Israel Orders Mass Evacuation of Northern Gaza

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Israeli orders to evacuate northern Gaza, U.S. and Qatari officials refreezing Iranian funds, and Russian attacks against a key Ukrainian border town.

The Israeli military ordered around 1.1 million people in northern Gaza on Friday to evacuate the region within 24 hours—roughly half of the area’s total population. All civilians north of Wadi Gaza, including residents of Gaza City, were told not to return home and to immediately move to southern Gaza.

The Gaza Strip is one of the world’s densest regions, housing some 2.3 million people in just 140 square miles. This makes it impossible to carry out mass evacuations without “devastating humanitarian consequences,” United Nations spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said. Gaza, which has been ruled by Hamas since 2007, has been under an Israeli blockade for 15 years and has been battered by repeated cycles of conflict.

On Friday, the U.N. and other international bodies called on the Israeli government to revoke the evacuation order. Gaza’s Health Ministry said it was unable to safely evacuate wounded civilians and that hospital staff would not abide by the order; Hamas, for its part, called the order a ploy and told people to stay put. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees announced that it would relocate its headquarters to southern Gaza but would not expel the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced refugees sheltering in U.N.-protected schools. And the Norwegian Refugee Council condemned the decree, equating it to the “war crime of forcible transfer.”

The evacuation order comes as Israeli forces prepare for a ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza in response to the group’s brutal assault on southern Israel on Saturday. Since then, at least 1,300 Israelis and 1,799 Palestinians have been killed, with more than 10,000 people injured on both sides. Israel has accused Hamas of using civilians as human shields and taking as many as 150 people hostage, including an unknown number of U.S. citizens. Israel has imposed a “complete siege” on Gaza and conducted numerous aerial bombardments of the strip in recent days.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Israel to allow the flow of food, water, fuel, and electricity into the Gaza Strip. “Collective punishment of the people in Gaza will only make the problem bigger, lead to more pain, more tension, and more tears,” Erdogan said, adding that Israel’s blockade of humanitarian supplies is a “breach of the most fundamental human rights.”

• What Israeli Intelligence Got Wrong About Hamas by Elena Grossfeld
• The Geopolitics of Palestine, Explained by Allison Meakem
• Why the Israeli Hostages Face Grim Prospects by Tal Alroy

Assets refrozen. The United States and Qatar reportedly have agreed to prevent Iran from accessing $6 billion in oil revenue that had recently been unfrozen as part of a prisoner swap deal between Washington and Tehran. The funds, which had been frozen for years in South Korea, were transferred last month to a bank in Qatar for that country to manage on Iran’s behalf and, in concert with the United States, help ensure the money was used only for humanitarian purposes.

However, following Saturday’s assault on Israel by Hamas, the Biden administration has faced pressure from both Republicans and Democrats to prevent Tehran from accessing the unfrozen funds out of concern that they could be used to aid the Islamist militant group. Iran has long provided weapons and training to Hamas, and the group said it received assistance from Tehran in carrying out its most recent attack; the United States, though, said it does not have specific evidence at this time that Iran was involved in the operation but will continue investigating the country’s potential role. It is unclear how long the money will be blocked.

Assault on Avdiivka. Russian forces fought for control of Avdiivka, Ukraine, on Friday as part of one of Moscow’s largest offensives in months. For four straight days, Ukrainian troops have intercepted more than 20 attacks on the village. Recent reports indicate that Russia’s military aims to surround Avdiivka in the near future.

Control of the eastern front-line town remains a key flash point between the two nations. Avdiivka is a symbol of Ukrainian resistance, having prevented Russia’s annexation of the Donetsk region since 2014, when Moscow first invaded the Crimean Peninsula.

Legal status revoked. Japanese officials asked a state court on Friday to revoke the legal status of the Japanese branch of the Unification Church. The church has faced hundreds of civil lawsuits from people who have accused it of using manipulative tactics to coerce members into making financial donations beyond their means. Those accusations were thrown into sharp relief last year, when a gunman accused of assassinating former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022 allegedly told police he had targeted Abe because of the leader’s ties to the church, which had bankrupted the gunman’s family due to his mother’s excessive donations.

If the church’s legal status is removed, it would lose tax exemptions afforded to religious organizations but would still be allowed to function. This is a rare move for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, whose ruling Liberal Democratic Party has long relied on the church for political and public support.

The winner of this year’s fattest bear award goes to 128 Grazer, a “fierce queen” known for raising two litters of cubs and eating more than her fair share of salmon. Alaska’s Katmai National Park announced the results on Tuesday after the mama bear beat her competitor by more than 85,000 votes. Talking about a roaring victory.