Israel allows 'pauses' as Gazans flee

GAZA STRIP — Israel has agreed to have pauses in its offensive in northern Gaza that will allow some Palestinian civilians to flee heavy fighting, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out any broader cease-fire.

The move came as a new United Nations report paints a stark picture of the devastation of the collapse of the Palestinian economy after a month of conflict and Israel's near total siege of Gaza.

The GDP shrank 4 percent in the West Bank and Gaza in the conflict's first month, sending over 400,000 people into poverty — an economic impact unseen in the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine, or any previous Palestine-Israel conflict, the UN said.

The rapid assessment of economic consequences released on Thursday by the UN Development Program and the UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia was the first UN report showing the devastating impact of the conflict, especially on the Palestinians.

More than two-thirds of Gaza's population of 2.3 million have fled their homes since Israel launched weeks of intense airstrikes followed by an ongoing ground operation, vowing to obliterate Hamas. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said on Thursday that 10,818 Palestinians, including more than 4,400 children, have been killed so far.

In Brussels, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Thursday that the European Union should look at barring "extremist" Israelis who call for violence against Palestinians from visiting Europe.

The liberal premier pointed to Israeli violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and said the lack of action against such "violent extremists" was "unacceptable".

Netanyahu said Israeli troops were performing "exceptionally well" in the offensive launched after Hamas fighters poured across the border on Oct 7, killing 1,400 people and taking around 240 hostage.

Tens of thousands of civilians have streamed out of devastated northern Gaza in recent days, with men, women and children clutching meager possessions as they emerge from the devastated war zone.

The UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said 70,000 people had traveled south on the route since Nov 4, most of them walking.

But the UN estimates hundreds of thousands of civilians remain in the fiercest battle zones in the north.

If the war continues for a second month, the UN projects that the Palestinian GDP, which was $20.4 billion before the conflict began, will drop by 8.4 percent — a loss of $1.7 billion. And if the conflict lasts a third month, Palestinian GDP will drop by 12 percent, with losses of $2.5 billion and more than 660,000 people pushed into poverty.

Humanitarian catastrophe

US President Joe Biden welcomed the pauses as a "step in the right direction", but there was little hope for the broader halt to fighting that aid groups and the UN say is desperately needed. He also said there was "no possibility" of a cease-fire.

Many aid groups have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, where food, water and medicine are in short supply.

"It's the first thing I think about when I wake up: How am I going to feed the children today," Amal al-Robayaa said in Rafah, where she was sheltering with her husband, six children, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren at a UN school.

Gaza officials said Israel launched airstrikes on or near at least three hospitals on Friday, further endangering the health system.

The Al-Shifa hospital, where an estimated 60,000 people have taken refuge, along with the Rantisi children's hospital and the Indonesian hospital, all came under fire overnight, Hamas authorities said.

Israel said Hamas has hidden command centers and tunnels beneath Al-Shifa, allegations Hamas denies.

Violence has surged in the occupied West Bank since the conflict erupted, with 14 Palestinians killed on Thursday alone, according to the Ramallah-based health ministry.

The conflict has also stoked regional tensions, with cross-border exchanges between the Israeli army and Lebanon's Hezbollah, and Yemen's Houthi militants saying they launched "ballistic missiles" at southern Israel.

International flight bookings around the world have fallen since the onset of the conflict, especially in the Americas as people cancel trips to the Middle East and around the world, according to travel analysis firm ForwardKeys.

Agencies - Xinhua