Israel opens route for Gazans fleeing besieged city

GAZA, Sept 17 (AFP): Israel's army said Wednesday it had opened a temporary new route to allow people to flee Gaza City, a day after launching a major ground assault aimed at crushing Hamas.

The Israeli military unleashed a massive bombardment of Gaza City before dawn on Tuesday and pushed its troops deeper into the Gaza Strip's largest urban hub.

It came as a United Nations probe accused Israel of committing "genocide" in the Palestinian territory, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials had incited the crime.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military said it was opening "a temporary transportation route via Salah al-Din Street".

Netanyahu says Qatar funds

Hamas, strike 'justified'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that a strike against Hamas officials in Qatar last week was "justified" by the Gulf state's ties to the group.

"Qatar is connected to Hamas, it harbours Hamas, it funds Hamas. It has strong levers (that it could pull), but it chose not to," he said during a press conference. "Therefore our action was entirely justified."

The unprecedented attack on the Hamas meeting in Doha was the first such Israeli strike on fellow US ally Qatar.

The bombing resulted in the death of six people, none of whom were the top Hamas officials Israel was targeting, according to the militant group and Israeli sources quoted by national media.