The Israeli military said about half a million Israelis have been evacuated since Hamas launched its brutal attack on the country last Saturday.
“All the communities around the Gaza Strip have been evacuated as per government directives. We don’t want civilians near the combat zone,” Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the IDF said in an online briefing.
The 500,000 displaced Israelis also include communities around the country’s northern border with Lebanon, as tensions with another militant group, Hezbollah, rise. Missile attacks on the weekend from Hezbollah killed an Israeli civilian and a soldier.
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In contrast, more one million people have been displaced inside Gaza, which is one of the world’s most densely populated territory. Talks of a humanitarian corridor allowing aid to enter and people inside Gaza to exit have repeatedly broken down.
“We are talking about a significant humanitarian situation in Israel,” Mr Conricus said. But he acknowledged that “the situation in Gaza is worse, and that he “wouldn’t want to swap tables for even a second.”