Amidst diplomatic attempts to limit the conflict, conditions within Gaza, where access to water, electricity, and medical supplies has been severed, continued to worsen. The Palestinian Health Ministry reported on Sunday that 300 individuals, primarily children and women, lost their lives, with 800 more sustaining injuries in Gaza over the past 24 hours. The sole exit from Gaza not controlled by Israel is the checkpoint at Rafah with Egypt.
Although Egypt officially claims its side is open, traffic has been suspended for days due to Israeli airstrikes. Egyptian security sources noted that their side was being fortified, and Cairo had no intentions of accommodating a large influx of refugees.
The Israeli military instructed residents of the northern part of the Gaza Strip, including Gaza City, to move south on Friday, and on Saturday, they assured the safety of Palestinians evacuating on two primary routes until 4 p.m. On Sunday, they continued to allow Gazans to evacuate south, with hundreds of thousands doing so.
Hamas, however, advised people not to leave, asserting that the roads were unsafe. They claimed that strikes on cars and trucks carrying refugees on Friday resulted in dozens of casualties, although Reuters couldn't independently confirm this assertion.
Gaza resident Fadi Daloul, sheltering with his family in a school, shared the plight of those unable to leave, recounting the anguish of children pleading for help. Some Gazans were determined to remain, recalling the "Nakba," or "catastrophe," of 1948 when many Palestinians were forcibly displaced during Israel's establishment.
Israel contended that Hamas was preventing people from leaving to use them as human shields, an accusation denied by Hamas.