{"id":29079,"date":"2023-10-14T11:43:31","date_gmt":"2023-10-14T18:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=29079"},"modified":"2023-10-14T11:43:32","modified_gmt":"2023-10-14T18:43:32","slug":"we-must-halt-this-us-progressives-humanitarians-decry-israels-evacuation-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/10\/14\/we-must-halt-this-us-progressives-humanitarians-decry-israels-evacuation-order\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We Must Halt This’: US Progressives, Humanitarians Decry Israel’s Evacuation Order"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Palestinians<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Palestinians walk through debris along a street in the aftermath of Israeli bombardment in al-Karama district in Gaza City on October 11, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo: Majdi Fathi\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The mass expulsion of over 1 million people in a day is ethnic cleansing,” said U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar. “We must use all diplomatic tools to stop this.”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JAKE JOHNSON<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oct 13, 2023 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Progressive members of the U.S. Congress joined humanitarian groups and the United Nations on Friday in condemning Israel’s 24-hour evacuation order<\/a> for the entire population of the northern Gaza Strip, a directive that will be impossible for many in the region to meet\u2014particularly the thousands wounded by Israeli airstrikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Any person can see that ordering 1+ million people to move in under 24 hours is not possible. It is unacceptable,” U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a> (D-N.Y.) wrote<\/a> on social media. “Humanity is at stake. Nearly half are children. We must halt this.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 400,000<\/a> Palestinians have been displaced since Israel began its latest bombing campaign in Gaza following a deadly Hamas attack on October 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the wake of Israel’s order\u2014which came hours before the nation launched ground raids in Gaza<\/a>\u2014many panicked residents fled their homes<\/a> in the northern part of the enclave, with some fearing another permanent displacement on the scale of the 1948 Nakba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As I am packing my things I am wondering, is this really another Nakba?” 56-year-old Arwa El-Rayes, an internal medicine doctor, told<\/a>The New York Times<\/em> shortly before fleeing her home in Gaza City. “I am taking my house key and thinking, will I ever return to my home, will I ever see my home again?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reuters<\/em>reported<\/a> that “several thousand residents could be seen on roads heading out of the northern part of the Gaza Strip, but it was impossible to tell their numbers. Many others said they would not go.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 33-year-old woman in Gaza City told<\/a>The Washington Post<\/em> that she’s staying along with dozens of family members, including her elderly parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There are no cars to take us anywhere,” she said. “There is no gas in cars. Cab companies don’t have cars anymore. The streets are so, so, so, so crowded, it’s like it’s the Day of Judgement.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar<\/a> (D-Minn.) argued<\/a> that “the mass expulsion of over 1 million people in a day is ethnic cleansing.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We have to stop ignoring the thousands of Palestinian lives lost and millions at stake!” Omar added. “We must use all diplomatic tools to stop this.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Echoing aid groups, the Minnesota lawmaker emphasized that many in northern Gaza\u2014including people with disabilities and those wounded by Israeli bombs\u2014”can’t simply pick up and leave” in compliance with Israel’s evacuation directive, which the U.N. said<\/a> is untenable and should be rescinded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With communications and electricity shut down by Israel, the order cannot be communicated,” Omar wrote. “Roads are bombed and many cars are out of fuel, making fleeing impossible for many. Plus there has been no announcement of a pause in hostilities to allow for safe civilian evacuation, so people are afraid to leave and risk bombardment. Even if it were successful, there is no infrastructure in southern Gaza to receive an additional 1.1 million people.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Palestine Red Crescent Society underscored those warnings in a statement<\/a> Friday, saying it doesn’t have “the means to evacuate the sick and the wounded in our hospitals, or the elderly and the disabled.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There are no safe areas in the whole of the Gaza Strip,” the group said. “The world must intervene to stop this catastrophe.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israeli forces have already been accused<\/a> of targeting Gazans attempting to flee to the south with airstrikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel bombed a truck full of Palestinians trying to evacuate, killing at least 40.

Palestinians are being massacred by Israel \u2013 while trying to follow Israel\u2019s impossible order to \u201cevacuate\u201d over 1 million Palestinians from north Gaza within 24 hours.

This is an atrocity. https:\/\/t.co\/1IoAR23RDH<\/a><\/p>— IMEU (@theIMEU) October 13, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote>