"No Money to Leave" 4,000 Won → 400,000 Won... 100 Times Increased Transportation Cost Leads to 'Abandoning Evacuation'

Israeli Military: "Those Not Moving to Southern Gaza Will Be Considered Terrorists"
Vehicle Costs Surge from $3 to $300 Per Person

The Israeli military has warned residents to "move to the southern Gaza Strip" as it announces a ground offensive against Hamas, the Palestinian armed group based in Gaza. However, residents are reportedly trapped, unable to move due to evacuation costs soaring nearly 100 times higher.

According to the New York Times on the 22nd (local time), the fare for 'moving vehicles' used to travel from northern to southern Gaza has surged up to 100 times compared to before the war.

Before the war, drivers charged $3 (about 4,000 won) per person from the north to the south. However, as the war has progressed, fares of up to $300 (about 410,000 won) per person are now being demanded.

As a result, some residents are giving up on evacuation altogether. Amani Abu Ode, a resident of Jabalia village in northern Gaza, lamented, "It's hard enough to find food, so where would we get the money to leave from here?"

On the 22nd (local time), residents in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, are inspecting buildings destroyed by the Israeli military attack. [Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

Another reason holding residents back is that safety is not guaranteed even if they evacuate to southern Gaza. Yasser Shaban (57), a civil servant in Gaza City, said his cousin's family fled to Khan Yunis, a city in southern Gaza, but a week ago, his cousin's wife and two daughters were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Shaban expressed his frustration, saying, "I don't know anyone there, so I can't go south. We will eventually end up homeless on the streets."

Earlier, the Israeli military warned that Palestinian residents who do not move from northern to southern Gaza could be considered sympathizers of 'terrorist organizations.' This warning message was reportedly also delivered to residents throughout Gaza via cellphone voice messages.

However, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, criticized on X (formerly Twitter), stating, "Treating hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who are unable to flee as terrorists amounts to a threat of collective punishment and could constitute ethnic cleansing."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.