Gaza City declared a war zone: thousands of civilians flee

"We are not waiting. We have already begun the first stages of the attack in Gaza City". These are the statements posted on X yesterday by Avichay Andrae, spokesman for the IDF, who added 'We are operating with great force in the outskirts of the city'.

The confirmation comes from Al Jazeera reporters who report thousands of displaced people fleeing 'under the sky darkened by the smoke of the bombardment'. Definitively clearing the army's attack plan was yesterday's statement, which called Gaza City 'a dangerous combat zone' and announced the suspension of the 'tactical pauses' introduced to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The response of Médecins Sans Frontières, which works in five health facilities in Gaza City, was immediate. "It is difficult to understand which pause Israel is referring to. In the last month an average of 110 people a day have been killed, even in hospitals that in theory would be protected by international humanitarian law, or during the distribution of aid. Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, which must be stopped."

Nowhere is safe in the Strip, from North to South. Last night a missile hit a house in Deir el-Balah, in the centre of Gaza, killing a mother and father and wounding two girls aged 6 and 3. "We were woken up by a loud roar," explains Francesco Sacchi, Emergency's project leader in Gaza, who lives with other aid workers in the guest house next to the building that was hit, "and we saw ambulances taking away the wounded and victims. The shelling continued throughout the night. Our window panes were broken and the rubble of the demolished house blocked the exit from our premises".

It was precisely from Deir el-Balah, home to several guest houses of humanitarian organisations, that on Thursday the director of the World Food Programme, Cindy McCain, launched the famine alarm, today attacked by Netanyahu for her declarations on the lack of food in Gaza, defined as "contradictory" by the Israeli Prime Minister but confirmed by the World Health Organisation, the United Nations and 14 important international NGOs.