Israel prepares for ground offensive – Gaza mosques broadcast the message: ‘Hold on to your homes. Hold on to your land’

Monitoring Desk

GAZA: While over one million Palestinians in northern Gaza faced an Israeli deadline on Saturday to evacuate south, the IDF announced a time period during which it will allow safe movement for Gazans, Reuters reported. As the IDF prepares to move ahead with its plans to retaliate for last week’s Hamas rampage through southern Israel, the Israeli army’s Arabic language spokesperson Saturday announced on X, formerly Twitter, that it will allow safe movement for Gazans.

The spokesperson said that Gazans fleeing to the south upon Israel’s orders would be provided with a safe passage on two main roads south in the territory between 10:00-16:00 but did not specify which main roads would be open. Israel has pledged to eliminate Hamas following a recent attack that killed 1,300 Israelis and seized hostages.

Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip since Hamas´s attack on southern Israel one week ago have martyred at least 2,215 people, including 724 children, the Palestinian territory´s Hamas-controlled health ministry said Saturday. Some 458 women were among those martyred, the ministry said. It added that 8,714 people have also been wounded, after an earlier statement said at least 324 people were martyred in the past 24 hours alone.

The Hamas-run Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, has been under a total siege and bombarded with unprecedented air strikes. More than one million residents of northern Gaza on Friday received 24 hours’ notice from Israel to flee south before an expected ground offensive. However, Hamas, which has vowed to fight to the last drop of blood, urged residents to stay.

As tens of thousands of Palestinians were estimated to have headed south from northern Gaza following the Israeli order, the United Nations (UN) and other organisations warned of a disaster if so many people were forced to flee, and said the siege should be lifted to let in aid. According to BBC, as the deadline of the ultimatum approached, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they conducted raids in Gazan territory “to eliminate the threat of terrorist cells and infrastructure”, and soldiers collected evidence that will aid in locating hostages.

They posted a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying the Israeli Air Force continued striking Hamas targets and anti-tank missile launchers in Gaza immediately after they were used to attack Israel. In the West Bank, demonstrators supporting Gaza fought gun battles with Israeli security forces. Palestinian officials said 16 people were shot dead.

There have also been fears of hostilities spreading, including to Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where clashes this week have already been the deadliest since 2006. Additionally, a Reuters video journalist Issam Abdallah was killed on Friday while working in southern Lebanon by missiles fired from the direction of Israel, according to another Reuters videographer on the scene. Six other journalists were injured.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and a Hezbollah lawmaker blamed the incident on Israel. Israel’s UN envoy said it would investigate what had happened in the area following the journalist’s death. “We always try to mitigate and avoid civilian casualties. Obviously, we would never want to hit or kill or shoot any journalist that is doing its job,” Gilad Erdan said. US President Joe Biden announced that talks with the governments of the region were taking place over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said tank-backed troops had mounted raids to hit Palestinian rocket crews and gather information on the location of hostages, the first official account of ground troops in Gaza since the crisis began. “We are striking our enemies with unprecedented might,” Netanyahu said in a rare statement televised on Friday after the Jewish Sabbath began. “I emphasise that this is only the beginning.”

Tens of thousands of Palestinians were estimated to have headed south from northern Gaza following the Israeli order, according to the United Nations (UN), which said more than 400,000 Palestinians had been internally displaced due to hostilities prior to the directive. Many others, however, said they would stay. “Death is better than leaving,” said Mohammad, 20, outside a building smashed by an Israeli air strike near the centre of Gaza.

Mosques broadcast the message: “Hold on to your homes. Hold on to your land.” The UN and other organisations warned of a disaster if so many people were forced to flee, and said the siege should be lifted to let in aid. “We need immediate humanitarian access throughout Gaza, so that we can get fuel, food and water to everyone in need. Even wars have rules,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday.

Biden emphasised the humanitarian crisis as a top priority, stating that US teams are working with Israel, Egypt, Jordan, other Arab governments, and the UN in the region.

“The overwhelming majority of Palestinians had nothing to do with Hamas and Hamas’ appalling attacks,” he said. “And they’re suffering as a result as well.” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said it was impossible for Gazans to heed Israel’s order to move south without “devastating humanitarian consequences”, prompting a rebuke from Israel that the UN should condemn Hamas and support Israel’s right to self-defence, Reuters reported.

“The noose around the civilian population in Gaza is tightening. How are 1.1 million people supposed to move across a densely populated war zone in less than 24 hours?” UN aid chief Martin Griffiths wrote on social media.