Israel is preparing for an assault as Northern Gazans flee

Isra‘s goal: “Displace us once again from our land…” Israeli Airstrikes, Israeli Forces and Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip

TEL AVIV, Israel — The fighting between Israel and Hamas entered a seventh day on Friday with fears of a ground offensive growing stronger following an Israeli order to evacuate the northern region of the Gaza Strip.

Efforts to flee northern Gaza have also been complicated by Israel’s ongoing airstrikes and military presence. Large numbers of Israeli troops and armored vehicles are assembled just outside Gaza’s border fence.

Hamas opposed Israel on the international stage within hours of the order. “The United Nations doesn’t believe it is possible for a movement to take place without devastating consequences,” it said.

The roads are destroyed, the main hospital is in the evacuation zone and fuel is hard to come by, according to Human Rights Watch.

Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said the Israeli military demanding that over 1 million civilians in northern Gaza relocate to its south, “absent of any guarantees of safety or return, would amount to the war crime of forcible transfer.”

Meanwhile, the Hamas leadership called on Palestinians to ignore the Israeli order. “We say to the citizens of northern Gaza and Gaza City, remain steadfast in your homes,” said Hamas interior ministry spokesman Iyad Al-Bozom, because Israel’s goal, he said was to “displace us once again from our land …”

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The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on a website that it had relocated its operations center and international staff to the southern part of Gaza.

It is not clear how hospitals and clinics in northern Gaza could be evacuated. Hospitals in Gaza are already full.

Gazans are faced with the lack of electricity and clean water. On Wednesday, Israel tightened its siege of Gaza, wreaking havoc on hospitals that are now left with only backup generators.

The order also comes as the U.S. ramps up its diplomatic and military support for Israel in the wake of the unprecedented attacks by Hamas that killed at least 1,300 people over the weekend.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is expected to arrive in Israel on Friday, following Thursday’s arrival of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In the Kingdom of Jordan, Blinken was meeting with the King and the President of the Palestinian Authority. As he seeks to contain the Gaza conflict, Blinken is visiting five Arab states over the next few days.

At least 27 U.S. citizens were killed in the Hamas attacks and 15 Americans are currently unaccounted for, a White House spokesperson said Thursday. Charter flights to evacuate U.S. citizens who remain in Israel will begin Friday. China, France and the United Kingdom have all reported citizens killed or missing in the conflict.

Israel said Thursday it would not lift its siege of Gaza — even for the transport of humanitarian aid — until Hamas releases all remaining hostages. A group of between 100 and 150 people, including Americans, are thought to be held by the militant group that rules the Palestinian territory.

The U.S. diplomatic efforts come as concerns are growing the chaos — the worst outbreak of violence in Israel and Gaza in recent memory — could spread to the occupied West Bank and different countries across the Middle East.

I agree with the fact many Palestinians don’t agree with this. But unfortunately, in their homes there are missiles shooting at us, [at] my children, on the entire nation of Israel. We have to defend ourselves,” he said while speaking to reporters.

Militants infiltrated Israel’s border Saturday using paragliders, motorbikes and boats and fired thousands of rockets toward the country from Gaza. They overran a police station and military positions, and a group gunned down revelers at a dance music festival near Israel’s border with Gaza, killing more than 200 people. Others raided gated communities and shot families dead, while Israeli officials believe they took at least 100 hostages to the Gaza Strip.

More than 1,300 people were killed in an attack by Hamas in Israel on Saturday, prompting authorities to evacuate civilians from other areas along the Gaza border.

A short drive away, the carcass of a car sits next to a grocery store. In another part of the city, a police station is in ruins, decimated by Israeli tank fire after Hamas militants stormed it, killing the police officers inside.

The sergeant of a border police unit says he killed a group of Hamas men. He says he saw Israelis’ bodies without heads — burned or chopped off, he’s not sure.

Naomi Galeano, a medic with the United Hatzalah volunteer rescue service, spent the afternoon of the attacks driving past the carnage of bodies, looking for anyone still alive.

The Gaza Strip is a fighter for the Hamas, and Israeli troops are active in the fighting of the Palestinians, as described by the Secretary of State

“Gaza City is where the focus and the hub of Hamas activities are, that is where most of the commanders are, most of their infrastructure and their ability to continue to operate,” Conricus said Saturday.

He said that the troops are in formation around the Gaza Strip. Two main routes remained open until 4 p.m. local time, or 9 a.m. ET.

A senior State Department official says that Americans can leave Gaza until 5 p.m. local time. In Gaza, between 500 and 600 Palestinians are estimated to be in the United States, but it’s not clear how many are trying to leave.

The Secretary of State traveled to Riyadh on Saturday to talk with the Saudi Foreign Minister about the conflict.

“We don’t want to see suffering on either side in any place, whether it’s in Israel or in Gaza,” he said. “And we’re working together to do our best to protect them.”

“Brushing your teeth has become a luxury for us. Ahl told me that her family’s home was recently bombed and they were unsure where they would seek shelter.

Israeli forces said they retrieved bodies of several missing Israelis, as well as items that could potentially lead them to more missing people. Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari added that troops destroyed “terrorist infrastructure and squads, including a Hamas unit that fired anti-tank missiles toward Israel.”

Hecht added that violence in the West Bank — which Israelis refer to as Judea and Samaria — spiked as well, leading the Israeli Defense Forces to take action there.

“We apprehended 220 people, and 130 of them are Hamas – you know how dominant Hamas is in Judea and Samaria. And again, we’re following closely any nationalistic crime from our side, too,” Hecht said, referring to an attack by Jewish settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank, captured on video by the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem.

Israeli troops and civilians pulled out of Gaza in 2005 after nearly four decades in the territory. Since then, Israeli forces have re-entered Gaza to fight Hamas a number of times. The largest operation was in 2014, which lasted seven weeks. The Palestinian people were killed in the invasion and more than 70 were killed on the Israeli side. While it was a major setback from Hamas, the militant group was able to rebuild.