shelter in facilities run by the UN's Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Others are sheltering with family or friends, according to the UN.

Israel said on Saturday that hundreds of rockets fired by militants toward Israel have fallen short and hit Gaza.

According to the IDF spokesman Hagari, more than 550 of around 7,000 rockets fired from inside Gaza since the war began hit the Palestinian territory itself.

In just the last 24 hours, this included about one-fifth of the rockets fired, he said: "Misguided rocket attacks by Hamas and Islamic Jihad are killing innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip."

Photo: EPA