Above photo: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP.
Amid Israeli Carnage.
Extreme overcrowding, harsh living conditions, and relentless Israeli airstrikes are forcing many Palestinians to return to areas the Israeli army plans to occupy as part of operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots 2’
About one million Palestinians in Gaza City and northern Gaza are refusing or are unable to be forcibly displaced to overcrowded “safe zones” in southern Gaza, according to a statement issued by the Gaza Government Media Office on 16 September.
“More than one million Palestinians remain rooted in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip, holding onto their land and homes, and categorically rejecting displacement to the south, despite the savage bombardment and genocidal war carried out by the Israeli occupation,” Palestinian officials said.
🚨Hundreds of families have been forced to flee and be displaced from Gaza City to the south, due to the Israeli military operation, the ongoing barbaric bombing, and the targeting of the city’s residential towers and buildings. pic.twitter.com/YuUhm1S26Q
— Gaza Notifications (@gazanotice) September 16, 2025
The statement highlights that the population of Gaza City and northern Gaza “exceeds 1.3 million people,” most of whom have already been displaced from their neighborhoods to central and coastal areas.
According to Israeli media reports on Tuesday morning, Tel Aviv estimates that approximately 600,000 civilians remain in Gaza City.
Officials in Gaza have also documented what they describe as “reverse displacement,” with over 15,000 Palestinians returning “to their original areas in Gaza City as of Tuesday noon after initially moving belongings to the south for safekeeping, only to come back because of the complete absence of basic living conditions there.”
Families returning to Gaza City amid overcrowding and false ‘safe zones’ claims
Despite the heavy airstrikes and massacres, Palestinian families are returning to Gaza City due to overcrowding of displaced people in the south, where Israel claims there are safe “humanitarian… pic.twitter.com/2BtEhhMxDy
— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) September 16, 2025
Gaza officials also emphasize that the Al-Mawasi area in Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south of the strip currently hosts around 800,000 Palestinians living in harsh conditions.
Israeli officials refer to these areas as “safe humanitarian zones,” despite being targeted by more than 100 airstrikes over the past few months that have claimed the lives of at least 2,000 Palestinians.
“The area designated by the occupation on its maps as ‘shelter zones’ covers only 12 percent of Gaza’s total territory, where it is attempting to cram more than 1.7 million people,” the Gaza Government Media Office highlights in its statement, adding that the so-called safe zones ”lack all essentials of life: no hospitals, infrastructure, or vital services such as water, food, shelter, electricity, or education — making survival nearly impossible.”
Israel is forcing nearly a million Palestinians to leave Gaza City for its so-called ‘safe zone’ in al-Mawasi, where thousands of people are crowded in tents with little access to food, water or power. pic.twitter.com/Kcve58u9FJ
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) September 16, 2025
The Israeli military launched its long-anticipated ground invasion of Gaza City overnight on Tuesday under the cover of relentless bombardment that could be heard as far as Tel Aviv.
According to Hebrew media, Gideon’s Chariots 2 was initially expected to begin after a mass evacuation of Gaza City, home to more than a million people. On Monday, Israeli Army Radio reported that the pace of evacuation was “slow and may affect the start of the ground operation.”
Nevertheless, the Israeli army launched the operation hours after the visit of US State Secretary Marco Rubio, who expressed Washington’s unwavering commitment to the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
