North Gazan Resident Trying to Leave War Zone Tells IDF Hamas Blocking Civilian Exodus

Hamas has been accused of blocking Palestinian civilians from evacuating south along the Gaza Strip ahead of a looming Israeli military operation.

Smoke billows during Israeli air strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza City on Oct. 12, 2023. Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images

Hamas has been accused by a Gazan resident and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of blocking Palestinian civilians from leaving the northern Gaza Strip ahead of announced plans for an Israeli offensive targeting Hamas infrastructure and operatives in the Palestinian Hamas-ruled territory.

Gazan civilians are being urged by Israel to evacuate from known Hamas locations and hideouts ahead of the planned Israeli military response in retaliation for the surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

It’s been reported that around 1. 2 million Palestinians are on the move to escape the Gaza Strip, using whatever means at their disposal. The region has a total area of roughly 141 square miles. For context, Montana is roughly 145,000 square miles.

However, the IDF has accused Hamas, a recognized terrorist organization, of using a variety of tactics, including blocking roads, to prevent many civilians from reaching safety.

In an Oct. 15 press release, the IDF shared a phone call reportedly between an Israeli intelligence officer from Unit 504 and a resident of the Palestinian city Jabalya, located north of Gaza City in the Gaza Strip.

In the 35-second recording, the resident tells the Israeli officer that Hamas has confiscated people’s personal belongings, including their car keys and IDs, to prevent them from heading south for safety.

The IDF says, “This is further evidence that the Hamas terrorist organization is actively preventing Palestinians from evacuating south in order to protect themselves.”

Hamas Urging Civilians Not to Leave

IDF reserve Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus alleged in a situational update on Sunday that Hamas is warning the civilians in Gaza not to evacuate.

When many failed to comply and tried to escape the growing conflict, Mr. Conricus said the terrorist organization was adopting other methods to prevent the civilians from reaching southern Gaza.

Palestinians evacuate a neighborhood in Gaza City on Oct. 11, 2023. Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images

Earlier, the IDF had posted satellite pictures to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, allegedly showing Hamas blocking southbound vehicles with their trucks across escape routes.

In an Oct. 14 post to X, the IDF had told Palestinians that they would not conduct any military operations along a specific route—Salah Al-Din Street—from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to allow Palestinians of Gaza City and northern Gaza to evacuate safely southward.

“During this window, please take the opportunity to move southward from northern Gaza. Your safety and that of your families matters,” the post said.

“Please follow our instructions and head southward. Be assured, Hamas leaders have already ensured their safety and that of their families.”

The next day, Mr. Conricus said as Israel monitored the situation that, “Hamas is actively preventing civilians from leaving the south.”

He called it the “most sinister and vile use of civilians during war” he'd ever seen.

“It again goes to show the lack of any value for human life within the terrorist organization Hamas,” Mr. Conricus said of the satellite images of the blocked escape routes.

In the same update, Mr. Conricus revealed that rockets were fired at Tel Aviv and southern Israel during the night as well.

“There is still combat in and around the northern part of the Gaza Strip. IDF continues to operate above the Gaza Strip and attack multiple military targets belonging to Hamas,” he said.

IDF Warns Against Trusting Information Coming out of Gaza

Mr. Conricus also cautioned against listening to information coming out of the Gaza Strip, stating that because the region is controlled only by Hamas, with no other oversight, he thinks it can’t be relied upon to be trustworthy.

Footage has emerged of civilian convoys attempting to flee Palestine being attacked by unknown forces.

Palestinians flee from northern Gaza to the south after the Israeli army issued an unprecedented evacuation warning to a population of over 1 million people in northern Gaza and Gaza City to seek refuge in the south ahead of a possible Israeli ground operation, Oct. 13, 2023. Hatem Moussa/AP

Pro-Hamas sources claim the footage is proof that Israel is attacking Palestinians indiscriminately. Mr. Conricus has denied that Israel has such intentions to hurt Palestinians and said Israel isn’t responsible for the attacks.

He specifically pointed to a video allegedly showing Palestinian civilian vehicles being destroyed while in transit. He claimed that Israel was not active where the footage was taken.

“I’m no forensic expert; I wouldn’t be able to say if this is a roadside IED or a strike from above,” Mr. Conricus said.

“What I am able to say, with confidence, because we have asked, is that the IDF did not purposely strike in that area. There was no targeting of vehicles; there was no targeting of civilians.”

“We want the civilians to go south; it makes no sense for the IDF to have done it,” he added.

Founded in 1987 by the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas is an Islamist political and paramilitary group, and one of the two major factions in Palestinian politics, the other being Fatah, which remains in charge of the West Bank and forms the main bulk of the Palestinian territories. Hamas fought a civil war with Fatah in June 2007 that saw them secure control of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas denies Israel’s right to exist, and opposes Israeli occupation of territories it claims rightfully belong to Palestine. It advocates for establishing an Islamic state by any means, including violence. The Fatah in 2023 chooses diplomacy and negotiations for advancing its claims for Palestine—although this process has been fraught with challenges due to many factors, including terrorist actions serving to undermine the trust needed to ensure successful peace talks.

Following the Oct. 7 assault on Israel by Hamas terrorists, more than 1,200 Israelis have been reported to be killed, over 3,000 wounded, and at least 120 civilians kidnapped into Hamas territories in Gaza as hostages.

Israeli forces, supported by a growing deployment of United States warships in the region, have positioned themselves along Gaza’s border.

According to the IDF, the broad goal is to dismantle Hamas and ensure it will never be a threat to Israel ever again.

The United Nations says at least 2,200 people have been killed in the retaliation air strikes on Gaza so far, with another 8,714 wounded. Over 400,000 Palestinians have since taken shelter in refugee sites in Gaza, according to the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Correction: A previous version of this article made assumptions about the heritage of the Gazan resident who spoke to the IDF. The Epoch Times regrets the error.