TEL AVIV, October 26. /TASS/. The Israeli military has evidence that supporters of the Palestinian radical movement Hamas are preventing the evacuation of Gaza civilians to safer southern areas of the enclave, the army press service said.

According to it, the Israeli military has in recent days alerted residents of the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate to the south for safety reasons. "The Hamas terrorist organization continues to use the civilians of Gaza as human shields and is not allowing them to evacuate to the south. As we have seen in the past, they use a variety of methods including roadblocks," the army said.

In confirmation, the press service published an audio recording of a conversation between an Israeli army officer and a civilian in Gaza. During the conversation, translated from Arabic by the press service, the Israeli military officer urged the man to move to the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip for security reasons. However, his interlocutor replied that it was impossible, as Hamas supporters had allegedly blocked the road, sending all the people back and shooting.