Benjamin Netanyahu warned residents of Gaza City to ‘leave now’, hours after Israel said it was about to ramp up airstrikes on the enclave.
“I say to the residents of Gaza. I take this opportunity and listen to me carefully: you have been warned — leave now!” the Israeli PM said after two gunmen killed 6 people in east Jerusalem.
He added that Israeli forces were now organizing and assembling into Gaza City for a ground “manoeuver”.
NBC News reports: Thousands of leaflets ordering residents to immediately leave famine-stricken Gaza City rained down on its streets Tuesday as Israel pushed ahead with plans to drive all Palestinians from the area.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of an “intensified ground maneuver” Monday evening, and ordered residents of Gaza’s largest city to leave just hours after two gunmen opened fire at a Jerusalem bus stop, killing six people.
Hamas hailed the attack, the deadliest in Israel since October 2024, as “heroic” and claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released on Tuesday.
Netanyahu said the elimination of the gunmen or their supporters was “not enough.”
My directive is to strike hard against terror strongholds,” he said after visiting the scene of the shooting with Israel’s far-right security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.
“I promised you that we would take down Gaza’s terror towers,” he added, referring to multiple high-rise buildings destroyed by Israel in recent days, “and that is exactly what we are doing.”