The Israeli military has released photos that claim to show the Hamas group stopping people from going to southern Gaza. The Hamas group has been accused of using human shields. Hamas is deliberately keeping hostages in places where it knows Israel would carry out bombings, the country's former national security adviser told NDTV yesterday. The comment by Eyal Hulata was in response to a statement by Hamas that nine more Israeli hostages have been killed in Gaza in Israeli airstrikes.
Israel has given an ultimatum to Gaza Strip residents to relocate to the southern parts of the seaside territory before its forces start a large-scale ground offensive.
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) have been carrying out localised raids on Gaza so far. The all-out ground assault is expected in the next 24 hours.
"This is real," the IDF said in a post on X that includes two photos claiming to show Hamas vehicles blocking roads to prevent residents from going to Gaza.
"Hamas is forcefully preventing their civilians from relocating to southern Gaza for their own safety," the IDF said in the post.
Israel pressed today with preparations for the ground offensive in Gaza, after giving Palestinians a little more time to flee northern areas it has vowed to target in response to the deadliest attack in its history.
The Hamas group gunned down, stabbed and burned to death more than 1,300 people in the attack that Israel has compared to 9/11 in the US, sparking a massive retaliatory bombing campaign targeting the group that has killed over 2,200 in Gaza.
The Israeli military said Gaza City residents must not delay their departure, but a spokesperson said late on Saturday they still had time to leave and that the ground offensive would not start today.
Since Friday, thousands of Gazans who cannot leave the enclave as it is blockaded by both Israel and Egypt, have packed what belongings they can into bags and suitcases, to trudge through the rubble-strewn streets.
A stream of cars, trucks, three-wheeled vehicles and donkey-drawn carts joined the frantic mass movement south, all loaded with families and their belongings, mattresses, bedding and bags strapped onto the roofs of packed vehicles.
The Israeli military said Saturday the bodies of some of the dozens of hostages abducted by Hamas in its attacks had been found during operations inside Gaza.
Hamas earlier reported 22 hostages had been killed in Israeli bombardments.
With inputs from AFP
