GAZA STRIP (National Times) Palestinians fled eastern Gaza City on Thursday under heavy bombardment as the Israeli military issued an evacuation order for the area it had previously declared clear of Hamas fighters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The flare-up in the northern Gaza Strip\u2019s Shujaiya district, which witnesses and medics said caused numerous casualties, comes as fears grow of a wider regional conflagration involving Israel and Hezbollah, a Hamas ally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, on a visit to Washington to discuss the Gaza conflict and ways to avoid broader conflict in the Middle East, warned Hezbollah that fighting on a massive scale would send Lebanon \u201cback to the stone age\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With cross-border tensions between Israel and Hezbollah rising, Gallant said, \u201cWe do not want war, but we are preparing for every scenario.\u201d In Gaza, fighting has ground on despite comments by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the \u201cintense phase\u201d of the war \u2014 now nearing its 10th month \u2014 was winding down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tel Aviv warns it could send Lebanon \u2018back to Stone Age\u2019 as fears grow of a regional conflagration<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The civil defence agency in the Hamas-run territory and medics said Israeli strikes overnight and early on Thursday killed at least five people in Gaza City and another in Beit Lahia, also in the north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Israeli military said it had \u201cattacked terrorists who were in a school complex in Khan Yunis\u201d in the south.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Gaza City, a witness in Shujaiya who declined to be named said the situation was \u201cvery difficult and frightening\u201d as Israeli military vehicles approached the area amid air strikes and shelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cResidents are running through the streets in terror [\u2026] a number of wounded and martyrs lie in the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Israeli military\u2019s Arabic-language spokesman, Avichay Adraee, told residents and displaced Gazans in the Shujaiya area to leave \u201cfor your safety\u201d, in a message posted on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They were asked to head south, to a declared \u201chumanitarian zone\u201d about 25 kilometres away. A photographer saw many leaving on foot, carrying their belongings as they walked through rubble-strewn streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Significant displacement\u2019
Muhammad Ghurab, a doctor at Gaza City\u2019s Al-Ahli hospital, said the facility had so far received seven \u201cmartyrs including four children\u201d and more than 40 others who were wounded \u201cas the Israeli forces advanced to the east of Shujaiya neighbourhood\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hamas\u2019 press office reported \u201ca significant displacement of residents\u201d around Shujaiya market. Shujaiya resident Omar Sukar said the violence began as Gazans were collecting drinking water, which has been in limited supply due to an Israeli siege. \u201cPeople were filling water in the Shabura area in Shujaiya,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GAZA STRIP (National Times) Palestinians fled eastern Gaza City on Thursday under heavy bombardment as the Israeli military issued an evacuation order for the area it had previously declared clear of Hamas fighters. The flare-up in the northern Gaza Strip\u2019s Shujaiya district, which witnesses and medics said caused numerous casualties, comes as fears grow of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n