Israel-Hamas war: ‘Next stage is coming,’ Netanyahu tells soldiers outside Gaza

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli infantrymen outside the Gaza Strip on Saturday, his office said in a statement, and an accompanying video showed him telling them: “You ready for the next stage? The next stage is coming.”

He did not elaborate in the video, which showed the infantrymen nodding in response to his question.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, announced it was prepared for a “coordinated” air, ground and naval offensive in Gaza Strip.

The visit to the border area was Netanyahu’s first since Hamas attackers breached Israeli defences in a surprise attack a week ago.

Netanyahu visited the kibbutzim of Be’eri and Kfar Aza to see the homes destroyed in the “terrible massacre” last weekend, his office said after the visit on Saturday.

Criticism had been voiced in Israel in recent days that the prime minister had not yet visited the devastated villages and towns in southern Israel.

Israel is edging closer to a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, a week after its Hamas rulers stunned the world with their massacre of Israelis living in border communities.

“We are ready,” Netanyahu wrote of the visit on the platform X.

Palestinians in Gaza face choice: stay under strikes, or flee under strikes?

Thousands of Palestinians fled the north of the Gaza Strip on Saturday from the path of the expected ground assault, while Israel pounded the area with more air strikes and said it would keep two roads open to let people escape.

Israel had given the entire population of the northern half of the Gaza Strip, which includes the enclave’s biggest settlement Gaza City, until Saturday morning to move south.

It announced overnight that it would guarantee the safety of Palestinians fleeing the area on two main roads until 4pm (9pm Hong Kong time), a window that has since closed.

“Around the Gaza Strip, Israeli reserve soldiers in formation [are] getting ready for the next stage of operations,” Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus told a video briefing early on Saturday.

“They are all around the Gaza Strip, in the south, in the centre and in the north, and they are preparing themselves for whatever target they get, whatever task.”

Reuters, Associated Press and dpa