Palestinians flee as Israel orders evacuation and stages brief Gaza incursions

The Israeli army issued an unprecedented evacuation warning to people in Gaza (Hatem Moussa/AP)

Palestinians are scrambling to flee northern Gaza after Israel ordered nearly half the population to flee south and carried out limited ground forays ahead of an expected land offensive, as the war appeared set to escalate a week after a wide-ranging Hamas attack on Israel.

Israel has ordered some one million people to flee, including the entire population of Gaza City, despite warnings from the UN and aid groups that such an exodus would cause untold human suffering, with hospital patients and others unable to relocate.