The Attacks on Palestinians evacuating Gaza City occurred in October 2023 when Hamas roadside bombs killed over 70 Palestinian refugees as they attempted to leave northern Gaza under an Israeli evacuation order amid Operation Iron Swords. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the entire population of northern Gaza - more than 1 million people - to flee their homes and move south to avoid being caught up in an impending IDF military operation against Hamas and its allies in Gaza City. Hamas ordered the people of the Gaza Strip to stay in their homes and resist "the occupation", intending on using the civilians as human shields and provoking Israeli airstrikes on civilians as a means of turning international opinion against the Israelis. Following the Israeli order, several evacuation convoys were attacked as roadside bombings killed over 70 civilians and injured over 200. Pro-Palestinian sources initially reported that the Israeli Air Force had bombed the convoys, but BBC and other news outlets pointed to the absence of airstrike signatures in photographed material to suggest that the attacks were the result of roadside bombings; Israel directly accused Hamas of blocking the evacuation of civilians.