Palestinians flee within Gaza after Israel orders mass evacuation and stages brief ground incursions
Palestinians scrambled to flee northern Gaza after Israel’s military told about 1 million people to leave for the southern part of the besieged territory DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip -- Palestinians scrambled to flee northern Gaza on Saturday after Israel ordered nearly half the population to flee south and carried out limited ground forays ahead of an expected land offensive, as the war appeared set to escalate a week after Hamas' bloody, wide-ranging attack into Israel. Israel has ordered some 1 million people to flee, including the entire population of Gaza City, despite warnings from the U.N. and aid groups that such an exodus would cause untold human suffering, with hospital patients and others unable to relocate. Families in cars, trucks and donkey carts packed with their possessions crowded a main road heading southward from Gaza City as Israeli airstrikes continued to hammer the besieged territory. Hamas’ media office said warplanes struck cars fleeing south, killing more tha...