Osama Hamdan, a Lebanon-based Hamas official, has accused Israel of pursuing a deliberate strategy of urging Gazan civilians south in order to trap and kill them there, Reuters reports.

“It has become clear that the occupation’s claim … of the existence of safe areas in the south of the Gaza Strip, and its constant call for citizens to go there, was a premeditated plan and trap to commit more massacres against unarmed civilians and displaced people in the south,” he told reporters without citing evidence. “There are no safe areas.”

Gaza residents said earlier on Sunday they feared an Israeli ground offensive on the southern areas was imminent. Tanks had cut off the road between Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, effectively dividing the Gaza Strip into three.

The Israeli military ordered Palestinians to evacuate several areas in and around Khan Younis. It posted a map highlighting shelters they should go to west of Khan Younis and south toward Rafah, on the border with Egypt.

Many residents started packing but said that areas they had been told to go to were themselves coming under attack.