Gaza Interior Minister Tells Residents To Ignore Israeli Evacuation Warning

The Israeli air force dropped leaflets in the Gaza Strip Sunday warning residents to evacuate their homes before a campaign originally characterized as “short and temporary” by military officials. Now, the Israelis have deployed ground forces for the first time since the conflict began, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the length of the campaign will be dictated by success, not politics.

“We don’t know when the operation will end,” Prime Minister Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting Sunday. “It might take a long time.”

A military spokesman did previously tell The Associated Press that the campaign would begin sometime after 12 p.m. local time (5 a.m. Eastern Time) Sunday, and this is the second time in two days that Israel has given residents of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip such a warning.

On Saturday, the military said it was ordering Palestinians in northern Gaza to evacuate “for their own safety.” After the Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for 10 rockets that were fired at Tel Aviv, Israel announced it would hit northern Gaza “with great force” to prevent rocket attacks from hitting larger Israeli cities. Shortly after warning, an Israeli air attack targeted the home of the Gaza police chief, Taysir al-Batsh, resulting in the death of at least 18 people and wounding 50, according to Health Ministry official Ashraf al-Kidra.

The Israeli military confirmed it had killed a Palestinian in Gaza who is believed to be behind the barrage of rockets launched at the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

Despite criticizing Israel over the increasing number of civilian casualties, Gaza’s Interior Ministry told residents to ignore Israel’s warnings and to stay in their homes. He said the announcement was Israeli “psychological warfare” and hope to create confusion. Palestinians health officials said the death toll from Israeli strikes raised is now more than 156, with over 1,060 wounded.

Israel has launched more than 1,300 air strikes since the offensive to end Hamas rocket fire “once and for all” began, military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner confirmed Sunday. Palestinian militants have lobbed more than 800 rockets at Israel, including 130 in just the last 24 hours.

The “Iron Dome,” an Israeli-developed but U.S.-funded gift from a more Israel-friendly U.S. administration, has intercepted over 130 Hamas rockets, which has thus far prevented Israeli fatalities. However, some Israelis have been wounded by rockets that slipped through the air defense.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council unanimously called for a cease-fire, and the Security Council’s 15 members released a statement that calls for “the reinstitution of the November 2012 cease-fire,” which was brokered by Egypt. British Foreign Minister William Hague said he will discuss cease-fire efforts with his American, French and German counterparts on Sunday, while the Arab League said foreign ministers from member states will hold an emergency meeting in Cairo on Monday.

Nothing the U.N. Security Council has done or discussed is legally binding, but further demonstrates sentiment in the U.N.’s most powerful body. Even though the members have been deeply divided on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel is held to a higher standard than the Palestinians, with members arguing the Israelis should begin the cease fire and restore whatever international credibility their opponents say they’ve lost.

However, Hamas has said they would not be the first to cease fire, no matter what. The conflict is showing little sign of deescalation, as Israel even responded with force Saturday to an attack from a radical Lebanese militant group that fired at least four rockets into Upper Galilee Friday. Israel fired into Lebanon late Saturday in response to those rockets falling in northern Israel, and they fears more militant groups in Lebanon will try to launch more attacks, opening up a second front against the encircled Israeli country.

The latest outbreak of violence came after the kidnappings and killings of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, who were found in a shallow grave in the West Bank. Then, in what is widely believed to be a revenge killing, the kidnapping and killing of a Palestinian teenager further escalated the situation, resulting in Hamas launching rockets into a residential neighborhood in Sderot.