In accordance with the Israeli army’s evacuation request, hundreds of thousands of people in the Gaza Strip headed south. “We realize this will take time,” military spokesman Richard Hecht said today.
Hamas is also trying to detain civilians. The Israeli military had already assured residents of the north of the Gaza Strip a period and an escape route without attacks.
Expected land offensive
Observers assume that the Israeli military has asked the more than one million Palestinians in the northern coastal strip to evacuate to the southern Gaza Strip because a ground offensive is imminent.
The Israeli military has indicated that the city of Gaza will be the focus of its operations because that is where Hamas leadership is based. Hamas, in turn, rejected Israeli calls for evacuation and called on people not to abandon their homes in Gaza.
Since the unprecedented massacre of Israeli civilians by terrorists on behalf of Hamas in border towns and at a music festival, the Israeli military has carried out massive airstrikes against targets in the densely populated coastal strip.
US citizens in the Gaza Strip should go to Rafah
Meanwhile, the US is appealing to its citizens in the Gaza Strip to head to the Rafah border crossing in the south. The US State Department said they should be prepared to travel to Egypt. It may happen that the Rafah border crossing will be opened to foreigners at a very short notice and only for a limited period of time. It is possible that such an opening will only be announced on a limited basis.
At the same time, the US State Department announced that due to the unpredictable security situation, non-essential personnel from the US Embassy and branch in Tel Aviv are allowed to leave Israel. This also applies to family members of embassy employees.