Aha Dua Permata: LIVE UPDATES - Hamas Military Wing Says Launched 50 Rockets Towards Sderot on Thursday Afternoon

LIVE UPDATES - Hamas Military Wing Says Launched 50 Rockets Towards Sderot on Thursday Afternoon

Palestinians inspect the rubble of buildings hit by an Israeli airstrike at Al Shati Refugee Camp, October 12, 2023 © AP / Hatem Moussa

The military wing of the Palestinian movement Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades, said that it launched 50 rockets towards Sderot in southern Israel on Thursday afternoon.

"This afternoon, Al-Qassam Brigades launched a missile strike at Sderot with 50 rockets," the military wing said in a statement

Israel's Sderot Mayor Calling on Military to Evacuate Residents - Reports

The mayor of the Israeli city of Sderot, Alon Davidi, with a population of more than 27,000, is calling on the military to evacuate residents, according to media reports. Earlier, media reported that seven rockets fired from Gaza hit Sderot in southern Israel, increasing the number of wounded to five.

Israeli Army Calls on Civilians of Gaza City to Evacuate Southwards 'For Their Own Safety'

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Friday that it has called on all civilians of Gaza City to evacuate southwards "for their own safety."

מטוסי קרב של צה"ל תקפו פעילים של ארגון הטרור חמאס והשמידו חמ"ל של הארגון.

בהמשך התקיפות של צה"ל מטוסי קרב תקפו חמישה בתים ששימשו פעילים של ארגון הטרור חמאס>> pic.twitter.com/v6FtpAfhth
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 12, 2023

"The IDF calls for the evacuation of all civilians of Gaza City from their homes southwards for their own safety and protection and move to the area south of the Wadi Gaza," the IDF said on Telegram, adding that the city's population will be able to return to their homes "only when another announcement permitting it is made."

The IDF claimed that forces of Palestinian movement Hamas "are hiding in Gaza City inside tunnels underneath houses and inside buildings populated with innocent Gazan civilians," adding that it will "continue to operate significantly in Gaza City and make extensive efforts to avoid harming civilians."

The IDF also called on civilians not to approach "the area of the security fence with the State of Israel."

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said during a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Thursday that nobody in the region needs or seeks Tehran’s “permission to open a new front” against Israel, warning that everything is “dependent” on the Israeli government’s next moves.

“In a situation where the Zionist regime has imposed a complete siege on Gaza, cutting off its water, electricity, and fuel supply, and preventing the delivery of food and medicine, the United States and some parties are sending weapons to Israel and allowing this criminal regime to continue its ruthless massacre of Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” he said, adding that “in such circumstances, anything is possible, and we may witness new events in the region.”

Israel’s military orders civilians to evacuate Gaza City, ahead of feared ground offensive

Israel’s military directed the evacuation of northern Gaza, a region that is home to 1.1 million people, within 24 hours Friday, a UN spokesman said, as Israel presses its war to eradicate the Hamas militant group after its deadly attack.

The order could signal an impending ground offensive, though the Israeli military has not yet confirmed such an appeal. On Thursday it said that while it was preparing, no decision has been made.

The order, delivered to the UN, comes as Israel presses an offensive against Hamas militants. UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric called the order “impossible” without “devastating humanitarian consequences.” A UN official says that the United Nations is trying to get clarity from Israeli officials at the senior most political level.

“It’s completely unprecedent,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

A ball of fire erupts in Gaza City after an Israeli air strike on Oct. 12, 2023. (AFP)

Panicked rumors of an evacuation had begun to spread in north Gaza, home to almost half the population of the territory, in the early morning Friday.

A ground offensive in Gaza, which is ruled by Hamas and where the population is densely packed into a sliver of land only 40 kilometers (25 miles) long, would likely bring even higher casualties on both sides in brutal house-to-house fighting.

Hamas’ assault Saturday and smaller attacks since have killed more than 1,300 people in Israel, including 247 soldiers — a toll unseen in Israel for decades — and the ensuing Israeli bombardment has killed more than 1,530 people in Gaza, according to authorities on both sides. Israel says roughly 1,500 Hamas militants were killed inside Israel, and that hundreds of the dead in Gaza are Hamas members. Thousands have been wounded on both sides.

As Israel pounds Gaza from the air, Hamas militants have fired thousands of rockets into Israel. Amid concerns that the fighting could spread in the region, Syrian state media reported that Israeli airstrikes on Thursday put two Syrian international airports out of service.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “crush” Hamas after the militants stormed into the country’s south on Saturday and massacred hundreds of people, including killings of children in their homes and young people at a music festival.

Amid grief and demands for vengeance among the Israeli public, the government is under intense pressure to topple Hamas rather than continuing to try to bottle it up in Gaza.

The number of people forced from their homes by Israel’s airstrikes soared 25 percent in a day, reaching 423,000 out of a population of 2.3 million, the UN said Thursday. Most crowded into UN-run schools.

Earlier, the Israeli military pulverized the Gaza Strip with airstrikes, prepared for a possible ground invasion and said its complete siege of the territory — which has left Palestinians desperate for food, fuel and medicine — would remain in place until Hamas militants free some 150 hostages taken during their grisly weekend incursion.

A visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, along with shipments of US weapons, offered a powerful green light to Israel to drive ahead with its retaliation in Gaza after Hamas’ deadly attack on civilians and soldiers, even as international aid groups warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis. Israel has halted deliveries of basic necessities and electricity to Gaza’s 2.3 million people and prevented entry of supplies from Egypt.

“Not a single electricity switch will be flipped on, not a single faucet will be turned on and not a single fuel truck will enter until the Israeli hostages are returned home,” Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said on social media.

Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli military spokesman, told reporters Thursday that forces “are preparing for a ground maneuver” should political leaders order one.