Israel is preparing a ground invasion of Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised statement on Wednesday, but he declined to provide any details on the timing or other information about the operation.
He said the decision on when forces would go into the blockaded Palestinian enclave would be taken by the government’s special war cabinet.
“Simultaneously, we are preparing for a ground invasion. I will not elaborate on when, how or how many. I will also not elaborate on the various calculations we are making, which the public is mostly unaware of and that is how things should be,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli official also advised civilians in the strip to move to the south, a warning which has been repeated in recent days.
However, Israel intensified its overnight bombing of southern Gaza, where officials said record numbers of Palestinians had been killed. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled to the south after Israel repeatedly warned them it would attack the north to wipe out Hamas after its killing spree in Israel on October 7.
The Palestinian death toll now exceeds 6,500, they said.
With Reuters
