Hamas officials scramble to flee Gaza while forcing civilians to remain in harms way - COGAT

"While Hamas calls the residents of Gaza City NOT to move south, its operatives fear for their own lives and are seeking to leave the Gaza Strip," COGAT wrote.

Hamas officials have been attempting to flee the Gaza Strip as the group simultaneously calls on residents to remain and serve as human shields for the terror organization, COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) shared in a Sunday post to X/Twitter.

"While Hamas calls the residents of Gaza City NOT to move south, its operatives fear for their own lives and are seeking to leave the Gaza Strip," COGAT wrote. "They are using residents of northern Gaza as human shields while looking out for their own interests."

COGAT is the unit of Israel's Defense Ministry responsible for coordinating civilian issues with the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.

"Two weeks ago, a member of the Gaza City Council, Anwar Atallah, fled the Gaza Strip together with his family through the mechanism operated by Israel that allows Gazans to exit via Jordan to a third country," COGAT added.

"Many other senior officials have submitted requests for their families to leave the Strip, and some have even asked to leave themselves, but their requests were denied by Israel. Israel continues to call on residents of northern Gaza to move south for their protection."

IDF calls for evacuation

Following the COGAT's publication of the update, Major-General Ghassan Alian, who heads COGAT, shared on the unit's Facebook page, Al-Munasseq, an evacuation call posted to X/Twitter by IDF Arabic-language spokesperson, Lt.-Col. Avichay Adraee. Adraee's post urged Gaza residents of places in the Gaza Port area and the Al-Rimal neighborhood of the Gaza Strip to evacuate.

The spokesperson noted that the IDF was set to strike a building highlighted in the post because it contained Hamas infrastructure.

Adraee's evacuation call was the fourth such call published on Sunday.

Evacuation calls come as the IDF escalates strikes on Hamas assets in Gaza City and prepares to push its ground assets into the city.

As of Sunday, some 300,000 residents of Gaza City have left the area.

Later on Sunday, Muhammed Al-Madhoon, a minister in the Hamas government who was named in the COGAT announcement as one of those who had requested to leave the Gaza Strip, published a press release denying the claims.

Al-Madhoun labeled the COGAT report "false and baseless," adding that the unit's claims were "lies" and "psychological warfare." The Hamas official added, "his family will remain in the homeland, steadfast next to the graves of three of his sons who were martyred in the brutal aggression, and they will not leave their land, no matter how severe the siege or the greater the sacrifices."