Israel said on Saturday evening that its forces were preparing to implement a “wide range of operational offensive plans” before a full-scale ground invasion of the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ attack on Israel.
The Israel Defense Forces said its soldiers were deployed “across the country” and would “increase readiness for the next phases of the war, with a focus on significant ground operations.”
Israeli forces have been bombarding Gaza since Hamas launched a devastating attack last week. In recent days, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled their homes after Israel ordered 1.1 million civilians – nearly half of Gaza’s population – to leave the northern part of the densely populated enclave, including Gaza City.
“We are attacking Gaza City because it is the center of Hamas’s government and military terror capabilities and we must attack it with heavy force,” Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesman, said in a briefing with journalists.
The IDF added that its forces were preparing for an “expanded combat area” and that the operations being prepared “may include combined and coordinated attacks from the air, sea and land.”
The announcement follows efforts earlier Saturday to allow Palestinians with dual U.S. citizenship and other foreign passport holders to leave Gaza through the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, after Israel told diplomats it would allow some departures.
However, no one was allowed to leave the country, according to four diplomats dealing with the matter. An official said convoys were driving “back and forth” with conflicting reports about why the border had not been opened.
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A US official said they had encouraged Palestinians with dual American citizenship to go to the Rafah border crossing, but the situation was constantly changing.
An Arab diplomat said the Biden administration asked Qatar to persuade Hamas not to block Palestinians with U.S. citizenship from leaving the Strip, to which the Islamist group agreed. The U.S. asked the Egyptians to open Rafah and let them through, but “the Egyptians have yet to agree to open the border to the Americans,” the official said.
Rafah is the only exit from the Gaza Strip not controlled by Israel and has remained largely closed, leaving the 2.3 million Palestinians crammed into the enclave since Israel’s violent takeover of the area in 2007 Hamas imposed a blockade, there is no way out.
Cairo has long had concerns that Israel wants to shift its problems with Gaza onto Egypt.
Michael Wahid Hanna, an analyst at the International Crisis Group, said Egypt “will not simply agree to safe passage for U.S. and other foreign citizens unless there is also an agreement on opening the border to humanitarian supplies.”
Separately, Qatar and the United States were working to finalize an agreement on the release of civilian hostages seized by Hamas, a person briefed on the talks said.
Palestinians take refuge in a UN-run school © Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty ImagesThe deal would require Israel to pause its bombardment of the Gaza Strip to allow Hamas to safely release the hostages and allow the safe delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, the person added.
“There were positive meetings yesterday and Hamas appears ready to release the civilian hostages, but Hamas says it cannot do so while the bombing continues,” a person briefed on the talks said. “They need the Israelis to stop bombing Gaza for a short period of time in order to safely release the prisoners.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks with the Prime Minister of Qatar on Friday as part of a tour of the region. Qatar is a US ally and also hosts Hamas’ political office.
Israel has identified 120 hostages captured in the Hamas incursion, according to the Israeli military.
Israeli authorities said Hamas killed at least 1,300 Israelis, mostly civilians, in the attack on southern Israel. At least 2,515 people – 1,182 of them women and children – have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its bombing, Palestinian health authorities said.
A fireball erupts in Gaza City after an Israeli airstrike © AFP via Getty ImagesIsrael’s warning to Palestinians in northern Gaza to move south has deepened Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and drawn condemnation from Arab states and the United Nations.
The EU’s chief diplomat said on Saturday that Israel must respect international law.
“It is absolutely impossible to implement it,” said Josep Borrell during a visit to Beijing.
The Israeli military declined to discuss deadlines but reiterated its demand that civilians leave as soon as possible. “Follow our instructions – move south,” said Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman.
Ayman al-Safadi, Jordan’s foreign minister, said Israel’s order for Palestinians to leave the northern Gaza Strip while the war “raged” was a “flagrant violation of international law, international humanitarian law and the laws of war.”
Israel’s offensive caused a humanitarian catastrophe that represented a “collective punishment for more than two million Palestinians” and “driven the entire region into the abyss,” he said.
Israel has cut off supplies of food, fresh water and electricity to Gaza. The UN said water supplies were drastically depleting and people were forced to drink brackish water, fueling fears of disease.
“Death is better than this life,” said Mona Hanafy, 55, who sought refuge in a United Nations-run school after her home in Gaza City was destroyed. “There are very few toilets and there is no water. Since yesterday we only eat cookies. We went to a supermarket but didn’t find anything there.”
IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus said Israel intended to “step up our military operations” in Gaza City, the enclave’s largest city and a center of Hamas’ political and military apparatus.
Additional reporting by Simeon Kerr in Dubai
