Everything indicates that the time is approaching for the big, “sweeping” as Netanyahu described it, Israeli ground attack against Hamas. The mobility in the last few hours shows that developments are coming, “Gaza will not be the same again” the Israeli Prime Minister said, “Gaza’s ISIS will be wiped off the face of the earth” said the Israeli Defense Minister.

At the same time, the death toll in the Gaza Strip rose to 1,200, the health ministry announced, as Israeli shelling increased in the Palestinian enclave ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement.

“The number of martyrs has reached about 1,200 and the number of their wounded about 5,600,” a ministry spokesman said in Gaza, the sixth day after the deadly Hamas attack on Israel, amid Israeli retaliatory operations.

Overnight, the Israeli pounding of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip continued. According to the latest information, 51 people were killed in the Israeli raids.

In total, the dead on both sides exceed 2,300.

In his dramatic speech last night, Netanyahu said that the fate of Israel “hanging by a thread.”

Announcing the formation of an emergency government, with the head of the centrist opposition National Unity party Benny Gantz at his side, Netanyahu noted that “we are putting aside all our differences to fight an enemy worse than the Islamic State.”

Announcing the formation of the emergency government with the addition of the National Unity party, the prime minister signaled that Israel was fighting back. “Every member of Hamas is a corpse,” he said.

Netanyahu characterized the support of the US “critical” for Israel’s struggle.

“Now is the time of war”

“We stand side by side and send a clear message to the Israeli citizens and to the opponents: we are together” Ganj stated.

“Israel is in its most difficult moment, our cooperation will help to ensure victory” said the head of National Unity

Addressing Israelis who feel they no longer have security, Benny Gantz commented that “I understand the fear, I understand the pain,” but assured that “Israel has the strongest army in the region.”

“My cooperation with the government is not political, it is a cooperation for our destiny.” “This is one of the most difficult times that Israel has ever known” he said.

“Our cooperation will lead in a clear victory, and it will change reality as we rise to every challenge,” Ganj pledged.

“There is a time for peace and a time for war, now is the time of warhe emphasized.

“Gaza ISIS will be wiped off the face of the earth”

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallad said for his part about the Hamas attack that “such barbarity we haven’t experienced since the Holocaust.”

“It was the worst terrorist attack the world has ever seen. What happened has not happened to the Jewish people since 1945,” he said.

“We will eliminate Hamas…Hamas, ISIS of Gaza, will be wiped off the face of the earth” Gallant emphasized.

“There is no way you are killing Israeli children and we are pretending nothing is happening,” he added.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said earlier that he would meet with the Israeli prime minister during his trip to Israel.

“Not since the time of ISIS have we seen this kind of brutality, and we will continue to stand very resolutely against it,” Blinken told reporters before departing for Israel.

Humanitarian crisis

At the same time, life is becoming unbearable for civilians in the Gaza Strip. The UN is appealing for basic supplies of food, fuel and water to reach civilians. “We need rapid and unhindered humanitarian access now,” says Antonio Guterres.

The UN says the number of people displaced in Gaza has risen to 383,000.

The US is in talks with Israel, the UN and Egypt to allow aid to enter and residents to leave Egypt.

Gaza’s only power station was shut down after Israel cut off electricity supplies as well as goods such as medicine, food, fuel and water.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military says hundreds of thousands of troops are near Gaza “ready to carry out the mission we have been given.”