Ready for war: Satellite images show hundreds of Israeli tanks gathered in fields four miles north of Gaza as IDF prepares to send tens of thousands of soldiers in to war-torn strip to destroy Hamas

Satellite images have revealed where Israel has deployed hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles as it prepares to invade Gaza.

The military buildup seen in satellite images is about six kilometers north of the Erez Crossing, a key entry point on Gaza’s northern border.

Tanks and other armored vehicles can be seen in the photos, which were taken late last week by Planet Labs.

These include Merkava tanks, armored personnel carriers and militarized bulldozers the New York Times.

Before the ground invasion, Israel had demanded that the population of northern Gaza evacuate to the southern half of the territory.

Despite this, Israel has continued to fire on parts of the southern strip that had been declared safe zones.

A residential building in Khan Younis, a town in southern Gaza where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had sought shelter, was among the places hit.

Palestinian militants fired rockets into Israel from Gaza and Lebanon on Thursday, and tensions flared in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

In a fiery speech to Israeli infantry soldiers on the Gaza border, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant urged the armed forces to “stay organized and be ready” for an order to invade.

Speaking to the tens of thousands of troops Israel has amassed on the border, he said: “Whoever sees Gaza from afar now will see it from within… I promise you that.

“It could take a week, a month, two months before we destroy them,” he added, referring to Hamas.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his troops were fighting the “worst monsters in the world.”

The Israeli Prime Minister added that this was during the world’s “darkest hour” as he also warned that there would be “ups and downs.”

Shortly after Gallant’s statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a video in which he himself promised victory with troops at the border.

Tensions have risen further in recent days after an explosion at a hospital in Gaza killed hundreds of people, with Israeli and Palestinian terror groups blaming each other for the destruction.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said 3,785 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began, most of them women, children and older adults.

Nearly 12,500 others were injured and another 1,300 people were believed buried under the rubble, health authorities said.

More than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed, mostly civilians, in the deadly Hamas raid on October 7.

About 200 others were kidnapped. The Israeli military said Thursday it had informed the families of 203 prisoners.

Israel’s permission to allow food, water and medicine into Egypt provided the first opportunity for an opening in the area’s closure.

Many among Gaza’s 2.3 million residents rely on one meal a day and drink polluted water.

Israel did not list fuel as an allowed item, but a senior Egyptian security official said Egypt was negotiating access to fuel for hospitals.

With the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza still closed, the already dire conditions in Gaza’s second-largest hospital have deteriorated further, said Dr. Mohammed Qandeel.

Power was cut in most wards to save it for intensive care and other vital functions, and staff members used mobile phones for light.

At least 80 injured civilians and 12 dead were taken to hospital on Thursday morning after witnesses said an attack hit a residential building in Khan Younis.

Doctors had no choice but to let two of the incoming people die because there were no more ventilators, Dr. Qandeel said.

The Israeli military said earlier today it killed a top Palestinian militant in Rafah and hit hundreds of targets in Gaza, including militant tunnel shafts, intelligence infrastructure and command centers.

It said it also hit dozens of mortar launching posts, most immediately after they were used to fire grenades into Israel.

Gaza’s Hamas-led government said several bakeries in the area were affected by the overnight strikes, making it even harder for residents to get food.

Violence also escalated in the West Bank, where Israel carried out a rare airstrike on Thursday targeting militants in the Nur Shams refugee camp.

Israeli forces entered the camp the previous night and continued to fight Palestinian fighters there.