As the Israel-Hamas war entered a ninth day on Sunday, scenes showed both an expanding offensive and the conflict’s sorrowful results.
Buildings turned to rubble. Body bags in the streets. Wailing sirens and shrieking rockets. Flag-draped coffins carried by mourners at funeral processions.
The images of the devastation on the ground in Gaza showed windows shattered by bullets and neighborhoods leveled by blasts.
Approximately 2,670 Palestinians have been killed and 9,600 wounded, and more than 1,400 Israelis were killed, the vast majority of them civilians, in Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault,
Desperate Palestinians scrambled for escape from northern Gaza on Sunday or huddled by the thousands at a hospital in the target zone in hopes it would be spared, as Israel intensified warnings of an imminent offensive by air, ground and sea following last week’s deadly rampage in Israel by Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and other governments.
The evacuation directive covers an area of 1.1 million residents, or about half the territory’s population. The Israeli military said “hundreds of thousands” of Palestinians had heeded the warning and headed south.
The U.N. and aid groups say such a rapid exodus along with Israel’s siege of the territory would cause untold human suffering. The World Health Organization said the evacuation “could be tantamount to a death sentence” for the more than 2,000 patients in northern hospitals, including newborns in incubators and people in intensive care.
Material from the Associated Press was included in this article.
A Palestinian girl wounded during an Israeli airstrike receives medical treatment at al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Adel Hana) Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. Israel has been striking targets throughout Gaza since a bloody, cross-border attack by Hamas militants killed over 1,300 and captured many Israelis on Oct. 7. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) Antonio Macías’ mother cries over her son’s body, covered with the Israeli flag, at Pardes Haim cemetery in Kfar Saba, Israel, Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. Macias was killed when Hamas unleashed its attack on thousands of Jews attending a music festival in southern Israel earlier this month. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) KHAN YOUNIS, GAZA – OCTOBER 15, 2023: Palestinian citizens inspect damage to their homes caused by Israeli airstrikes on October 15, 2023 in Khan Younis, Gaza. (Photo by Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images) A Palestinian wounded in Israeli air strikes on Gaza Strip arrived at al-Aqsa hospital in Deir el-Balah City, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa) TEL AVIV, ISRAEL – OCTOBER 15: Mourners grieve during the funeral of Peruvian-Israeli civilian Dr. Daniel Levi Ludmir at Yehud Monosun cemetery, on October 15, 2023 near Tel Aiv, Israel. Doctor Ludmir was reportedly killed while treating the wounded, following the attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023. More than a dozen Latin Americans were killed during Hamas’s assault, with Brazilian and Argentinian citizens taken captive in the Gaza Strip. Israel has sealed off Gaza and launched sustained retaliatory air strikes, which have killed at least 1,400 people with more than 400,000 displaced, after a large-scale attack by Hamas. On October 7, the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel from Gaza by land, sea, and air, killing over 1,300 people and wounding around 2,800. Israeli soldiers and civilians have also been taken hostage by Hamas and moved into Gaza. The attack prompted a declaration of war by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the announcement of an emergency wartime government. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images) Relatives of Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah who was killed by Israeli shelling mourn during his funeral procession in his hometown of Khiam, southern Lebanon, Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023. Abdallah was killed Friday, Oct. 13, when an Israeli shell landed in a gathering of international journalists covering clashes on the border in south Lebanon. Six other journalists were injured in the incident. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein) Palestinians stand by the building destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, south of the Gaza Strip, Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa) Mourners carry the body of Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah who was killed by Israeli shelling during his funeral procession in his hometown of Khiam, southern Lebanon, Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023. Abdallah was killed Friday, Oct. 13, when an Israeli shell landed in a gathering of international journalists covering clashes on the border in south Lebanon. Six other journalists were injured in the incident. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
SDEROT, ISRAEL – OCTOBER 15: Families arrive with suitcases to buses after evacuation orders are issued on October 15, 2023 in Sderot, Israel. (Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images) Israeli soldiers move a tank at a staging area near the border with Gaza Strip, in southern Israel on Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg) Palestinians carry the bodies of the Zanon family, who were killed in Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali) RAMOT NAFTALI, ISRAEL – OCTOBER 15: An Israeli soldier hugs a woman near the border with Lebanon on October 15, 2023 in Ramot Naftali, Israel. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)
