Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on Sunday that 100,000 Palestinians have already left Gaza city during an Israeli advance that many fear will displace them for good.
Mr Netanyahu told a meeting of his government that Israel's army was “intensifying the operation” to take control of Gaza city. He said troops were bringing down “nefarious terrorist high-rises”, as a third tower block was attacked in three days.
Israel said the latest high-rise target was used as a Hamas observation post as it attacked the building shortly after issuing an "evacuation" warning. At least five Palestinians were killed in further strikes on the city on Sunday, news agency Wafa said. Across Gaza, health officials said 87 bodies were taken to hospitals from Saturday to Sunday, while five more people died of malnutrition.
The UN declared a famine in Gaza city last month, and Israel's army has been piling pressure on Palestinians to depart for an uncertain fate in southern Gaza. Many have been reluctant to do so despite hunger and heavy shelling, fearing that Israel means to relocate them for good.
“We have established an additional humanitarian corridor to enable the civilian population in Gaza to leave for a safe place and receive humanitarian assistance there. In the meantime, approximately 100,000 people have left Gaza,” Mr Netanyahu said on Sunday.
“Hamas is trying to do its utmost so that no one will go and they will stay there in order to serve as human shields for it … we want to focus on the terrorists themselves and enable the civilian population to go out.”
It was not possible to verify Mr Netanyahu's claim about how many of Gaza city's one million people had left. A coalition of aid workers had said last week that fewer than 15,000 had left after Israel declared Gaza city a “dangerous combat zone” in late August.
Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the war could end immediately if Hamas laid down arms and released the Israeli hostages it still holds. “We will be more than happy to reach this objective with political means,” he said.
In response, Hamas official Basem Naim told Reuters the group would release all of the hostages if Israel agreed to end the war and withdraw its forces from Gaza – which is the group's longstanding position.
Israel defied an international outcry over the famine to launch a its new air and ground offensive on Gaza city late last month. Troops have been advancing towards the city centre after an initial aerial bombardment.
On Saturday, an air strike flattened the last high-rise building standing in Gaza city's Al Sousi complex, after three had been destroyed in earlier attacks. The military had ordered people to leave shortly beforehand.
The Israeli military said Hamas had installed intelligence-gathering equipment in the Al Sousi building and planted explosives around it, while directing attacks on its troops from tunnels nearby.
It made similar claims before destroying Al Mushtaha Tower, a 12-storey residential building in the west of the city, on Friday.
The Gaza government media office rejected the military's claims in a statement issued after the Al Sousi building was destroyed, which said residential buildings were being destroyed “as part of a systematic forced displacement plan”.
“We affirm, with the testimony of the residents themselves, that these towers are strictly monitored, entry is permitted exclusively for civilians, and the resistance does not operate from these residential towers in any form,” it said.
Mr Netanyahu drew strong condemnation from Egypt and other Arab countries after suggesting in an interview that Gazans wanted to leave their homeland to flee the war but could not do so because Egypt would not let them enter.
On Saturday, the UAE's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed the country's support for Egypt and condemned Mr Netanyahu's statement. It said such statements were a “blatant infringement on the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to remain on their land and establish their independent, sovereign state”.
