The Israeli military unleashed a massive bombardment of Gaza City before dawn on Tuesday and pushed its troops deeper into the Gaza Strip’s largest urban hub.

It came as a United Nations probe accused Israel of committing “genocide” in the Palestinian territory, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials had incited the crime.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it was opening “a temporary transportation route via Salah al-Din Street”.

Its Arabic-language spokesman, Colonel Avichay Adraee said the corridor would remain open for just 48 hours from midday (0900 GMT) on Thursday.

Until now, the army had urged residents to leave Gaza City via the coastal road towards what it calls a “humanitarian zone” further south, including parts of Al-Mawasi.

Salah al-Din Street runs down the middle of the Gaza Strip from north to south.

The United Nations estimated at the end of August that around one million people lived in Gaza City and its surroundings.

AFP journalists have observed a fresh exodus in recent days, and the Israeli army said Wednesday that “more than 350,000” had so far fled south.

Many Palestinians interviewed by AFP in Gaza insist there is no safe place in the territory and say they would rather die in their homes than be displaced yet again.

The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on southern Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 64,964 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.

The Israeli military estimates there are 2,000 to 3,000 Hamas militants in central Gaza City, and that about 40 percent of residents have fled.