The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, met with soldiers on the Gaza border this Saturday the 14th and said that the Israeli forces were “all ready” as they expected the start of a ground attack in the area. Netanyahu’s speech was featured in publications on the prime minister’s social networks.
For the Defense Forces of Israel (Foreign direct investment) stated in a release in Arabic on Saturday the 14th that residents of the northern region of the Gaza Strip can leave the region through two safe routes and complete the journey to the south of the Palestinian enclave by 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m.). must (local time). Brasília) until 4:00 p.m. (10:00 a.m. Brazilian time).
Columns of smoke rise above buildings during an Israeli attack on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on October 14, 2023. Photo: SAID KHATIB / AFP
“If you care about yourself and your family, go south Gaza Strip“, points out the publication in Arabic by the Israeli army spokesman. Avichay Adraee. “Rest assured that the leaders of the Hamas They looked after themselves and protected themselves.” The Israeli army had given Palestinian civilians 24 hours to leave the northern region of the Gaza Strip.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced in the last 12 hours alone, the UN agency that helps Palestinians said on Saturday afternoon, warning that access to water supplies in Gaza is now “a matter of life and death”.
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In response to the Hamas terrorist attack last Saturday the 7th, which killed more than 1,300 people, the Israeli Defense Minister imposed a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip. He said this would prevent electricity, food, water and fuel from reaching the area, which has already been under an Israeliimposed and Egyptianbacked blockade for 16 years.
Israeli forces with tanks gather at an undisclosed location along the Gaza border in southern Israel on October 14, 2023. Photo: EFE/EPA/MARTIN DIVISEK
The Jerusalem Post newspaper reported that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was ready for “the next phases of the war,” which would include coordinated attacks by air, sea and land. The IDF statement was made on Saturday evening local time.
“IDF battalions and soldiers are deployed across the country and ready to increase their readiness for the next phases of the war, with a focus on significant ground operations,” the IDF said.
Israeli troops near the Gaza Strip, this Friday 13. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit) Photo: Ariel Schalit/AP Photo
The exodus ordered by the Israeli military is forcing the entire population of the territory to crowd into the southern half of the Gaza Strip, while Israel continues its attacks throughout the territory, including the south.
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Families in cars, trucks and carts full of belongings crowded a main road connecting Gaza City with the south of the Palestinian territory this Saturday morning as Israeli airstrikes continued to hit a 40kilometerlong region. Supplies of food, fuel and drinking water are running low water is no longer coming from the taps throughout the area.
“We need a number for drivers from Gaza to the south, #Help is needed,” one social media post said. Another person wrote: “We need bus numbers, office numbers or other transportation.”
Thousands of people are crammed into a United Nationsrun school in Deir alBalah, an agricultural town south of the area Israel has designated as vulnerable. Many sleep on the floor, without mattresses, or on chairs that have been removed from classrooms.
“I came here with my children. We slept on the floor. We don’t have a mattress or clothes,” said Howeida alZaaneen, 63, from the city of Beit Hanoun in the north of the country. “I want to return to my house, even if it is destroyed.”
The Israeli military said its troops carried out temporary strikes in Gaza on Friday to combat terrorists and search for traces of about 150 people including men, women and children killed during the Sept. 7 Hamas attack in the south of Israel were kidnapped.
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Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Saturday that more than 2,200 people had been killed in the Palestinian territory, including 724 children and 458 women. The Hamas attack killed more than 1,300 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, and about 1,500 Hamas fighters died during the fighting, the Israeli government said.
The departure of foreigners is still a challenge
Egyptian authorities said the passage south of the city of Rafah would be opened this Saturday for the first time in days to allow foreigners to leave including 19 Brazilians awaiting repatriation.
An official told the AP news agency that Israelis and Hamas men had agreed to facilitate the exit and that negotiations to deliver aid to Gaza through the same border crossing were also ongoing. The officials were not authorized to brief journalists and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Palestinians search for survivors among the rubble of a collapsed building after an Israeli attack in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, October 14, 2023. Photo: Mahmud HAMS / AFP
Fearing a mass exodus of Palestinians, Egyptian authorities set up “makeshift blast walls” on the Egyptian side of the border crossing, which has been closed for days due to Israeli airstrikes. The information was provided by two Egyptian authorities, also on condition of anonymity.
Israel’s attacks on Gaza on Friday were the first confirmation that Israeli troops had entered the area since the military began a roundtheclock bombing in retaliation for Saturday’s Hamas massacre. Hamas terrorists, in turn, have fired more than 5,500 rockets into Israel since the fighting began, according to the Israeli military./With Washington Post, AP and The New York Times