New fear for Gaza's citizens as Israeli snipers and tanks close in

Families begin journey south carrying piles of belongings past armoured vehicles

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For Gaza residents already facing the round-the-clock terror of heavy Israeli air strikes, a new fear is emerging as Israeli ground operations close in on Gaza city.

Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles have become an increasingly common sight in the north, with most Israeli advances and fierce battles being reported at night.

Now Israeli snipers have taken positions near homes in Al Karama in north-west Gaza.

Hordes of families carrying huge piles of belongings had begun to walk from Al Shati refugee camp, which has been hit several times, to Salahuddin road, which the Israelis had marked for evacuation to the south.

For Palestinians still in the enclave, the prospect of moving to safe areas is a traumatic one.

Those fleeing northern Gaza are having to walk past Israeli tanks as well as bodies as they journey to Salahuddin, itself heavily damaged by the tanks now stationed there, witnesses told The National.

"People are having to manoeuvre on foot among the tanks. Some of them are being asked for ID. Some people have been taken," one witness said.

"Any car would have to drive us to Salahuddin and drop us off to walk for several kilometres until we can get into a car again, because of the road damage.

Some of them were walking towards Al Shifa hospital, which has also been hit by strikes, the correspondent said.

Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza have faced a perilous journey south. AP

At the hospital, patients were lying on the floor on mattresses.

The hospital has become a shantytown, with tents in its courtyard as tens of thousands of people seek shelter and treatment.

About 900,000 people are still in the built-up northern part of the densely populated enclave, the health ministry said, where Israel has claimed the Hamas leadership is now surrounded.

During a four-hour evacuation window on Sunday, almost 2,000 made the move, followed by about 5,000 on Monday, according to UN monitors.

Those travelling from the north into south Gaza – where buildings are closer together – are crammed into residential buildings with friends and family members.

"That's why more people are killed in a single air strike than they are in the north," the witness said.

Israeli military forces "came from the north and the south," Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said in a televised briefing. "They stormed it in full co-ordination between land, air and sea forces."

Smoke rises as displaced Palestinians take shelter at Al Shifa hospital. Reuters

A Palestinian girl wounded in Israeli strikes waits for treatment at Al Shifa hospital, in Gaza city. Reuters

Flames rage in a field near the border village of Burj Al-Mamluk, in southern Lebanon's Khiam plain, after an Israeli bombardment. AFP

Smoke rises after air strikes during direct combat between the Israeli army and Hamas, near the beach road in Gaza city. EPA

Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, looking for safety, camp on the grounds of Al Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP

People search through buildings, destroyed during Israeli air strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza. Getty Images

Israeli troops during operations in northern Gaza. AFP

A photo taken from the Israeli side of the border with Gaza shows the continued Israeli bombardment of the northern Gaza Strip. AFP

Palestinian men pray over the bodies of members of the Abu Taim family before burial in Khan Younis. AFP

Israeli soldiers stand amid rubble during the ground invasion against Palestinian militant group Hamas, in the northern Gaza Strip. Reuters

A woman and two children evacuated from Gaza walk on the tarmac at the Baza 90 air force base in Otopeni, Romania, after arriving from Egypt. AP

Gazans inspect the Khaled bin Al-Walid Mosque, which was destroyed during Israeli air raids in Khan Younis. Getty Images

Residents flee from Al Shatea refugee camp during combat between the Israeli army and Hamas in Gaza city. EPA

An artillery unit moves near the border with Lebanon, in Tel Aviv, Israel. Getty Images

Smoke rises during direct combat between the Israeli army and militants of the Ezz Al-Din Al Qassam militia, the military wing of the Hamas movement, at the beach road in west-centre Gaza City. EPA

People search for survivors and bodies after a building was hit by Israeli bombing in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. AFP

A boy learns his father has been killed in an Israeli air strike at a hospital in Khan Younis. Reuters

Israeli soldiers training in the upper Galilee region, near the border with Lebanon. AFP

Destruction in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from Sderot in southern Israel. Reuters

A girl looks on as bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes are laid out at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Reuters

Mourners pray next to the bodies of members of the Daher family, who were killed by Israel strikes, at the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip. Reuters

A satellite image shows the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Reuters

People search through the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israeli air raids in Khan Younis. Getty Images

Smoke rises over the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from Sderot. Reuters

An ambulance transporting injured Palestinians to Egyptian hospitals for treatment waits on the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing. Reuters

Palestinian doctor Mohammad Abu Namoos, who chose to stay in Gaza to treat patients, says goodbye to his family before they leave. Reuters

The funeral of three children and their grandmother killed in an Israeli air strike in Blida, Lebanon. EPA

Palestinian children denouncing the killing of children in Gaza by waving banners and flags during a sit-in protest at the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut. AFP

Men pray during a rally in support of Palestinians outside Barclays Centre in Brooklyn, New York. AFP

A teddy bear symbolising hostages and missing children is placed on a bench in Tel Aviv, as people gather for a vigil to mark the one-month anniversary of the October 7 attack by Hamas militants on Israel. Reuters

A survivor of the Nova Festival attack, May Hayat, takes cover as rocket sirens sound, during her first visit to the scene of the attack, near Re'im, Israel. Reuters

Palestinians flee Gaza city to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din street in Bureij. AP

A satellite picture showing the Rafah border crossing to Egypt. AFP

People gather in Tel Aviv for a candlelit vigil to mark the one-month anniversary of the October 7 deadly attack by Hamas militants on Israel. Reuters

Doris Liber, whose son Guy Iluz is being held hostage in Gaza, during a press conference with House Republicans at the Capitol in Washington. AP

Palestinians flee to the southern Gaza Strip on Salah al-Din Street in Bureij. AP

Mourners attend the funeral of four Palestinians killed by Israeli troops at Tulkarm refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank. EPA

At least 10,000 civilians have been killed in little more than a month of Israeli bombardment that followed Hamas’s deadly raids into southern Israel that killed 1,400 – also mostly civilians.

Health and aid workers are also suffering significant casualties.

On Wednesday, Medicins Sans Frontiers said health worker Mohammed Al Ahel had been killed during an Israeli attack on the Al Shati refugee camp, while the Red Cross said two of its ambulances had been hit in strikes.

With reporting from Nada AlTaher