Palestinians in Gaza City continue to flee as Israeli bombs and ground forces attack the city. IDF said it is opening a new route for Gazans to evacuate.

Palestinians flee south from Gaza City amid intensified Israeli shelling Tuesday. Photo by Hassan Al-Jadi/UPI UPI Palestinians flee from Gaza City amid Israeli shelling in Gaza City Tuesday. Photo by Hassan Al-Jadi/UPI UPI Palestinians flee Gaza City amid Israeli shelling Tuesday. Many can't afford to rent cars or trucks and must walk for miles. Photo by Hassan Al-Jadi/UPI UPI Palestinians flee from Gaza City amid intensified Israeli shelling Tuesday. Many can't afford to rent cars or trucks because the price has risen to unaffordable levels. They must walk. Photo by Hassan Al-Jadi/UPI UPI Palestinians flee south from Gaza City amid intensified Israeli shelling Tuesday. Photo by Hassan Al-Jadi/UPI UPI Palestinians flee south from Gaza City amid intensified Israeli shelling Tuesday. Photo by Hassan Al-Jadi/UPI UPI Palestinians flee south in a long line of cars and walkers from Gaza City amid an Israeli attack on Tuesday. Photo by Hassan Al-Jadi/UPI UPI People hold banners and cut outs of photos of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, at a protest calling for the end of the Israel-Hamas war and the return of all hostages outside The Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference in Jerusalem, on Tuesday. The banner reads "President Trump: Every Time There's Progress, Netanyahu Bombs Someone" as Israel has started a major ground invasion in Gaza City, terrifying the hostage families for their loved ones' fate. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI UPI A woman holds a placard reading "End the war, seal the deal" behind cut outs of photos of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, at a protest calling for the end of the Israel-Hamas war and the return of all hostages outside The Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference in Jerusalem, on Tuesday. Israel has started a major ground invasion in Gaza City, terrifying the hostage families for their loved ones' fate. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI UPI

...

Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Palestinians in Gaza City continue to flee as Israeli bombs and ground forces attack the city.

The Israeli Defense Forces said Tuesday that around 350,000 people had fled Gaza City, while the United Nations said it was 190,000 since August. There are an estimated 650,000 still in the city.

The IDF said Wednesday it would open another evacuation route out of the city to allow more Palestinians to flee. It said the new "temporary route" would head south along Salah al-Din Road. The IDF said the route would be open for 48 hours in a statement posted on Telegram.

The cost of displacement for Palestinians fleeing the city has surged far beyond what most people can pay. Residents told the BBC that renting a small truck now costs around $860, while a tent for five people sells for about $1,147. Most families have had no income since the war started, so many had to walk for miles or stay and face the danger.

Tuesday morning, a United Nations probe by independent rights investigators said Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza. The Human Rights Council found that it has "reasonable grounds" to conclude that Israeli authorities and government have committed four of the five punishable acts of genocide under the Genocide Convention amid its nearly two-year war against Hamas.

In a statement on Tuesday, Israel's Foreign Ministry called it a "fake report" written by "Hamas proxies."

Israel has said taking Gaza City is necessary. Officials believe they must do so to prevent Hamas from regrouping and planning future attacks, like the assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war, BBC reported.

...

But the families of the 48 hostages still in Hamas control, with only 20 believed to be living, are protesting near Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem. They argue that the offensive will harm their family members.

"All day long, you boast about killing and destruction," said Macabit Mayer, aunt of hostages Gali and Ziv Berman. "Bringing down buildings in Gaza -- who are you bringing these buildings down on?"

Pope Leo XIV has also spoken out about the Palestinian plight. He said conditions are "unacceptable" and called again for a cease-fire.

"I am deeply close to the Palestinian people of Gaza, who continue to live in fear and under unacceptable conditions, forced yet again to leave their land," he said at his weekly audience at the Vatican.

After the U.N. announcement, leaders of 20 aid organizations demanded "urgent intervention" in Gaza on Wednesday.

"The inhumanity of the situation in Gaza is unconscionable," the statement said. "As humanitarian leaders, we have borne direct witness to the horrifying deaths and suffering of the people of Gaza. Our warnings have gone unheeded and thousands more lives are still at stake."

It was signed by leaders of organizations including Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam International and Save the Children.

"We witnessed children and families waste away from starvation as famine took hold. ... Many of us have been into Gaza. We have met countless Palestinians who have lost limbs as a result of Israel's bombardment. We have personally met children so traumatized by daily airstrikes that they cannot sleep. Some cannot speak. Others have told us they want to die to join their parents in heaven. We have met families who eat animal food to survive and boil leaves as a meal for their children. Yet world leaders fail to act. Facts are ignored. Testimony is cast aside. And more people are killed as a direct consequence."

...

The letter went on to call for action.

"If member states continue to treat these legal obligations as optional, they are not only complicit but are setting a dangerous precedent for the future. History will undoubtedly judge this moment as a test of humanity. And we are failing. Failing the people of Gaza, failing the hostages, and failing our own collective moral imperative," it said.