Worshippers Attend Friday Prayers Amid Israel-Palestinian Conflict | VOA News

Worshippers gathered at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Friday to hold prayers, amid the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

Palestinians living in the northern Gaza Strip scrambled Friday as the clock ticked down on an Israeli order to evacuate to the southern part of the Strip within 24 hours ahead of what many fear will be a major Israeli ground offensive into the Hamas-controlled territory.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed early Friday that it had notified residents in Gaza City to leave for “their own safety and protection.”

“You will be able to return to Gaza City only when another announcement permitting it is made,” IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus said in a livestreamed briefing on the social media platform X. “Do not approach the area of the security fence with the state of Israel.”

Hamas, however, has called for everyone to “remain steadfast in your homes and to stand firm in the face of this disgusting psychological war waged by the occupation,” according to the Associated Press.

Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour told reporters Friday that Israel’s evacuation order amounts to “ethnic cleansing” of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have nowhere to flee.