In pictures: Gaza residents flee as Israel's evacuation time bomb ticks

Palestinians are scrambling to flee northern Gaza after Israel ordered nearly half the population to flee south, raising fears of what many believe will be the second Nakba — the mass exodus of Palestinians from what is now Israel during the 1948 war.

Israel is forcing some 1 million people to flee, including the entire population of Gaza City, despite warnings from the UN and aid groups that such an exodus would cause untold human suffering, with hospital patients and others unable to relocate.

Families in cars, trucks and donkey carts packed with their possessions crowded a main road heading southward from Gaza City as Israeli airstrikes continued to hammer the besieged territory.

Hamas has also told people to ignore the evacuation order.

The UN called on Israel to reverse the unprecedented directive.

Families in Gaza faced what agonizing dilemmas in deciding whether to leave or stay, with no safe ground anywhere. Israeli strikes have leveled entire city blocks, and Gaza has been sealed off from food, water and medical supplies — all under a virtual total power blackout.

Haifa Khamis al Shurafa, 42, fled to the farming town of Deir al Balah in a group of about 150 people on Friday, after her apartment in an upscale neighbourhood of Gaza City was demolished in an Israeli airstrike earlier in the week.

“We lost everything, our house, our belongings, everything,” she said. “All we have is our kids, and that’s why we left. We don’t want to lose them.”

As her phone battery ran low and the sound of shelling echoed in the distance, she said: “I am using the last bit of power I have to tell you, we don’t deserve this."

The Gaza Health Ministry said Friday that roughly 1,900 people have been killed in the territory.

Hamas’ media office said airstrikes hit cars in three locations as they headed south from Gaza City, killing 70 people.

Two witnesses reported a strike on fleeing cars near Deir el Balah, south of the evacuation zone and in the area where Israel told people to flee.

Fayza Hamoudi said she and her family were driving from their home in the north when the strike hit some distance ahead on the road and two vehicles burst into flames. A witness from another car on the road gave a similar account.

“Why should we trust that they’re trying to keep us safe?” Hamoudi said, her voice choking. “They are sick.”

Gaza’s Health Ministry said it was impossible to safely transport the wounded from hospitals, which are already struggling with high numbers of dead and injured. “We cannot evacuate hospitals and leave the wounded and sick to die,” spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, said it would not evacuate its schools, where hundreds of thousands have taken shelter. But it relocated its headquarters to southern Gaza, according to spokesperson Juliette Touma.

“The scale and speed of the unfolding humanitarian crisis is bone-chilling. Gaza is fast becoming a hellhole and is on the brink of collapse,” said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner general.