Israel-Hamas war: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas fear 'another Nakba' in making for Gaza

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a dire warning about a "second Nakba" calamity for his people after the Israeli army ordered more than a million people to leave north Gaza.

" I completely reject the displacement of our people from the Gaza Strip, because it will be tantamount to a second Nakba for our people," Abbas said, according to a statement published by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Nakba, or "catastrophe", refers to some 760,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 war that coincided with Israel´s creation.

His remarks came after the Israeli military dropped leaflets on the blockaded Gaza Strip warning people to flee from the north, an area home to some 1.1 million people.

Abbas´s Palestinian Authority is seated in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, and is split from the militant group Hamas which rules Gaza.

Israeli forces have launched thousands of strikes on Gaza since Saturday, killing more than 1,530 people according to a health ministry toll.

The war erupted in the wake of cross-border attacks by Hamas militants, which killed more than 1,300 people, the Israeli military said.

Israel told the UN on Friday that it has given 1.1 million residents of northern Gaza 24 hours to leave their homes and go to southern Gaza. This is known as the Wadi Gaza evacuation.

"The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) calls for the evacuation of all civilians of Gaza City from their homes southwards for their own safety and protection and move to the area south of the Wadi Gaza as shown on the map," the Israeli military said in a statement.

"In the following days, the IDF will continue to operate significantly in Gaza City and make extensive efforts to avoid harming civilians," it added.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) is sheltering more than 60% of the 423,000 people displaced in recent days in the Gaza Strip.