Gaza Strip evacuations

During the Israel–Hamas war, the Israeli military ordered most residents of Gaza to evacuate their homes, displacing hundreds of thousands of people and contributing to a broader humanitarian crisis in the territory. It is the largest displacement of Palestinians in 75 years. Palestinians have described the evacuation as the "second Nakba."

The first evacuation order was given on October 13, 2023, one week after Hamas led an attack on Israel from Gaza. Israel officials told the 1.1 million Gazans who lived north of the Wadi Gaza, including Gaza City, to evacuate within 24 hours. Paula Gaviria Betancur, UN special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, condemned the forcible evacuation order as a crime against humanity and a violation of international humanitarian law.

Israel's ground invasion of Gaza began on 27 October. By November 4, some 800,000 to 1 million people had moved to the southern Gaza Strip, while 350,000 to 400,000 remained in the north. Multiple reports also indicated Israel targeted Palestinians during the evacuation and attacked and bombarded them in the southern Gaza Strip. Evacuees described the evacuation corridors as unsafe, and full of terror from Israeli soldiers and dead bodies along the road.

On 1 December, Israel began issuing evacuation orders across the entire Gaza Strip, dividing the territory into 620 zones. UN officials said Gazans were being pushed into an area one-third the size of the total territory. Some 80 percent of the territory's population was at the time in the southern Gaza Strip. Hamas instructed civilians not to evacuate, and there are multiple reports indicating that Hamas physically hindered Gazans from fleeing to the south.