On Friday morning, Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus conveyed a statement to the media and a message to the residents of Gaza, ahead of a “possible ground attack” expected soon.
Conricus said, in a video clip previously published by the official Israeli army page on the “X” platform, “Twitter”:
The past hours have been relatively quiet compared to the past six days. The rocket fire continues, and the “terrorists” are still attacking the Israelis, or at least trying to. Hours ago, we sent a message in Arabic to the residents of Gaza. As a humanitarian step in order to reduce civilian casualties, we are asking Gazans to evacuate their homes and head south, towards Wadi Gaza, which is an area known and visible to everyone.
Conricus read out the message addressed to the residents of Gaza, then added:
We know that there are civilians in Gaza, and they are not our enemies and we do not want to target them. The goal is to be able to continue bombing Hamas military targets in the Gaza Strip. We know it will take some time, because the process is not easy. The idea is to fully comply with the law of international conflicts. The number of Israeli casualties, unfortunately, is still rising, and there is a massive national effort to recover the bodies from the areas surrounding Gaza, transport them to Tel Aviv, and identify their owners, before handing them over to their families. Never in our history have we had to deal with such a situation, which would take several days to identify all the victims. The northern front has been stable over the past few hours, and we are on high alert and monitoring the actions of Lebanese Hezbollah. Our goal is to seize all of Hamas’ military capabilities, and by the end of this war, we seek to have Hamas no longer able to target Israeli civilians.
The Israeli army also published a written statement on Friday morning, in which it said through its spokesman that it “calls on all residents of Gaza City to evacuate their homes and head south.”
The army asked residents to “be present south of Wadi Gaza as shown on the map.”
The spokesman explained that Hamas “opened the war against Israel, and Gaza City is witnessing military operations.”
He added: “He will not be allowed to return to Gaza City unless a statement is issued allowing this. It is forbidden to approach the fence area with Israel.”
The spokesman said that Hamas militants “are hiding inside Gaza City in tunnels under homes and inside densely populated buildings.”
He continued: “Residents of Gaza, you must go south to preserve your personal security and the security of your families.”
These messages come at a time when press reports revealed that the Israeli army is preparing for a ground operation in Gaza that “may last for months” and is awaiting political approval for it.
#Details #Israeli #evacuation #statement #ahead #ground #attack #Gaza
2023-10-13 05:46:43
