Hundreds of thousands flee Israeli military's devastating assault on Gaza City

TEL AVIV — Having lost his eyesight in an Israeli airstrike, Ahmed Daif Allah spent part of the past week stumbling blindly toward an uncertain safety.

TEL AVIV — Having lost his eyesight in an Israeli airstrike, Ahmed Daif Allah spent part of the past week stumbling blindly toward an uncertain safety.

“The journey is incredibly tough, more than anyone could imagine,” Ahmed’s wife, Rafiq, told a local journalist who provided their footage to NBC News. “There is no pity, there is no humanity,” added Rafiq, who led her husband by the hand throughout their dayslong walk from Gaza City to the southern part of the enclave.

The couple is among the hundreds of thousands who have fled Gaza’s most populous area since Israel launched its new offensive on Tuesday, heeding Israeli leaflets and social media warnings to head south.

Avichay Adraee, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Arabic-language spokesman, said Friday that its forces would continue to “operate with unprecedented force" against Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza City and urged civilians to leave the famine-stricken area.