Civilians flee Gaza City as Netanyahu reports Hamas blocking evacuations

Netanyahu noted that Hamas was actively preventing civilians from leaving.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Around 100,000 civilians have left Gaza City as Israel expands its military campaign, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

Speaking about ongoing Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations, Netanyahu noted that Hamas was actively preventing civilians from leaving.

“About 100,000 people have left Gaza. Hamas is trying to do everything to prevent them from leaving and to keep them there to serve as human shields,” he said.

The prime minister clarified that he was referring specifically to Gaza City, not the broader Gaza Strip.

The city has been the focus of intensified Israeli operations in recent weeks, as the IDF presses its campaign against Hamas positions embedded in densely populated areas.

Netanyahu’s comments come as Israeli forces continue to target Hamas infrastructure and combat units in northern Gaza.

While tens of thousands of residents have managed to flee southward, hundreds of thousands remain trapped, according to international assessments, many of them displaced multiple times since the conflict began nearly two years ago.

Israel has consistently accused Hamas of embedding its terrorists and weapons in civilian neighborhoods, hospitals, and schools, a tactic that forces residents into the crossfire.

Netanyahu’s statement highlighted this dynamic, framing the current evacuation as a battle not only against Hamas’ military strength but also against its strategy of using civilians to shield its terrorists.

We want to focus on the terrorists themselves, and allow the civilian population to get out,” Netanyahu said.

Our effort in Gaza against the last strongholds – essentially the last important stronghold, Gaza City – is part of our effort to complete the dismantling of the Iranian axis stranglehold,” he added.