Israeli ground campaign on Gaza City expected to begin 'very soon' as residents flee south

Palestinians struggled Saturday to flee from areas of Gaza targeted by the Israeli military while grappling with a growing water and medical supply shortage ahead of an expected land offensive a week after Hamas's bloody, wide-ranging attack into Israel.

Israel renewed calls on social media and in leaflets dropped from the air for some onemillion residentsnearly half the population in the Gaza Stripto move south, while Hamas urged people to stay in their homes.

The United Nationsand aid groups have said such a rapid exodus would cause untold human suffering, especially for hospitalized patients, older adults and others unable to relocate.

The Israeli military said "hundreds of thousands" of Palestinians had already heeded the warning and headed south. Itgave Palestinians a six-hour window that ended Saturday afternoon to travel within Gaza without being harmed along two main routes.

• Are you a Canadian in Israel or Gaza? We wantto hear about what you're experiencing. Send an emailtoask@cbc.ca

On Saturday night local time, the Israeli military said in a statement it was preparing a co-ordinated offensive in Gaza using air, ground and naval forces.

In a nationally broadcast address Saturday night, Israel's chief military spokesperson, Rear AdmiralDaniel Hagari, accused Hamas of trying to use civilians as human shields and issued a new appeal to Gaza residents to move south.

"We are going to attack Gaza City very broadly soon," he said, without giving a timetable for the attack against the 40-kilometre-long territory. The military said it was preparing a co-ordinated offensive in Gaza using air, ground and naval forces.

Hamas remained defiant. In a televised speech on Saturday, Ismail Haniyeh, a top Hamas official, said that "all the massacres" will not break the Palestinian people.

Meanwhile, attacks continued, with Hamas launching rockets into Israel and Israel carrying out strikes in Gaza.

An estimated 35,000 displaced civilians have crammed into the grounds of Gaza City's main hospital, sitting under trees in the empty grounds, as well as inside the building's lobby and corridors, hoping they will be protected from the fighting, medical officials said.

"People think this is the only safe space after their homes were destroyed and they were forced to flee," saidMedhat Abbas, a Health Ministry official. "Gaza City is a frightening scene of devastation."

Thousands of people crammed into UN-run schools across Gaza.

"I came here with my children. We slept on the ground. We don't have a mattressor clothes," said Howeida al-Zaaneen, 63, from the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun. "I want to go back to my home, even if it is destroyed."

Basic necessities likefood, fuel and drinking water also were running low because of a complete Israeli siege.

Mlanie Joly, Canada's foreign affairs minister, saidthe federal government is still working to get Canadians out after planned crossings at Rafah were cancelled due to unspecified "violence."

She said some 40 families with Canadian ties had been "seeking to secure safe passage" via the crossing.

Rising death toll

Hamas's surprise attacks killed more than 1,300 people in Israel, most of them civilians, Israel's government said. It added that1,500 Hamas fighters involved in the initial border breach were also killed within Israel's borders.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said in a report on Saturday that atleast 2,269 Palestinianshave been killed and 9,814 others wounded due to Israeli attacksin the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.The death toll included 2,215from Gaza with 8,714injured. The other 54 dead and 1,100 wounded were from the WestBank, the report added.

Speaking to CBC'sThe National, Israel Defence Forces spokesperson Jonathan Conricusrespondedto concerns about civilian safety, saying the aim is to take out Hamas.

"We are indeed focused on the military objective of our war,"Conricussaid."We're not looking to strike civilians."

WATCH | UN warns evacuation risks'humanitarian consequences':

'It's impossible': A million people have 24 hours to flee northern Gaza | About That

1 year ago

Duration 4:09

Israel told 1.1 million Palestinians to evacuate northern Gaza within 24 hours, ahead of a seemingly imminent ground invasion. The United Nations says the massive evacuation will be 'impossible' without 'devastating humanitarian consequences.' Andrew Chang examines the difficulty of the undertaking.

Troops called up

Israel has called up some 360,000 military reservistsand amassed troops and tanks along the border with Gaza. A ground assault in densely populated Gaza would likely bring even higher casualties on both sides in brutal house-to-house fighting.

WATCH | Israeli military reservistsmobilizefor a possible Gaza ground invasion:

Israeli reservists prepare for possible ground invasion

1 year ago

Duration 3:26

Israeli military reservists are mobilizing for a possible ground invasion of Gaza. Those combing the aftermath of last Saturday's attack by Hamas say they found evidence of the militant group's meticulous plans and expect the same for any defence of Gaza.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Saudi Arabian Foreign Affairs Minister Faisal bin Farhan in Riyadh on Saturday. Both called for Israel to protect civilians in Gaza.

"As Israel pursues its legitimate right to defend its people and to trying to ensure that this never happens again, it is vitally important that all of us look out for for civilians, and we're working together to do exactly that," Blinken said.

Hamas said Israel's airstrikes killed 22 hostages, including foreigners. It did not provide their nationalities. The Israeli military denied the claim. Hamas and other Palestinian militants hope to trade the hostages for thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

A spokesperson for Israel's military said there are 126 confirmed hostages in Gaza.

Hundreds of relatives of the scores of people captured by Hamas and taken to Gaza gathered outside the Israeli Defence Ministry in Tel Aviv, demanding the release of their loved ones.

"This is my cry out to the world: Please help bring [back]my family, my wife and three kids," said Avihai Brodtz of Kfar Aza, a kibbutz in southern Israel. Many expressed anger toward the government, saying they still have no information about their relatives.

The U.S. and Israel's other allies have pledged ironclad support for the war on Hamas. The European Union's foreign policy chief, however, said on Saturday that the Israeli military needed to give people more time to leave northern Gaza.

"You cannot move such a volume of people in [a]short period of time," Josep Borrell said.

Iran warns 'situation could spiral out of control'

U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, urging the leaders to allow humanitarian aid to the region and affirminghis support for efforts to protect civilians.

The weekend calls in Washington came as Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, intensified diplomatic outreach across the Middle East and beyond to rally an international response to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from expanding.

On Saturday, Iran's mission to the United Nations in New York posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that if Israel's "warcrimes & genocide are not halted immediately,the situation could spiral out of control & ricochet far-reaching consequences the responsibility of which lies with the UN, the Security Council & the states steering the Council toward a dead end."