Israel orders the evacuation of 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza within 24 hours

By: News Peddlers

GAZA SHELLING [Photo Credit: Middle East Eye]

"Now is the time for war," Israel's military chief warned as his country stockpiled tanks near the Gaza Strip ahead of a planned ground invasion to exterminate the Palestinian militant Hamas group that runs the enclave and is responsible for deadly weekend strikes.

Since the weekend raids, the worst by Palestinian militants in Israeli history, Israel has pummelling Gaza from the air and has been preparing for a ground invasion.

The UN stated early Friday that the Israeli military has urged 1.1 million Palestinians in Gaza to migrate to the south of the territory within the next 24 hours.

"The United Nations believes that such a thing is impossible."

"The United Nations considers it impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

“The United Nations strongly appeals for any such order, if confirmed, to be rescinded, avoiding what could transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation,” he said.

To gain backing for its response, Israel's leadership showed terrible photographs of children and civilians slain by Hamas during a weekend rampage in Israel to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO defence ministers.

They showed a newborn "riddled with bullets," troops beheaded, and young people burned in their automobiles, according to Mr Blinken. "It's simply depravity in the worst imaginable way," he went on to say. "It's really beyond anything that we can comprehend."

Blinken, like many others throughout the world, urged Israel to exercise moderation, but he also repeated America's support, adding, "We will always be there by your side."

On Friday, he was scheduled to see Jordan's King Abdullah and Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as part of a Middle East tour to prevent war-related spillover.

Mr. Blinken intended to travel to important US allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates, all of which have influence over Hamas, an Islamist group backed by Iran.

Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, Israel's military chief, said lessons would be drawn from the security failings around Gaza that facilitated the strike. 

"We will learn, investigate, but now is the time for war," he went on to say.

The US military is not attaching any restrictions to its security assistance to Israel, according to US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, who added that Washington expects Israel's military to "do the right things" in fighting Hamas.

Mr Austin was scheduled to visit Israel on Friday and meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On Friday, Hamas urged Palestinians to march to East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque and battle with Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank in protest of Israel's assault of the enclave.

Late Thursday, Israel's parliament confirmed Mr. Netanyahu's emergency unity cabinet, which included a handful of moderate opposition legislators, to demonstrate the country's united will to confront Hamas.

According to Kan, the Israeli dead toll has increased to more than 1,300. Hundreds of Israeli and foreign hostages were returned to Gaza; Israel claimed to have identified 97 of them.

Israel has responded by laying siege to Gaza, home to 2.3 million people, and unleashing a bombing campaign that has destroyed entire communities. According to Gaza authorities, almost 1,500 Palestinians were killed.

Early Friday, sirens warned of incoming rocket fire in Israeli settlements near the Gaza border.

According to Palestinian media, Israel conducted air attacks over the Gaza Strip overnight. According to accounts, at least 17 people were killed in an attack on a residence in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) cautioned that fuel for emergency generators at Gaza hospitals could run out in hours, while the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned that food and fresh water were running dangerously low.

"The human misery caused by this escalation is abhorrent, and I implore the parties to alleviate civilian suffering," said ICRC regional director Fabrizio Carboni.

Human Rights Watch accused Israel on Thursday of employing white phosphorus munitions in its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, saying such weapons put civilians in danger of serious and long-term injury.

According to the Israeli military, it is "currently not aware of the use of weapons containing white phosphorus in Gaza." 

(Reuters/NAN)