Israeli Forces Ready for Entry Into Gaza District as Hundreds of Thousands Heed Order To Evacuate Northern Half of the Territory

Hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents sought to heed Israel’s order to evacuate roughly the northern half of the territory, while others huddled at hospitals in the north on Sunday. Gaza’s 2.3 million civilians faced a deepening struggle for food, water, and safety, and braced for a looming invasion more than a week after Hamas terrorists launched a deadly assault on Israel.Israeli forces, supported by a growing deployment of American warships in the region, positioned themselves along Gaza’s border and drilled for what Israel said would be a campaign by air, land, and sea to dismantle the militant group. Israel dropped leaflets over Gaza City in the north and renewed warnings on social media, ordering more than 1 million Gaza residents to move south.No decision on a ground offensive has been announced, though Israel has been massing troops along the Gaza border. The war has claimed more than 3,600 lives since Hamas launched an incursion on October 7. Gaza’s hospitals are expected to run out of fuel for emergency generations within two days, according to the United Nations. Meantime, the U.S. Senate’s majority leader, Chuck Schumer, said on social media that a bipartisan group of solons visiting Israel was rushed to a shelter in Tel Aviv on Sunday to wait out a rocket attack from Hamas. Mr. Schumer posted a photo of himself and a Republican senator, Mitt Romney of Utah, in the shelter.“It shows you what Israelis have to go through. We must provide Israel with the support required to defend itself,” Mr. Schumer said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.Mr. Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the United States, took the trip to show support for Israel ahead of an expected request from President Biden for Congress to approve wartime funding for Israel as well as Ukraine.Mr. Schumer, a Democrat, has said he would also hold discussions with Israeli officials about what kind of support the country would need for both military and humanitarian operations. Senators Cassidy of Louisiana, Rosen of Nevada, and Kelly of Arizona were also on the trip.In Cairo, the regional head of the World Health Organization claimed to the Associated Press today that evacuating hospitals from the northern part of the Gaza Strip is “impossible” and said Israel’s demand for the evacuation of medical facilities there goes against international law.In past fighting in Gaza, though, hospitals have been one of the institutions in which Hamas hides its terrorists so as to deter attack. Emptying the hospitals could deny Hamas this kind of cover. On the northern front, cross-border clashes between Lebanon and Israel intensified today, with the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah firing rockets and Israeli forces responding with shelling. The Israeli army also reported a shooting at one of its border posts. The fighting has killed at least one person on the Israeli side and wounded several on both sides of the border.A Hezbollah spokeswoman, Rana Sahili, claimed that Sunday’s increase in the intensity of the exchanges doesn’t indicate Hezbollah has decided to fully enter into the Hamas-Israel war. The fighting on the border is “only skirmishes” and represents a “warning,” she claimed.An Israeli army spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said that regardless of who was shooting at Israel from across the northern border, “the country of Lebanon is responsible and will continue to be responsible for the fire that comes from its territory.”

Israeli Forces Ready for Entry Into Gaza District as Hundreds of Thousands Heed Order To Evacuate Northern Half of the Territory

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