Israeli officials criticised for telling Gaza residents to ‘leave’ before air assault 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others have called on Palestinian civilians in Gaza to leave their homes to avoid Israeli attacks.

Netanyahu, during public remarks, told residents in Gaza to “leave now” because the Israeli military is going to “turn all Hamas hiding places into rubble”. 

But critics have pointed out that Palestinians in Gaza, who live under siege in one of the most densely populated areas on earth, have no place to go.

“Wait: Is Israel lifting the 16yo blockade? Otherwise this is a joke. Palestinians in Gaza have nowhere to go,” Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur to Palestine, said in a post to Twitter. 

Mohammed El-Kurd, a well-known Palestinian activist from Jerusalem, shared Albanese’s sentiment. 

“Netanyahu telling Palestinians in Gaza to ‘leave now,’ because he’s about to bombard the besieged Strip, as if they can do anything to leave that open-air prison which is Gaza,” Kurd tweeted. 

Meanwhile, Avichay Adraee, an Israeli army spokesperson, shared a video urging residents in Gaza to leave their homes and take shelter in city centres, but no such shelters exist.