Why are Palestinians refusing to leave northern Gaza?

Israel has warned 1.1 million residents of northern Gaza to move to the south of the besieged territory as it prepares for a ground invasion.

The state has also said that those who leave will not be allowed to return until they say so.

Residents are describing it as a second ‘Nakba’, the series of forced expulsions from historic Palestine by Zionist militias, which allowed for the creation of Israel.

More than 700,000 Palestinians were sent into exile and they and their descendants have never been allowed back.

Many of those Palestinian families ended up in Gaza and the current order to leave will bring back historic memories of the ethnic cleansing of 1948.

Put simply, Palestinians fear that once they go, they will never be allowed back.

That’s why many are even concerned about humanitarian corridors into Egypt. In 1948, Palestinians fled into neighbouring Arab states.

Many refugees remain in those countries and in the vast majority of cases, live without citizenship and often in squalid refugee camps