IDF troops drop leaflets telling Palestinians to ‘leave their homes’ or risk death as more than 6,000 bombs have been dropped on Gaza since Hamas attacks
The Israeli military has dropped leaflets in the Gaza Strip telling Palestinians to leave their homes or risk being killed as Israel continues to rain missiles on the Hamas-controlled territory.
Photos of the leaflets, which residents told foreign news outlets had been dropped in the northern city of Beit Lahia, circulated online.
Translated from Arabic, one read: ‘For your safety, you must leave your homes immediately and go to shelters.
‘The IDF is not interested in harming you or your family members. Anyone who is close to Hamas terrorists or terrorist targets will be putting their lives at risk.’
The IDF said it had bombarded the Gaza Strip with about 6,000 bombs containing a total of 4,000 tons of explosives since Saturday.
The IDF today dropped leaflets over Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip urging people to leave their homes and go to shelters
A fireball erupts after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. Hundreds of people have been killed by bombs since Saturday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday vowed to ‘crush and destroy’ Hamas and warned that every member of the terrorist organization is a ‘dead man’.
A constant barrage of bombs has hit the Gaza Strip since the terrorists crossed the border into Israel on Saturday, which the IDF said were aimed at Hamas targets.
Officials reported that 1,354 people have been killed in Gaza since Saturday, where buildings were completely leveled by Israeli bombs.
Beit Lahia is home to approximately 62,000 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics population.
Residents hoping to flee for safety have very few options as airstrikes continue to pound the Gaza Strip, with borders to and from the area closed.
Almost half of those killed in the relentless bombardment are women and children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
At least 447 children and 248 women were among the estimated 1,417 people who lost their lives so far, according to the ministry.
It added on Thursday that more than 6,000 had been injured since regional tensions erupted into all-out war at the weekend.
Hamas claimed that 18 Palestinians died in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the heart of Gaza.
Palestinians search the rubble of destroyed buildings after an Israeli airstrike
Home to 2.3 million people, the 25-mile-long enclave is one of the most densely populated places on Earth, with more than 65 percent of its population estimated to live below the poverty line.
It has been the subject of a blockade by Israel since 2007, with electricity and water supplies cut off since Hamas’ attack on Saturday, compounding the dire situation.
The UN’s World Food Program (WFP) has warned that essential supplies are running dangerously low after Israel imposed the total blockade.
“This is a dire situation in the Gaza Strip that we see developing with food and water in limited supply and running out quickly,” said Brian Lander, the deputy head of emergencies at WFP.
About 340,000 Palestinians have fled their homes to seek shelter in schools, the UN said yesterday.