The final preparations before the large, “sweeping” as the government described it, ground operation in Gaza Strip carried out by the Israeli forces, gathering thousands of reservists and special units on the border.

Hours earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured parliamentary approval to increase the number of reservists from 300,000 to 360,000, while at least 35 infantry battalions have already taken up positions on the Gaza border.

Everything indicates that the Israeli ground operation in the Gaza Strip, to neutralize the Hamas command centers, will begin very soon.

All the time before, the air force and its artillery Israel relentlessly pounded Hamas positions in the area with thousands of rockets, preparing the ground for the infantry.

In the last few hours, the Israeli air force has concentrated its bombings on the Al Furqan area, which is considered to be of strategic importance for Hamas’ operations and it is assumed that the guidance for Hamas’ massive attack on Israel was given from this point.

According to the tally so far, in the Gaza Strip they are as follows:

Buildings:

-Completely destroyed: 168 buildings, including 1,009 residential units

-Partial destruction: 12,630 residential units were partially destroyed.

-Medical institutions: 10 were bombed, including seven hospitals

-Ambulances: 12 ambulances were destroyed

-Schools: 48 schools were destroyed

-Government buildings: 23 completely destroyed

Gaza Strip pounding – Hospitals overwhelmed

At Gaza Strip, which is being bombed by Israel after the Hamas attack, on Saturday, Al Shifa Hospital is overwhelmed with patients. Whole families arrive, one after the other, and staff are overwhelmed: “the situation is catastrophic,” local authorities warn.

Akram Al Haddad, 25, stands by the bedside of his nephew, Abdelrahman Al Dus. He is only 18 months old and was injured in an airstrike where his 4-year-old brother and 16 other people were killed. The baby survived, as did his parents, who were injured when their house was destroyed in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood in the southeastern suburbs of Gaza. But now he “needs urgent surgery for his head injuries,” his doctor explained. The problem: he has to wait until an operating room is empty.

“We are working in emergency conditions (…) and we have to ensure the continuous supply (of the hospital) with electricity and have the necessary material available before we proceed with any surgery,” says the doctor, who said he was named Abdullah.

At least 770 people have been killed and another 4,000 wounded in the shelling of Gaza, according to a provisional count announced by local authorities.

In this hospital too many people are waiting in the waiting room for their turn to be examined by the doctors. Some don’t make it, they die waiting, the doctor explains. “We helped a lot of wounded people, most of them women and children,” doctor Mohamed Goneim managed to tell AFP, before the interview was interrupted by the arrival of new wounded: three women, two children, an elderly man and two young men. “The limited capabilities of the hospital make the situation worse. There is no electricity, water, natural gas,” says the doctor.

Lying on a bed, Om Rama al-Hassanah she is surrounded by her four children, aged between 3 and 6 years. All of them were injured when a house next to theirs was shelled in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in the north of the Gaza Strip. “We were brought here, we are waiting to be taken care of,” says the woman.

The health ministry in the Gaza Strip warned that the lack of medical supplies and medicine would lead to a “catastrophic situation” in the enclave home to some 2.3 million people. The eight hospitals “are not sufficient to meet the needs of the citizens,” he said.

Beit Hanoun Hospital, in the north, has been shut down by Israeli bombardment and damage has been caused to the neonatology clinic of Al Shifa Hospital.

THE Salameh Maarouf, the director of the Hamas government’s office in charge of the media said that in Gaza there are no medicines, medical equipment, x-ray machines. He accused Israel of “deliberately creating a miserable humanitarian situation, with its restrictions or attacks.”

Many families who were left homeless have found shelter in the corridors and garden of Al Shifa Hospital. Some of the injured, after being given first aid, remain there because they have nowhere else to go. “My house was completely destroyed (…) All the houses here were destroyed,” says Abu Ashur Shuqaiq, 39, with a knot in his throat. “It was a somber night for me, my wife and our children.”

Rocket fire from Hamas in the city of Ashkelon

At the time of the rocket attack launched by Hamas against the Israeli city of Ashkelon local media recorded.

The picture shows one rockets rained into the Israeli city, whose residents had been warned by Hamas to leave their homes by 5pm.

There are constant messages on the cellphones of the townspeople asking them to stay in shelters as the town comes under rocket attack.

See the map of the area:

Watch the videos recorded by local media:

Earlier, Hamas had sent an ultimatum to evacuate Ashkelon in the face of an attack, in response to Israel’s attacks on Gaza, and the attack began immediately after the ultimatum expired.

In a Telegram post, Hamas said that residents of the town, just north of the Gaza Strip, had until 17:00 local time to leave.

In particular, in a statement on social media Hamas reports that “In response to the enemy’s crime of displacing our people from the Gaza Strip, We are giving the residents of the occupied city of Ashkelon a deadline to leave before 5 this afternoon.”

Over 4,500 rockets have already been fired from Gaza into Israel since Saturdayaccording to the Israeli military.

This timeaccording to information broadcast by the BBC, sirens are sounding in Tel Aviv.

Earlier, the leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniya, had stated that the question of the exchange of hostages will be raised only after the end of the war.

In a statement, the head of the Palestinian armed organization that controls the Gaza Strip emphasized that “parties that contacted us” and offered to mediate the release of hostages with a prisoner exchange were informed of this decision.

About 150 people, soldiers and civilians of different nationalities, were kidnapped by the Palestinian organization during the weekend attack on Israeli territory.

Last night the Palestinian Islamist movement has threatened to execute hostages it is holding in retaliation for Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip.

Qatari mediators held emergency talks with Hamas officials yesterday in an attempt to negotiate freedom for women and children from Israel who were kidnapped by the Palestinian armed group and are being held in Gaza in exchange for the release of 36 Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons, according to Reuters.

……………….