Air strikes are coming: Israel urges thousands of Palestinians to flee

The Egyptian truce initiative has filed to halt rocket attacks by Israel on Tuesday.

07:21 16 July 2014

Israel has urged thousands of Palestinians living in the east and north Gaza to leave their homes as it continues air strikes.

 

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) dropped leaflets and used recorded telephone messages to warn some 100,000 residents on Wednesday. 

 

Operation Protective Edge was launched by Israel on July 8 with the objective to halt Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel. However, United Nations confirmed that majority of those who were killed in Gaze were civilians. 

 

Palestinian officials confirmed that there were at least 21 people who died in the raids including four children who died on Wednesday. 

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now under extreme pressure as ground offense is being demanded by his right-wing members. However, the risk can be significant as ground fighting may lead to huge number of casualties, which could alienate Israel’s allies and trap him into a long campaign without a clear exit strategy. 

 

Israel’s warning to Palestinians came as militants continued to fire rocket at Israeli cities. The military said that militants fired more than 150 rockets and more than 1,260 since Operation Protective Edge began.