Israel prepares for 'air, sea and land' offensive, as Palestinians flee northern Gaza

  • The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said on Saturday (14 October) it is preparing an 'air, sea and land' offensive on Gaza, with 'significant' ground operations.

  • The death toll from the seven-day conflict has surpassed 3,300 people on both sides, with more than 2,000 Palestinians, and at least 1,300 Israelis killed since Saturday. Thousands more have been injured.

  • Israel says Gaza will receive no fuel, food, water or electricity until Hamas terrorists release Israeli hostages, as charities warn there are just hours worth of fuel left.

  • An evacuation order for 1.1 million people in north Gaza has been issued by Israel's military amid fears of a ground invasion.

  • The United Nations has said the humitarian situation in Gaza is becoming 'untenable', with morgues 'overflowing'.

  • Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited IDF troops outside Gaza and said the next stage of the operation 'is coming'.

  • The Royal Air Force has been brought in to evacuate UK citizens from Israel, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

  • Hamas said on Friday that Israeli airstrikes have killed 13 hostages - including foreigners - in the last 24 hours.

  • Israel's air force has said it has killed Ali Qadhi, the Hamas commander who led the cross-border attack on Israeli settlements last Saturday.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said on Saturday (14 October) it is planning an "air, sea and land offensive" on Gaza, as Palestinians attempt to flee the territory.

In a statement, the IDF said it is preparing to implement a "wide range of operational offensive plans", which could include "combined and coordinated strikes from the air, sea and land".

"IDF battalions and soldiers are deployed across the country and are increasing operational readiness for the next stages of the war, with an emphasis on significant ground operations", the statement - published on the IDF website - read.

Palestinians are fleeing northern Gaza after the Israeli military ordered nearly half the population to evacuate south ahead of an expected land offensive, a week after Hamas' attack in Israel.

Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) renewed calls on social media and in leaflets dropped from the air for some 1 million Gazans to move south, while Hamas urged people to stay in their homes.

The IDF issued a statement on Saturday morning saying residents of Gaza could travel along certain streets "without any harm" between the hours of 10:00 and 4pm local. That window has now passed.

"If you care about yourself and your loved ones, go south as instructed", said IDF Arabic language spokesperson Avichay Adraee, in a written post on X (formerly known as Twitter.

The UN and aid groups have warned that so many people fleeing en masse - almost half of Gaza's 2.3 million population - would be calamitous, and have urged Israel to reverse the order.

Hamas called on Palestinian people to stay in their homes, saying the order was “psychological warfare” to break their solidarity.

UN says Gaza evacuation 'impossible': What is the route from north to south?
A Palestinian child at the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt Gaza Strip Credit: AP

Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited IDF troops outside the Gaza Strip on Saturday (14 October). In a video, he said to troops: "You ready for the next stage? The next stage is coming."

In a post on X (formerly Twitter) Mr Netanyahu wrote: "With our fighters on the Gaza Strip. We are all ready."

A UN aid chief has said the humanitarian situation in Gaza is becoming "untenable", with morgues "overflowing".

"Hospitals overwhelmed with patients, are running out of medicine", said the UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths.

"The humanitarian situation in Gaza, already critical, is fast becoming untenable", he added.

The Royal Air Force has been brought in to evacuate UK citizens from Israel, the Foreign Office has confirmed.

Three UK government facilitated flights have now departed Israel for the UK and Cyprus, with more expected in the coming hours, the FCDO said on Saturday (14 October) night.

Two UK Government Rapid Deployment Teams (RDT) and British Red Cross responders have also been deployed to support vulnerable British nationals wanting to leave on the flights.  

A statement said that "further flights are expected to leave in the coming days while commercial options are limited".

As people continue to flee into southern Gaza, the US said it is working alongside Israel and aid organisations to establish “safe zones” for civilians in Gaza as a "priority", according Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Plestia Alqad, 22, a journalist from Gaza, takes ITV News through the reality of those living on the Gaza Strip, describing her home as a "ghost town."

A plane carrying medical supplies for Gaza from the United Nations (UN) health agency landed on Saturday in el-Arish airport in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

The supplies are awaiting the reopening of the Rafah crossing point, according to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO).

“We’re ready to deploy the supplies as soon as humanitarian access through the crossing is established,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Palestinians fleeing from northern Gaza to the south with their belongings stacked on their cars. Credit: AP

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas, saying "this is just the beginning".

Israel's air force has claimed it has killed Ali Qadhi, the Hamas commander who led the cross-border attack on Israeli settlements a week ago.

The Israeli military said Ali Qadhi was killed in a drone strike following intelligence efforts by the Shin Bet security agency and Military Intelligence Directorate.

On Friday, the Israeli military said ground troops entered the Gaza Strip and conducted house raids.

ITV News' John Irvine reports on the plans of an Israeli ground offensive

In a statement, the army said it entered Gaza to battle Hamas terrorists, destroy weapons and search for evidence about the missing hostages held by Hamas. It said troops completed the raid then left Gaza.

Meanwhile, Hamas claimed on Friday that 13 hostages, including foreigners, that had been taken into Gaza have been killed by Israeli airstrikes in the past 24 hours.

Israel has been massing troops along the Gaza border since last Saturday’s brutal attack staged by Hamas almost one week ago.

Hamas terrorists stormed into the country, attacking and killing over 260 festival goers, slaughtering people in their beds in villages near the border and taking around 150 people hostage.

Israeli soldiers by a burnt out car at the site of the music festival. Credit: AP

Relatives of Israelis abducted during Hamas militants’ attack the previous weekend pleaded at the UN on Friday for the world’s help getting their loved ones home.

Speaking by video from Israel, Yoni Asher told diplomats at an Israel-organised event that he hadn’t slept or eaten since his wife and two young daughters vanished while visiting his mother-in-law in the country’s south.

“I don’t know if I got any more tears left,” he said. “I’m exhausted, and I just want to approach whoever can hear me in the international community. Please bring back my baby girls.”

A journalist has been killed and others are injured in shelling by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, according to reporters and witnesses at the scene.

An Israeli shell is understood to have landed in a gathering of international journalists covering clashes on the border in south Lebanon, killing a Reuters visual journalist and leaving six other journalists injured.

Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in a statement condemned Israel's shelling that struck the journalists “during its aggression on southern Lebanon.”

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