Thousands of Palestinians flee to south Gaza after Israel warning

Thousands of Palestinians fled on Friday to southern Gaza after a warning by the Israeli army, whose forces have been shelling the blockaded enclave, an AFP correspondent said.

People living in the northern part of the Gaza Strip left in cars, motorbikes, trucks and by foot, while Hamas rulers said in a statement that "our Palestinian people" rejected Israel's evacuation order.

At least nine Palestinians were killed by fresh Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank during rallies in solidarity with war-battered Gaza, the Palestinian health ministry said.

AFP correspondents and a security official reported clashes in Ramallah, Nablus, Tulkarem, Hebron and other cities, nearly a week after a massive Hamas attack on southern Israel spiralled into an all-out war.

At least 1,799 people have died in Israeli reprisal strikes so far.  At least 44 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in violence related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since Saturday, according to the health ministry.

By Friday afternoon, the ministry reported "nine martyrs by occupation (Israeli) bullets in the West Bank" and some 130 wounded across multiple locations, some critically.

At the northern entrance to Ramallah, an AFP photographer saw plumes of black smoke rising from burning tyres as Palestinians hurled rocks towards Israeli forces.

There were similar scenes in the northern city of Nablus, where Palestinians rallied, some holding models of rockets.

In both cities as well as in Hebron, in the southern West Bank, Palestinians waved Hamas flags.

Banners reading "Lift the siege on Gaza" and "Stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza" were carried through Hebron.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said by 4:00 pm (1300 GMT) its medics had treated 239 people in the West Bank including annexed east Jerusalem.

The casualties included 73 people with gunshot wounds and 137 suffering from tear gas inhalation.

At least three of the dead were in Tulkarem. In Beit Furik, near Nablus, a 14-year-old boy was killed, medical sources told AFP.

Deaths were also recorded in Beit Ula, Tammun, Bethelem and Hebron, the health ministry said in separate statements.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict and the territory saw a surge in violence in the months before the Gaza war.

There have been repeated deadly military raids on Palestinian cities, as well as a rise in attacks by Israeli settlers and Palestinian militants.