Israel-Hamas war: Israel has given a three-hour window to Gazans fleeing the north of the Gaza city. The IDF has released a map of the evacuation route that runs from Beit Hanoun in the north towards the city of Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip. The IDF said that it will not target the safe route and urged civilians to use the travel route between 10:00 and 13:00 local time.

“Residents of Gaza City and northern Gaza, in the past days, we’ve urged you to relocate to the southern area for your safety. We want to inform you that the IDF will not carry out any operations along this route from 10 AM to 1 PM. During this window, please take the opportunity to move southward from northern Gaza,” the IDF wrote on X.

The evacuation window has been opened ahead of Israeli’s major ground, air and sea operation in Gaza to root out Hamas. Israeli has massed tens of thousands of soldiers, including 300,000 reservists, near the Gaza Strip border. The troops have started taking positions and IDF is likely to launch the ground assault within hours of the end of evacuation window.

In a direct message to the Gazans, Israel Saturday ordered nearly 1.1 million civilians in the Gaza to flee their homes in the north and move to safer area south of the Wadi Gaza. Israel said that it’s war is against Hamas and not the Palestinians living in the Gaza.

The evacuation order was criticized by international organizations like the UN and the WHO. While the UN warned that mass relocation of 1.1 million Gazans will have “devastating humanitarian consequences”, the WHO said evacuating hospitalized people would be a “death sentence” for them.

Israel defended the move and said that it was asking Gazans to evacuate to ensure minimum harm to civilians as their fight is with Hamas.

Meanwhile, the activity around the Israel Gaza border has increased a lot since yesterday and Israeli Defence Forces have increased their bombardment of Hamas targets in Gaza. More than 300,000 troops have taken up their positions ahead of a full-blown incursion the IDF says is going to take place soon.

Israel has declared a war against Hamas following the deadly 0ctober 7 attack, in which militants invaded Israeli territory and killed more than 1,300 people, including children, women and soldiers.