In the wake of escalating hostilities and calls to evacuate the city, the number of people leaving has spiked in recent weeks, according to aid workers.

However, many families remain stuck because of the cost of finding transportation and housing, while others having been displaced too many times and don’t want to move again, not trusting that anywhere in the enclave is safe.

In a message on social media Saturday, Israel's army told the remaining Palestinians in Gaza City to leave “immediately” and move south to what it's calling a humanitarian zone.

Army spokesman Avichay Adraee said more than a quarter of a million people had left Gaza City, from an estimated 1 million who live in the area of north Gaza around the city.

The United Nations, however, put the number of people who have left at around 100,000 between mid-August and mid-September.

The U.N. and aid groups have warned that displacing hundreds of thousands of people will exacerbate the dire humanitarian crisis.

Sites in southern Gaza where Israel is telling people to go are overcrowded, according to the U.N., and it can cost money to move, which many people don't have.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, abducting 251 people and killing some 1,200, mostly civilians.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,803 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says around half of those killed were women and children.