Israel prepares ground assault on Gaza as Palestinians flee
Gaza Strip, after telling Palestinians living in the densely populated territory to flee south towards a closed border with Egypt.
The Israeli national security adviser meanwhile warned Lebanese militant group Hezbollah not to start a war on a second front to Israel's north, threatening the «destruction of Lebanon» it if did.
Israel has vowed to annihilate the Hamas militant group that controls Gaza in retaliation for a rampage by its fighters, who stormed through Israeli towns a week ago, gunning down civilians and making off with scores of hostages in the worst attack on civilians in Israel's history.
Some 1,300 people were killed in a brutal onslaught that left Israel in profound shock, both at the scale of the killing and at horrifying mobile phone footage and reports from medical and emergency services of atrocities in the towns and kibbutzes that were overrun.
In response, Israeli jets and artillery have subjected Gaza to the most intense bombardment it has ever seen, putting the enclave, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, under total siege.
Gaza authorities say more than 2,200 people have been killed, a quarter of them children, and nearly 10,000 wounded. Rescue workers searched desperately for survivors of nighttime air raids.
Thousands of Palestinians fled the north of the Gaza Strip on Saturday from the path of the expected Israeli ground assault, while Israel pounded the area with more air strikes and said it kept two roads open to let people escape.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Palestinians would «remain in our land» even as one million Gaza residents were reported to have fled their homes since Israel began its bombardment.
The surprise Hamas attack on Oct. 7 has launched the region into a new
