IDF Publishes Map of Gaza with Zones to Help Civilians Avoid Fighting

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has published a map of the Gaza Strip with hundreds of numbered zones, which it will use to warn Palestinian residents when there is going to be fighting against Hamas in their area.

Though doing so will mean that the IDF gives up some of the element of surprise, and allows the terrorist group to prepare for attack, the map will also help minimize civilian risk.

The IDF’s Arabic spokesman, Avichay Adraee, published a video explaining the map and how it works on his Facebook page:

The map can be found on the IDF’s Arabic website. It states (with assistance from Google Translate):

Dear residents of Gaza!

Please pay attention and scrutinize this map, as anyone who sees the number of the block they live in or is located near it, must track and follow the [IDF’s] instructions through the various media and obey them.

Residents of Gaza!

It is a safe way to protect your safety, your souls and the lives of your families.

The Times of Israel notes: “The military may use this map to call on Palestinians from specific areas to evacuate when the IDF’s ground offensive expands to the Strip’s south, instead of demanding mass evacuations as it did in the northern part of Gaza.”

Israelis are already used to using maps and apps to warn them of incoming rockets and unidentified aerial objects.

The Biden administration has insisted that Israel not use mass evacuations in southern Gaza, as it did in northern Gaza. No Arab nation — not even neighboring Egypt — has offered Gaza residents even temporary refuge from the ongoing war.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.