Chicago – April 12, 2025
The Israeli military is expanding its operations deeper into Gaza, creating a large buffer zone between Gaza and Israeli territory. This move is forcing hundreds of thousands of civilians into a smaller area along the Mediterranean coast.
Since March 18, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have issued 20 evacuation orders, impacting large parts of Gaza, including the entire city of Rafah in the south. According to the United Nations, around 400,000 people have been ordered to leave their homes in the past three weeks. The military’s goal is to pressure Hamas to release Israeli hostages, but this has made much of Gaza uninhabitable or off-limits.
On Friday, Gaza City was crowded with displaced people fleeing from central and northern Gaza. One man, Raed Radwan, described seeing hundreds of people entering the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, which was filled with tents and displaced families. He explained that bulldozers were clearing bombed homes to make space for more tents.
The United Nations says that more than two-thirds of Gaza is either under evacuation orders or designated as “no-go” zones. These are areas where humanitarian teams must coordinate with Israeli authorities before they can provide help. The strategy seems to be to make life so difficult for Gazans that they will be forced to leave.
Life for civilians in Gaza has become much worse over the past 18 months, especially since no aid has entered the area for six weeks. The United Nations says that many of its efforts to deliver aid are blocked by Israeli authorities.
Gaza’s health ministry reports that 37% of essential medicines are now out of stock, along with more than 50% of cancer drugs.
