Gaza faces evacuation deadline as Israel prepares ground offensive
investing.comJERUSALEM (Reuters) -More than 1 million Palestinians in northern Gaza faced an Israeli deadline on Saturday to flee south, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had only just begun to retaliate for last week's Hamas rampage across southern Israel.
U.S. President Joe Biden said consultations were under way with regional governments on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as trapped Palestinians endured a power blackout and shortages of food and water amid fierce Israeli bombing.
Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas for the attack a week ago in which its fighters killed 1,300 Israelis, mainly civilians, and seized scores of hostages.
Israel has since put the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, under a total siege and bombarded it with unprecedented air strikes. Gaza authorities say 1,900 people have died.
More than one million residents of northern Gaza on Friday received 24 hours notice from Israel to flee south before an expected ground offensive. Hamas vowed to fight to the last drop of blood and told residents to stay.
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, which said more than 400,000 Palestinians had been internally displaced due to
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