Trying to shelter from the expected ground operation of the Israeli army, about 35,000 people crowded into the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip, the AP news agency reported on Saturday, citing local medical officials.
The director general of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City confirmed that huge crowds had gathered in the building and on the premises.
– People think this is the only safe place after their homes were destroyed and they were forced to flee. Gaza is a horrific scene of destruction, said Medhat Abbas, representative of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza.
Israel announced ‘significant offensive operation’
The Israeli military ordered the evacuation of approximately 1.1 million people living in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, or almost half of the territory’s population, including all residents of Gaza City. The Israeli army said it was finalizing preparations for a “significant offensive operation” that would include “an attack from the air, sea and land.”
The aim of the offensive is to destroy the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas and overthrow its rule in the Gaza Strip. – Hamas will not be the ruler or sovereign in Gaza after this fight, said Tsachi Hanegbi, adviser to the Israeli Prime Minister on national security, quoted by the Times of Israel on Saturday. Israel’s actions are a response to the brutal attack by Hamas terrorists on October 7, which killed at least 1,300. people, and about 150 were kidnapped. According to Palestinian officials, more than 2,200 Palestinian civilians have been killed and more than 8,700 injured in the Gaza Strip since then. people.
Main photo source: PAP/EPA/MOHAMMED SABER