A week into war, Gazans flee homes as Israeli ground offensive looms

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories — Thousands of Palestinians sought refuge Saturday after Israel warned them to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip ahead of an expected ground offensive against Hamas, one week after the deadliest attack in Israel’s history. The Islamist group’s militants gunned down, stabbed, and burned more than 1,300 people in the attack Israel has compared to 9/11 in the United States, sparking a massive retaliatory bombing campaign targeting Hamas that has killed over 2,200 in Gaza. Alarm has grown over the fate of Palestinian civilians in blockaded and besieged Gaza — one of the world’s most densely populated areas, home to 2.4 million people — if it becomes the scene of intense urban combat and house-to-house fighting. “The situation in Gaza has reached a dangerous new low,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “Even wars have rules,” he added, stressing that “civilians must be protected and also never used as shields”. Israel, which has vowed to destroy Hamas, has massed ground forces and tanks around Gaza, dropped leaflets in the north of the enclave telling civilians to flee, and staged “localized” raids “to cleanse the area of terrorists and weaponry”, the army said. The raids have also sought to locate “missing persons” inside Gaza, the military said, as Hamas has been holding some 150 hostages whose families have watched the escalating war with growing terror. Israel has pounded Gaza targets with thousands of strikes in the past week, leaving at least 2,215 Gazans dead, including 724 children by Saturday, according to the health ministry in the Palestinian enclave. “We wake up to the killing and death under the bombs,” said Mohamed Abu Ali, a resident of the territory. “We don’t know where to go, where is safe. We have no food, water, or electricity.” In Geneva, the Red Cross said the unjustifiable “horrific” attacks on Israel could equally not justify “the limitless destruction of Gaza.” ‘Just the beginning’ Israel has been reeling from the bloodiest ever attack on the country and mourned the 1,300 victims it recovered in southern towns and kibbutz communities, which soldiers have cleared in battles that left 1,500 Hamas militants dead. More than 100 people were killed in the community of Beeri alone, just outside Gaza, while around 270 mostly young people were shot dead or burned in their cars at the nearby Supernova music festival. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel’s bombardment so Read more at: inquirer

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