This Friday, the Israeli army asked all civilians in Gaza City, more than 1 million people, to relocate to the south within 24 hours, as it builds up tanks near the Gaza Strip ahead of an expected ground invasion. “Now is the time for war,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Thursday, as Israeli warplanes continued to bomb Gaza in retaliation for the deadliest attack by Palestinian militants in its history.

The Israeli military said it would operate “significantly” in Gaza City in the coming days and that civilians would only be able to return when another announcement was made. The United Nations, for its part, has insisted that it is impossible for such a move to take place “without devastating humanitarian consequences.” “The United Nations strongly calls for any such order, if confirmed, to be rescinded, avoiding what could transform what is already a tragedy into a calamitous situation,” UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement. a statement. For his part, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, described the UN response to Israel’s early warning to Gaza residents as “shameful.”

Meanwhile, Hamas calls on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to ignore the warnings and claims that the announced imminent incursion is “false propaganda.” Israel has vowed to annihilate the Hamas militant group that led Saturday’s attacks, but a ground invasion of Gaza poses a serious risk as Hamas holds dozens of hostages kidnapped in the attack.

This same Thursday, Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using white phosphorus munitions in its military operations in Gaza and Lebanon, and has insisted that this type of weapons, prohibited by international humanitarian law, the use of such weapons puts civilians at risk of serious and long-term injury. Israel, on the other hand, denies this and claims that it was “currently unaware of the use of weapons containing white phosphorus in Gaza.”

After almost a week of war, the situation is critical. Public broadcaster Kan said that the Israeli death toll had risen to more than 1,300. For their part, Gaza authorities said that more than 1,500 Palestinians had died. Additionally, Israel has put Gaza, home to 2.3 million people, under siege.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has also assured that the fuel that powers the emergency generators in Gaza hospitals could run out in a matter of hours and the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) warned that Food and fresh water were running dangerously low. “The human misery caused by this escalation is abhorrent and I implore the parties to reduce the suffering of civilians,” said ICRC regional director Fabrizio Carboni.

A meeting was planned this Friday between King Abdullah of Jordan and Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as part of a tour of the Middle East aimed at stemming the effects of the war. Blinken also planned to visit key US allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, some with influence in Hamas. Likewise, the US Secretary of Defense was due to arrive in Israel on Friday and planned to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In addition, Hamas had called on Palestinians to rise up this Friday in protest against the Israeli bombing of the enclave, urging Palestinians to march to East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and clash with Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank.