The Israeli army is stepping up its warnings to residents of the northern Gaza Strip and is preparing for a ground offensive. The Israeli army has again ordered the evacuation of around 1.1 million residents of the northern Gaza Strip, threatening that there will be “significant fighting wherever you are.” The Israeli military stepped up its warnings to Gazans on Saturday and continued preparations for an offensive in the war-torn area, including ground operations, according to the Israel Defense Forces. The Israeli army again ordered the evacuation of around 1.1 million residents in the northern Gaza Strip, threatening “heavy fighting wherever they are.” Gazans reported that Israeli aircraft dropped red leaflets over neighborhoods on Saturday urging residents to evacuate. According to social media, people with cell phones also received the message digitally.
“Urgent warning!” Message read. “To the people of Gaza: Your presence north of Wadi Gaza endangers your lives.“Anyone who decides not to evacuate from the north of the Gaza Strip to the south of the Gaza Strip may be identified as a member of a terrorist organization.” The Israeli army also said plans for “expanded operational activities,” including ground operations, had recently been approved and that regular and reserve troops had been stationed and carried out training exercises. “We will do what is necessary with fighting spirit and determination to ensure the safety of our people for many years to come,” said IDF LTC Or Volozhinsky, commander of the 188th Armored Brigade.
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Israel warned Palestinians in Gaza last week to evacuate the northern part of the Gaza Strip in anticipation of a possible ground invasion that could displace many residents of the southern Gaza Strip. An IDF spokesman said Israel plans to step up its attacks on Gaza starting Saturday, the Associated Press reports. , aid deliveries began Saturday in areas without water, food and medicine. When asked about the leaflets on Saturday in 1 , IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told MSNBC that the message was “lost in translation” because it was translated from the original Hebrew into Arabic and then into English. “The short message is: Go away, evacuate the northern Gaza Strip.It doesn’t matter where you are.
“No matter what center you are in, there will be serious fighting and the abandonment of northern Gaza,” Conricus said. The IDF spokesman also emphasized that the message was not intended to brand residents of the northern Gaza Strip as terrorists, but rather to warn Gaza residents not to become “stooges” of Hamas. “We are basically telling civilians that they are in a dangerous place – We don’t want to call anyone a terrorist, but the people who remain in the northern Gaza Strip are putting their lives in danger.”So if you want to be safer, head south. Don’t listen to Hamas. Don’t be a pawn in their game of defending people’s shields. Go south and be safer.
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UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on Saturday to protect civilians and protect civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and UN facilities, from Israeli bombings. Hamas’s “punitive attack” on Israel “can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” Guterres said at a summit on the Israel-Gaza war hosted in Egypt. Guterres emphasized the “broader context” of the war and said a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was “the only realistic basis for true peace and stability,” according to the AP.