The IDF launched its first 'localised' raids into Gaza, deploying columns of Merkava main battle tanks alongside infantry into the tired enclave in search of hostages taken in the surprise attack by Hamas a week ago.
Click here for all the latest updates on the Israel-Hamas conflict on our live blogFleeing Palestinians have crammed into cars and donkey carts in a desperate attempt to beat Israel's deadline to leave the north of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas terrorists have urged civilians to ignore the evacuation order and some are refusing to leave, with Mahmoud Shalabi - director of Medical Aid for Palestinians - saying 'no place was safe in Gaza' and he hoped to 'die with dignity'. 'Merkava' battle tanks muster today at a gathering site at an undisclosed location along the border with Gaza
'I was never going to leave, I prefer to die and not leave, but I cannot see my wife and children die before my eyes.' The Israeli military's evacuation would force the territory's entire population to cram into the southern half of the Gaza Strip as Israel continues strikes across the territory, including in the south.
Tanks and elite commandos have already began conducting 'localised' raids into Gaza to target Hamas terrorists and weaponry while tanks are massing on the border before a major ground offensive. A man pushes a stroller past debris as residents of Gaza City begin to evacuate following an Israeli warning
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant added his defence forces would take Hamas 'out of Gaza and out of the Earth' and 'effect permanent change' in the territory. READ MORE - Thousands of pro-Palestine supporters began their march through London as Met Police warn: Support Hamas and you will be arrested Advertisement 'Forget about food, forget about electricity, forget about fuel. The only concern now is just if you'll make it, if you're going to live,' said Nebal Farsakh, a spokesman for the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza City.
Orly Goldschmidt, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy to the UK, said Hamas was preventing civilians in Gaza from moving along a 'safe corridor' to the south. A still picture taken from a video shows the moment an Israeli airstrike hit a Palestinian rescue team while operating in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip this morning
Israel continues to deploy soldiers and armored vehicles along the Gaza border in Zikim kibbutz of Ashkelon, Israel Lord Kim Darroch, former British ambassador to the US and and a former UK national security adviser, said Gazans needed to be given more time to evacuate. 'And as international law has developed in this area, the fact of being complicit makes you equally guilty to the party carrying out the crime.'
Both stressed the importance of minimising the harm to civilians as Israel prepared for an anticipated incursion against Hamas a week after the militant group's unprecedented attack in Israel. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called for protection for civilians in both the Gaza Strip and Israel
A boy carries rolled up mattresses on his back followed by a woman with a young child in a scene from Gaza today His wife called to tell him that they were locked in a safe room after people came into the house and she heard gunshots, Asher said. He said he later saw a video of his wife and daughters, who are under 5 and 3, being loaded into a vehicle, and he tracked his wife's phone to Gaza.
In the north of the country, Iran-backed Hezbollah sent missiles into the Israeli border town of Hanita, forcing Israel to respond by firing into Lebanon. As civilians in Gaza gather what possessions they can, international onlookers have urged Israel to reconsider, judging the 24-hour notice 'impossible' to work around.
Médecins Sans Frontières said yesterday evening that Israel had given Al Awda Hospital in Gaza 'just two hours to evacuate', causing panic in one of the most vulnerable spaces.'We unequivocally condemn this action, the continued indiscriminate bloodshed and attacks on health care in Gaza. We are trying to protect our staff and patients.'
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Gazans had 'nowhere safe to go' and it was 'impossible' for them to know which areas 'will next face attack'. READ MORE - Hamas releases sickening video showing terrorists holding Israeli babies and toddlers on day of the kibbutz massacres Advertisement He said that without quick action to restore power, hospitals faced 'huge loss of these lives'.
The comments come in spite of attempts - mediated by US President Joe Biden - to facilitate normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a move unfavourable to Hamas.
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