'No place is safe': Israel plans mass relocation of Gazans amid famine warnings

Gaza residents will be provided with tents and other shelter equipment starting from Sunday, ahead of relocating them from combat zones to the south of the enclave "to ensure their safety," the Israeli military 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 center, in a plan that raised international alarm over the fate of the demolished strip, home to about 2.2 million people.

The shelter equipment will be transferred via the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza by the United Nations and other international relief organizations after being inspected by defense ministry personnel, the Israeli military said.

International outcry

A spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs expressed concern over Israel's plans to relocate people to southern Gaza, saying it would only increase suffering.

But the UN body welcomed Israel's recognition that shelter is a desperate need, and that tents and other shelter equipment will be allowed again into Gaza. "The UN and its partners will seize the opportunity this opens," the spokesperson said.

Palestinian and UN officials have said no place in the enclave is safe, including areas in southern Gaza where Israel has been ordering residents to move to.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas, condemned the military's announcement, calling it "a blatant and brazen mockery of international conventions" as part of what it described as a brutal attack to occupy Gaza City.

Earlier the week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told i24 TV news that he feels he is on a "historic and spiritual mission," and that he is "very" attached to the vision of the "Promised Land and Greater Israel."

On Friday, 31 Arab and Islamic countries, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Gulf Cooperation Council issued a joint statement, condemning Netanyahu's so-called "Greater Israel" as "a flagrant breach" of international law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions, affirming the invalidity of any measure or decision seeking to legitimize the occupation, including settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory.

Bombardment continues

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that the plans for the new offensive were still being formulated.

However, Israeli forces have already increased operations on the outskirts of Gaza City over the past week. Residents in the neighborhoods of Zeitoun and Shejaia have reported heavy Israeli aerial and tank fire.

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli attacks killed at least 40 people on Saturday, and the conditions in Zeitoun were rapidly deteriorating with residents having little to no access to food and water amid heavy Israeli bombardment.

The agency's spokesperson Mahmud Bassal said that about 50,000 people were estimated to be in Zeitoun, "the majority of whom are without food or water" and lacking "the basic necessities of life."

Hamas said in a statement that Israeli forces had been carrying out a "sustained offensive in the eastern and southern neighborhoods of Gaza, particularly in Zeitoun."

Mass starvation warning

UN-backed experts have warned of widespread famine unfolding in the territory, where Israel has drastically curtailed the amount of humanitarian aid it allows in.

One million women and girls are facing mass starvation, violence, and abuse in Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on Saturday on social media platform X.

"Hunger is spreading fast in Gaza. Women and girls are forced to adopt increasingly dangerous survival strategies like venturing out in search of food and water at the extreme risk of being killed," UNRWA said.

It urged lifting the Israeli blockade on Gaza, home to more than 2 million people, and bringing in humanitarian aid "at scale."

Meanwhile, protests demanding the release of hostages and an end to the conflict were expected across Israel on Sunday, with many businesses, municipalities, and universities expressing support for employees participating in the strike.

Negotiations to secure a U.S.-backed 60-day ceasefire and hostage release ended in deadlock last month, and mediators Egypt and Qatar have been trying to revive them.

(With input from agencies)