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Israel Reportedly Plans to Evacuate an Entire City Near Gaza Ahead of Ground Invasion

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  October 12, 2023 4:15 PM

Israel’s latest reported move in Southern Israel shows that the nation is prepared for a long-term ground operation, something many have speculated given the heinous nature of the October 7 attacks. The death toll has soared past one thousand Israelis. These innocent civilians were burned alive, tortured, raped, and murdered when scores of Hamas terrorists stormed the Gaza border. Babies were beheaded. Eliminating Hamas is the only logical decision, and the unity government in Jerusalem is preparing to make that move.

Hundreds of thousands of reservists have been mobilized as tanks roll into position near Gaza. This isn’t 2014—Israel is going in for the long haul, and they’re evacuating whole cities in Southern Israel in anticipation. Sderot’s mayor has asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to evacuate his city’s remaining population (Ynet News): 


The mayor of the southern city of Sderot called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately move to evacuate residents of the city for at least 10 days to areas outside the immediate range of rockets from Gaza. "I receive calls from residents all day, begging to be evacuated," he said. 

Alon Davidi spoke to reporters as the city came under renewed fire and at least four people were hurt, two of them seriously. Sderot is within range of mortar fire but has been pounded by rockets since the early morning hours on Saturday when the Hamas terrorists launched their murderous attack. 

[…] 

Davidy said half of the city's population left, since the start of the war. "We are currently with 405 to 45% of our residents," he said adding that evacuating the remaining families would "be life-saving for them and would free the military and police forces to address the security needs without having to attend to injured civilians," the mayor said adding he has been trying to raise funds to house his residents in hotels outside the immediate line of fire. 

The city has a population of nearly 30,000. Gaza has been hammered by Israeli airstrikes ahead of the planned ground attack. Residents of these border cities and communities have less than 15 seconds to find shelter when air sirens go off for rocket attacks, and Hamas will continue to fire these munitions into Israel. It’s part of Israel’s ‘iron wall’ strategy for protecting its citizens from further harm as they prepare for this long war with Hamas. And even now, Israeli troops and border police find terrorists attempting to infiltrate the surrounding areas.