TIRANA, October 14 – Thousands of Palestinians have fled to southern Gaza after Israel warned them to evacuate the north before a planned ground offensive against Hamas in response to its attack on Israel.
However, those who fled to southern Khan Younis found no reprieve from Israel’s bombardment, as warplanes struck a four-storey building on Saturday, killing and wounding several people. Dozens of Palestinians could be seen rushing to rescue people trapped in the rubble.
At least 2,215 Palestinians, including 724 children, have been killed and 8,714 others wounded since the conflict’s escalation. In the past 24 hours alone, 324 Palestinians have been killed and 1,000 others have been wounded in Israeli air raids in Gaza, according to the health ministry.
“There are thousands of people and thousands more are still coming after Israel’s order to evacuate to southern Gaza’s Khan Younis and Rafah. The two governorates are packed with people beyond capacity”, Al Jazeera’s Youmna ElSayed said from Khan Younis.
In the meantime, Israel’s military said on Saturday as quoted by MENA it was in the final stages of preparations for a “significant ground operation” in the densely populated Gaza strip. The announcement was made on the official website of the Israeli army, and follows a weeklong bombardment of Gaza that has left at least 2,200 dead and thousands wounded.
It came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited front-line troops.
The expected offensive – a long-feared full-scale invasion of Gaza – follows the October 7 incursion by Hamas militants into Israel that left about 1,300 people dead. The majority of those killed on both sides are civilians. The Israeli army has built up a force of about 300,000 soldiers for the attack. /argumentum.al
