Israeli military orders evacuation of Gaza City

Israeli military on Wednesday said that it has ordered the evacuation of Gaza City, reported AP.

Leaflets dropped by aircraft instructed "everyone in Gaza City" to leave and described it as a 'dangerous combat zone', reported BBC.

The report said that the civilians have been asked to leave by a designated safe routes - marked as two roads that lead to shelters in Deir al-Balah and al-Zawaida.

Israel says it is pursuing Hamas fighters who are regrouping in parts of the strip that had been targeted early in the war.

On Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes killed 20 Palestinians in central Gaza, including six children and three women.

A fourth strike hit a home in Deir al-Balah, an area that is located within the “humanitarian safe zone” where Israel has told Palestinians to seek refuge as it conducts offensives in multiple parts of the Gaza Strip, said AP report.

Israel launched the war in Gaza after Hamas’ October 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people.

Meanwhile, Israeli tanks and artillery on Wednesday struck Syrian army targets that had violated the 1974 demilitarisation deal in the area of the Golan Heights, reported Reuters quoting Israeli military.

"The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) holds the Syrian military responsible for all activities occurring within its territory and will not allow any attempts to violate Israeli sovereignty," the military said in a statement.

On Tuesday, an Israeli couple was killed by a Hezbollah rocket fired at the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, an attack the Lebanese armed group said was retaliation for the Israeli killing of one of its men in Syrian territory.

Condemned Israel's recent deadly air strikes on schools sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza, France declared such tactics "unacceptable".

"We call for these strikes to be fully investigated," the foreign ministry said.