Gaza City Exodus: Israel’s Push, Hamas’s Resistance, and a Humanitarian Crossroads

• By Thetripurapost Desk, Tel Abib
• Sep 08, 2025
• 608

When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that around 100,000 people have left Gaza City, he framed it as a sign that Israel’s military strategy is working. But behind the numbers lies a far more complex and troubling picture—one of forced migration, contested safe zones, and looming humanitarian disaster.

Israel’s Warning and Hamas’s Grip

On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) dropped leaflets urging civilians to evacuate Gaza City, warning that the city is a “combat zone” and the last stronghold of Hamas. Netanyahu accused Hamas of preventing people from fleeing, alleging that fighters opened fire on women and children to hold them back as human shields.

The IDF insists civilians can travel safely to humanitarian camps in southern Gaza, where temporary hospitals, water supplies, and tents are promised. But humanitarian agencies caution that these zones are unilaterally declared by Israel. The United Nations has made clear it has no role in organizing or securing them, raising fears that civilians may be moving from one peril into another.

The Humanitarian Dilemma

Nearly a million Palestinians remain inside Gaza City, according to UN estimates. For many, leaving means abandoning homes, livelihoods, and communities with no guarantee of safety. Aid groups warn that mass displacement on such a scale could deepen the crisis of food shortages, disease outbreaks, and lack of medical care already ravaging the enclave.

For residents, the choice is brutal: risk staying in an active combat zone or head south into uncertainty.

Gideon’s Chariots-B: The Military Blueprint

Behind the push lies Israel’s long-prepared military plan, Operation Gideon’s Chariots-B. Approved in August, it envisions the gradual capture of Gaza City in stages, calling up to 130,000 troops—one of Israel’s largest mobilizations in decades.

60,000 reservists were scheduled for call-up in three phases through March 2026.

Five divisions and 12 brigades are participating, with infantry, tanks, artillery, engineers, and support units all deployed.

The IDF says it already controls about 75% of Gaza, leaving Gaza City as the largest area still under Hamas control.

At the heart of the campaign is Israel’s belief that Hamas still holds 50 hostages, including both living captives and bodies of those killed. Securing these areas, military officials argue, is both a strategic and moral imperative.

A City at the Edge

For Israel, the fall of Gaza City would mark a symbolic and strategic victory—proof that Hamas’s power is broken. For Palestinians, it could mean yet another chapter of displacement and devastation, echoing the traumas of 1948 and 1967.

As Israeli divisions move deeper into Gaza’s urban maze, one truth is already clear: the battle for Gaza City is not only about territory or hostages. It is about the fate of hundreds of thousands of civilians caught between an advancing army and an entrenched militia—with the world watching, and warning, as a humanitarian disaster looms.