Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Sunday to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to expand operations in the Gaza Strip, rather than attempt to negotiate an end to the war under which Hamas would free its last hostages.

Father Gabriel Romanelli, the pastor of Holy Family Parish in Gaza City, said Aug. 18 that an evacuation order was issued by Israeli forces for the al-Zaytun neighborhood.

Palestinian residents of Gaza City have come under relentless Israeli bombardment as the military prepares for a major offensive to seize and ethnically cleanse the area, barring emergency workers from reaching people trapped in the residential Zeitoun neighbourhood.

Israel says it plans to take over Gaza City, the largest urban area in the territory and one that has already suffered extensive devastation in repeated Israeli raids.

CAIRO (Reuters) -Fearing an Israeli onslaught could come soon, some Palestinian families began leaving eastern areas of Gaza City, now under constant Israeli bombardment, for points to the west and some explored evacuating further south.

By Nidal al-Mughrabi CAIRO (Reuters) -Fearing an imminent Israeli ground offensive, thousands of Palestinians have left their homes in eastern areas of Gaza City, now under constant Israeli bombardment,

Israel's security cabinet has approved plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the Israeli military to occupy Gaza City, in an expansion of military operations that comes amid international condemnation of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

After nearly two years of war, the Israeli military says it controls about 75 percent of Gaza. The United Nations says more than 86 percent of Gaza is within the Israeli militarized zone or under evacuation orders.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that Israel's goal was not to occupy Gaza, but to "free Gaza."

An airstrike on Gaza City killed at least 12 people as the conflict entered a new phase with an Israeli offensive to rid the city of Hamas and free hostages.

Fearing an Israeli onslaught could come soon, some Palestinian families began leaving eastern areas of Gaza City, now under constant Israeli bombardment, for points to the west, and some explored ev The Egyptian Foreign Minister said that any mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza was a "red line" in a Monday interview with CNN.