Evacuation warnings issued by Israel to people in Gaza ahead of attacks have contained a host of significant errors, BBC analysis has revealed.

Warnings contained contradictory information and sometimes misnamed districts. This made them confusing.

Experts say such mistakes could violate Israel’s obligations under international law.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has rejected any assertion the warnings were confusing or contradictory.

In a statement, it said the alerts analysed by the BBC were only one element of its “extensive efforts to encourage the evacuation [of] civilians out of harm’s way”.

International humanitarian law requires attacking forces to give effective advance warning of attacks which may affect the civilian population, unless circumstances do not permit.

Israel says its warning system is designed to help civilians flee danger as it continues its war against Hamas. The system divides a map of Gaza into hundreds of numbered blocks.

Israel has produced an interactive online map of the blocks that geo-locates users, showing their live location and which block number they are in.

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