Number of Palestinian to flee Gaza City up to 400,000, IDF estimates

Some 400,000 Palestinians have so far evacuated Gaza City to other areas of the Strip, according to a fresh IDF estimate, Report informs referring to The Times of Israel.

Around 1 million Palestinians were estimated to be residing in Gaza City before the IDF began to prepare for a major offensive against Hamas in the area.

Ahead of the offensive, the IDF ordered Palestinians in all areas of Gaza City to evacuate immediately to an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in the Strip's south. In recent days, the pace of evacuations has picked risen to tens of thousands of people a day, according to the army" whose estimates generally run higher than those provided by the United Nations.

Due to the increasing numbers of evacuees jamming the Rashid coastal road, the military announced this morning that it would be opening a second evacuation route, on Salah a-Din - the main north-south highway in Gaza - from noon until noon on Friday.