The Israeli army’s ultimatum to the Palestinian civilian population to move to the southern side of the Gaza Strip has expired, as thousands of the city’s residents, obeying the order, head as far as they can to safer locations.

At the same time, in another development, Israel gave the Palestinian Red Crescent a new deadline for the evacuation of the Al Kotz hospital in Gaza City until 16.00 this Saturday, Greek time.

The Red Crescent, however, said it could not evacuate the hospital because it was obliged, under its humanitarian mandate, to continue providing services to the sick and wounded.

With bated breath the world community is watching the drama unfolding in the Gaza area with the latest developments showing that an Israeli ground attack is imminent.

Earlier, with a new ultimatum, the Israeli Forces had opened an escape window between 10:00 and 16:00, for the “safe movement” of Palestinians from the north to the south, as announced by an IDF representative.

In a tweet on Platform X, the spokesman wrote in Arabic:

“An important announcement to the residents of Gaza City. For the past few days, we have asked you to leave Gaza City to the south for your safety. I would like to inform you that the IDF will allow traffic on the mentioned roads without any harm between the hours of 10:00-16:00. For your safety, take advantage of the short time to move south – from Beit Hanoun to Khan Yunis.

Meanwhile, ‘green light’ to allow US citizens to leave Gaza Strip through the border crossing of Rafah, Israel and Egypt gave today, as an American official, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP.

According to the report, the two countries, which are US allies, agreed to keep this unique border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip open from 12:00 today until 17:00 (local and Greek time), the official said. accompanying the head of American diplomacy Anthony Blinken on his tour of Middle Eastern countries.

The US has not yet confirmed that the agreement is being implemented, but “the intention was to open” the passage, he added.