Evacuation after a bombardment in Gaza's Old City, July 4

In the last nine months of war in the Gaza Strip, Mohamed Salam had always refused to leave his city, but since Wednesday, July 10, he’s had doubts – and fears. In the early hours of the morning, the Israeli army dropped leaflets across the Gaza metropolis. Salam photographed one of these on his terrace and sent it to Le Monde, which, like all international media, is forbidden by Israel to enter the Palestinian enclave.

The leaflet, signed by the Israeli army, orders those “present” in Gaza – no longer referring to “inhabitants” as it had previously – to evacuate the city and head south. “Open passages allow you to pass quickly and without search,” the army promises, before threatening: “Gaza City will remain a dangerous combat zone.”

“We’ve been living under tension for the past 10 days,” said Salam by telephone. “The army tanks are in the Shujaiya neighborhood, 1 kilometer from my house. They could come toward us at any moment. The north, the south… there’s nowhere safe to go,” he said. In his neighborhood, some families have decided to flee. Others prefer to stay and surrender to the deadly lottery of Israeli bombardments, the hallmark of this war which has claimed more than 38,000 lives since October 2023, according to the Gazan Ministry of Health.

“It’s as if the war has started all over again, as if it were the first day. Belts of fire blaze all over the city and explosions shake Gaza. Shells are falling almost non-stop, quadcopter drones and helicopters are firing,” photographer Omar El Qattaa posted on his Instagram account on July 7, describing the new offensive.

More evacuation orders

This is the second time the army has ordered the evacuation of the large Palestinian coastal city. A first order was issued on October 13, 2023, six days after the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel. Within three months, 1 million people had deserted the northern half of the enclave. However, more than 300,000 remained in the largely destroyed city, according to an estimate by the World Food Program (WFP). These are the poorest of the poor and those who have difficulty moving around. Some are looking after elderly relatives. Others refuse to submit to the endless exodus imposed by the evacuation orders that the army has been increasing in recent weeks, throughout the enclave. “We are imposing military pressure in various forms [across the Gaza Strip],” said the chief of the general staff, Herzi Halevi, to officers of the 99th Division deployed in the city on July 9.

While the army completes its sweep of Rafah – the last town in the coastal enclave to be conquered, on May 6 – everywhere else, the “third phase” of the war continues, involving raids against commandos and structures of the Palestinian Islamist movement, which is re-forming in areas that have already been invaded, in some cases four times. The army plans to spread this phase out over a year, whatever the outcome of the negotiations that have resumed in Qatar, with the aim of a hypothetical ceasefire, a partial and temporary disengagement of the army and the release of Hamas hostages.

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