Israel’s military is currently in a state of readiness for a comprehensive offensive in Gaza City, as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have hastily moved to evacuate the area over the past day.
On Saturday evening, local time, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, Israel’s chief military spokesperson, made a call for Gazans to head south in anticipation of an expected ground assault in northern Gaza.
Hagari declared, “We are preparing for a broad-scale attack on Gaza City in the near future.”
In a separate statement, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Saturday that they are gearing up for “the upcoming phases of the war.” They have laid out plans for a wide range of operational offensive strategies, including the possibility of combined and coordinated strikes from the air, sea, and land, with a notable focus on ground operations.
On Friday, the Israeli military issued an unprecedented evacuation order that affected over 1 million residents, accounting for approximately half of Gaza’s population, particularly in the northern part of the enclave.
Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus emphasized that northern Gaza will serve as the central point for Israel’s forthcoming counterattack, with the aim of targeting Hamas leaders.
The Gaza Health Ministry reported a grim statistic, with 2,329 Palestinians killed since the onset of the latest conflict, marking it as the deadliest among the five Gaza wars for Palestinians.
2383 people died while 10,814 people have been injured in Gaza and the West Bank as of Sunday morning since the conflict with Israel began, the Palestinian authority said
On Sunday, the death toll exceeded that of the third war between Israel and Hamas in the summer of 2014, where 2,251 Palestinians, including 1,462 civilians, lost their lives, according to U.N. figures.