Thousands of Palestinians fled to southern Gaza in search of refuge on Saturday after Israel warned them to evacuate before an expected ground offensive against Hamas in retaliation for the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that nearly a week of fierce bombardment was “just the beginning” as Israel seeks to retaliate against Hamas after their fighters killed more than 1,300 nearly a week ago.
Israeli ground forces made “localised” raids into Gaza in the last 24 hours “to cleanse the area of terrorists and weaponry” and try to find “missing persons”, the army said.
Most of those killed when militant fighters burst through the heavily militarised border into Israel last Saturday were civilians, in an attack compared to 9/11 in the United States.
At least 1,900 Gazans — most of them civilians and including more than 600 children — have been killed in waves of missile strikes on the densely populated enclave, the health ministry said.
Hamas, classified as a terrorist organisation by the European Union and the United States, took about 150 Israeli, foreign and dual national hostages back to Gaza in the initial attack, Israel has said.বিস্তারিত