Click to see full-size image. Source: the Israeli Defense Forces.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced on November 4 that it will allow passage along the Salah al-Din Road, Gaza’s main highway, that spans from north to south, between 01:00 p.m. and 04:00 p.m. [local time] for civilians to move to the south of the Strip.
“For your safety, make use of the upcoming time to move to the south beyond Wadi Gaza,” said Avichay Adraee, the IDF spokesperson for the Arab media, referring to the river that cuts across the Strip, dividing north from south.
The IDF has repeatedly told Gazan residents to move to the southern parts of the Strip, claiming to focus efforts to combat Hamas in the northern part of the coastal enclave. Nevertheless, both the north and south of Gaza have faced heavy bombardment since the October 7 Hamas-led surprise attack against Israel.
The IDF’s decision to allow the evacuation of civilians from northern Gaza through the Salah al-Din Road came following reports of several massacres in the area.
Dozens killed or wounded after strikes targeted ambulances near the al-Shifa Hospital, the vicinity of the Indonesian hospital and a school housing refugees in the al-Saftawi areas in northern Gaza late on November 3.
On November 4 morning, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said that at least 12 people were killed after the IDF targeted another school housing refugees.
The ministry reported in a statement that “12 martyrs and upwards of 54 wounded so far as a result of targeting Al-Fakhura school, which is sheltering thousands of displaced people in Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip.”
Death toll from Israeli strikes on Gaza since the war broke out on October 7 has climbed to 9,488, according to the ministry.
“The victims include 3,900 children and 2,509 women, while 24,000 other people were injured,” the ministry spokesman, Ashraf al-Qudra, told a news conference in Gaza.
The IDF slowed down its ground operations on November 4. However, heavy clashes were reported in some parts of northern Gaza.
Hamas’ military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said that its fighters clashed with an Israeli force in the al-Atatra area to the west of the city of Beit Lahia and attacked another to the northwest of Gaza City, killing five soldiers. Three gatherings of the IDF were also shelled with mortars.
The IDF will likely develop ground operations in the upcoming few hours to link its advancing troops along the beach with the units that encircled Gaza City from the south.
