Tens of thousands of Gazans flee homes as IDF launches ground raids – live

More than a million Palestinians face a deadline to flee south as first confirmation of Israel beginning ground offensive in northern Gaza surfaces.

Troops have begun raids to hit Hamas rocket crews and gather information about hostages, marking the first official account of ground troops in Gaza since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, Israeli military spokesperson rear admiral Daniel Hagari said.

“We are striking our enemies with unprecedented might. I emphasise that this is only the beginning,” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

“The IDF conducted raids in Gazan territory to eliminate the threat of terrorist cells and infrastructure. Soldiers collected evidence that will aid in locating hostages,” Israel Defense Forces posted on X.

Israel is not targeting civilians but ‘innocent’ people will die in its offensive against Gaza, the Israeli Embassy to the UK admitted.

“There will be innocent people who will pay tragically with their life, but this is a state of war and we have to prevent anyone from harming us again,” Orly Goldschmidt, spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy to the UK, told Times Radio.

“You know ‘never again’, this sentence we have said after the Holocaust, it’s happening at the moment, and never again is now and we need the full support of the international community because these are murderers and we need to make sure they won’t have any capacity ever again to harm.”

The Israeli Defence Forces said it was ‘aware’ that a Reuters video journalist was killed and six other journalists were injured in southern Lebanon on Friday when missiles fired from the direction of Israel struck them.

“We are aware of the incident with the Reuters journalist. We are looking into it. We already have visuals. We’re doing cross examination. It’s a tragic thing,” a spokesperson said.

Issam Abdallah was killed while providing a live video signal for broadcasters. The camera was pointed at a hillside when a loud explosion shook the camera, filling the air with smoke, and screams were heard, the news agency said.

We are deeply saddened to learn that our videographer, Issam Abdallah, has been killed,” Reuters said.

More than two million people are at risk of running out of water across Gaza, the UN has warned.

“It has become a matter of life and death. It is a must; fuel needs to be delivered now into Gaza to make water available for 2 million people,” said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General.

The aid agency said clean water started to run out in Gaza after its water plant and public water networks stopped working.

Many Gazans are now forced to use dirty water from wells, increasing risks of waterborne diseases, it added.

Iran’s foreign minister on Saturday called on Israel to stop its attacks on Gaza, warning that the war might expand to other parts of the Middle East if Hezbollah joins the battle, and that would make Israel suffer “a huge earthquake.”

Hossein Amirabdollahian said he met Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah who briefed him on the group’s conditions in Lebanon. “I know about the scenarios that Hezbollah has put in place,” Amirabdollahian said. “Any step the Hezbollah will take will cause a huge earthquake in the Zionist entity.”

Amirabdollahian added: “I want to warn the war criminals and those who support this entity before it’s too late to stop the crimes against civilians in Gaza, because it might be too late in few hours.”

Israel considers Hezbollah its most serious immediate threat, estimating it has some 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided missiles that can hit anywhere in Israel.

At least 2,215 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and 8,714 have been wounded, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

It also said 54 have been killed in the West Bank and 1,100 have been injured.

Up to 324 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes over the past 24 hours. One-thousand were also wounded.

Red paint has been thrown over BBC’s London headquarters ahead of a pro-Palestinian march expected to see a turn out of 50,000 people. The motive is unclear. Watch here:

Up to 324 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes over the past 24 hours, the Gazan health ministry said. One-thousand were also wounded.

Any use of the border crossing from the Gaza Strip into Egypt will be in coordination with Israel, the Israeli military spokesperson said on Saturday.

“Regarding Gaza, the crossings are closed. The borders are closed, and any movement or crossing to Egypt will be in coordination with us and in contact with us. For now, this issue is not happening,” Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.