UN and relief groups to assist with relocation logistics

17/8/2025 6:09

The Israeli military will provide Gaza residents with tents

and other equipment starting from Sunday ahead of relocating

them from combat zones to "safe" ones in the south of the

enclave, military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said on Saturday.



This comes days after Israel said it intended to



launch a new offensive



to seize control of northern Gaza City, the enclave's

largest urban centre, in a plan that raised international alarm

over the fate of the demolished strip, home to about 2.2 million

people.



The equipment will be transferred via the Israeli

crossing of Kerem Shalom by the United Nations and other

international relief organisations after being thoroughly

inspected by defence ministry personnel, Adraee added in a post

on X.



Israel's COGAT, the military agency that coordinates

aid, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on

whether the preparations were part of the new plan.



Taking over the city of about one million Palestinians

complicates ceasefire efforts to end the nearly



two-year war



, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu follows through with

his plan to take on Hamas' two remaining strongholds.



Netanyahu said Israel had no choice but to complete the

job and defeat Hamas as the Palestinian militant group has

refused to lay down its arms.



Hamas said it would not disarm unless an independent

Palestinian state was established.



Israel already controls about 75% of Gaza.



The war began when Hamas attacked southern Israel in

October 2023, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages,

according to Israeli tallies. Israeli authorities say 20 of the

remaining 50 hostages in Gaza are alive.



Israel's subsequent military assault has killed over

61,000 Palestinians, Gaza's health ministry says. It has also

caused a



hunger crisis



, internally displaced Gaza's entire population and prompted

accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice

and of war crimes at the International Criminal Court. Israel

denies the accusations.