Israel readies troops for invasion as Gaza civilians flee
GAZA STRIP: Israel pummelled northern Gaza with fresh air strikes on Saturday, one week on from the deadliest attack in its history, as it urged Palestinians to flee the area before an expected ground offensive against Hamas commanders.
AFP reporters near the southern Israeli city of Sderot saw troops fire at the densely populated enclave, sending huge plumes of black smoke into the sky.
A stern-looking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wearing a flak jacket, meanwhile visited troops on the border frontline, raising expectations of an imminent invasion.
“Are you ready for what is coming? More is coming,” he is heard telling several soldiers on a video released by his office. He later held security talks with ministers in his emergency government.
There has been no let-up in Israel’s response to the Islamist fighters’ dawn raid, which saw them break through the heavily fortified border and gun down, stab and burn to death more than 1,300 people.
In Gaza, health officials said more than 2,200 people had been killed. As on the Israeli side, most of them were civilians.
But with food, water, fuel and medical supplies running low because of an Israeli blockade, aid agencies are warning of an impending humanitarian crisis.
The Israeli military for the first time said the bodies of some of the dozens of hostages abducted by Hamas in its attacks had been found.
On the diplomatic front, Saudi Arabia pressed for an “immediate ceasefire”, while the United States called on China to use its regional influence to push for calm.
Military operations
Israel, which has likened last week’s attacks to those on September 11, 2001 in the United States, has fired thousands of missiles at northern Gaza.
One air strike killed Ali Qadi, described as “a company commander of the Hamas ‘Nukhba’ commando force” involved in the unprecedented attack, the army said.
“Localised” raids have also taken place, as Israeli troops encircle the Gaza Strip, said army spokesman Jonathan Conricus.
“We will likely evolve into additional significant combat operations,” he added. “When we do so, remember how this started… All of this is Hamas-made.”
National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi admitted intelligence lapses that failed to spot the attack in advance.
“It’s my mistake and it reflects the mistakes of all those making (intelligence) assessments,” he told reporters in Tel Aviv.
Some 1.1 million people — nearly half the population of 2.4 million — live in the north of Gaza, and aid agencies have said forcing them to move is an impossibility as the war rages.
Exiled Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh accused Israel on Saturday of committing “war crimes” in Gaza and blocking the supply of much-needed aid.
In a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, posted on the militant group’s website, he called Israel’s cutting off of electricity, water and fuel supplies “barbaric”.
But he ruled out any “displacement” of Gazans, including to Egypt.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas, which several Western governments, including the United States. have proscribed as a terrorist organisation, and likened to the Islamic State group.
But it maintains that ordinary Palestinians are not their target.
Safe passage
Israeli military spokesman Richard Hecht urged civilians in northern Gaza not to delay in getting out, with a “window” for safe passage between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm.
He did not say how many days the window would remain open.
Gazans, who cannot leave the enclave as it is blockaded by both Israel and Egypt, have packed what belongings they can into bags and suitcases, to trudge through the rubble-strewn streets.
A stream of cars, trucks, three-wheeled vehicles and donkey-drawn carts joined the frantic mass movement south, all loaded with families and their belongings, mattresses, bedding and bags strapped onto the roofs of packed vehicles.
Roads in the 40-kilometre (25-mile) long territory were jammed. Those who have already managed to leave have been forced to bed down wherever they can, including on the streets and in UN-run schools.
“The situation is catastrophic,” said Jumaa Nasser, who travelled from Beit Lahia in northern Gaza with his wife, mother and seven children.
“We’ve had no food or sleep. We don’t know what to do. I’ve given my fate up to God. Death and life are in the hands of God,” he told AFP.
International aid agencies, including the UN and Red Cross, plus several foreign diplomats are concerned about the feasibility of the evacuation plan.
“We fear an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” said Ivan Karakashian, of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
Hostages
According to the UN, more than 1,300 buildings in Gaza have been destroyed, while local hospitals and their exhausted staff have become overwhelmed with growing numbe
