Palestinians struggled Saturday to flee from areas of Gaza targeted by the Israeli military while grappling with a growing water crisis after Israel stopped the flow of resources to the region ahead of an expected land offensive a week after Hamas’ bloody, wide-ranging attack into Israel.
Palestinian citizens fill water from water stations in the street as residents of the Gaza Strip suffer from water and electricity outages due to Israeli raids on the city on October 14, 2023 in Khan Younis, south of Gaza City, Gaza.
On Saturday night, the Israeli military said in a statement it was preparing a coordinated offensive in Gaza using air, ground and naval forces. Israel has not said when the offensive will begin. Families in cars, trucks and donkey carts packed with possessions crowded a main road heading away from Gaza City as Israeli airstrikes continued to hammer the 40-kilometer long territory, where basic necessities like food, fuel and drinking water were running low because of a complete Israeli siege.
Rami Swailem said he and at least five families in his building decided to stay put in his apartment near Gaza City. “We are rooted in our lands,” he said. “We prefer to die in dignity and face our destiny.” “The situation inside the hospital is miserable in every sense of the word,” he said. “The operating rooms don’t stop.”
Thousands of people crammed into a U.N.-run school-turned-shelter in Deir al-Balah, a farming town south of the evacuation zone. Many slept outside on the ground without mattresses, or in chairs pulled from classrooms. Hamas’ surprise attack killed more than 1,300 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, and roughly 1,500 Hamas militants died during the fighting, the Israeli government said.
Israel’s raids into Gaza on Friday were the first acknowledgment that Israeli troops had entered the territory since the military began its round-the-clock bombardment in retaliation for the Hamas massacre. Palestinian militants have fired more than 5,500 rockets into Israel since the fighting erupted, the Israeli military said.
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