Several civilians in Gaza City say people were shot dead by snipers after the Israeli military issued a new evacuation order and told Palestinians to head south as it steps up its offensive across the enclave.
The attacks reportedly took place as civilians evacuated a number of neighbourhoods in Gaza City, having been ordered to leave on Wednesday, even as mediators from Qatar, the United States and Egypt were meeting with Israeli officials in Doha for talks seeking a ceasefire.
One man told Al Jazeera he was sitting near Yarmouk stadium when he saw an Israeli sniper shoot a man on a bicycle carrying canned food. “The sniper shot him directly,” he said.
“We were unable to move his body. Even the paramedics were unable to access the street. They couldn’t retrieve or evacuate the body of this person.”
Ambulance staff forced to turn back reportedly told the man that they had not received instructions to retrieve bodies. They had been warned that anyone approaching the deceased would be shot.
A woman told Al Jazeera she wanted to pass through Yarmouk stadium but was told there were bodies of Palestinians in the streets who were shot by Israeli snipers.
“We came to ask for help from the paramedics and firefighters to at least take the dead bodies so they wouldn’t remain in the street,” she said. “They need to be buried.”
