Israeli military says it’s prepared for air, ground and naval offensive in Gaza

US to send a second carrier strike group to support Israel

The Biden administration is sending the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean to support Israel, two defence officials told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss the move ahead of its announcement.

The Eisenhower will join the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group, which is already sailing near Israel, to bolster US presence there with a host of destroyers, fighter aircraft and cruisers.

The Eisenhower deployed from its homeport of Norfolk, Va., Friday. Having two carriers in the region can provide a host of options.

They can disperse and serve as primary command and control operations centers, to cover a wide swath of area. They can conduct information warfare. They can launch and recover E2-Hawkeye surveillance planes that provide early warnings on missile launches, conduct surveillance and manage the airspace.

Both ships carry F-18 fighter jets that could fly intercepts or strike targets. They also have significant capabilities for humanitarian work, including an onboard hospital with medics, surgeons and doctors, and they sail with helicopters that can be used to airlift critical supplies in or victims out.

Israeli military announces it is prepared for ‘coordinated’ offensive

The Israeli military says it has prepared a “coordinated” offensive in the Gaza Strip involving air, ground and naval forces.

In a statement on its website Saturday night, the army said it is “preparing to implement a wide range of offensive operative plans.

Israel has bombarded Gaza for days and ordered roughly half of the territory’s population to evacuate their homes ahead of an expected ground offensive in response to a brutal cross-border Hamas attack.

Israel has not said when the offensive will begin.

Head of Gaza’s largest hospital says 35,000 people are sheltering in the hospital complex

Medical officials say an estimated 35,000 people have crammed into the grounds of Gaza City’s main hospital, seeking refugee ahead of an expected Israeli ground offensive.

Mohammad Abu Selim, general director of Shifa Hospital, confirmed that massive crowds had thronged the building and the courtyard outside. Shifa is the largest hospital in the entire Gaza Strip.

“People think this is the only safe space after their homes were destroyed and they were forced to flee,” said Dr. Medhat Abbas, a Health Ministry official. “Gaza City is a frightening scene of devastation.”

The Israeli military has ordered roughly half of Gaza’s population, including all of Gaza City, to evacuate as it prepares to send in ground forces.

Israel has been bombing Gaza for the past week, killing more than 2,200 so far in response to a cross-border Hamas attack that killed over 1,300 Israelis.

Blinken has sought China’s help to prevent spread of Israel-Hamas war, State Department says

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to seek China’s help in preventing the Israel-Hamas war from spreading.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Blinken called Wang on Saturday from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to ask China to use whatever influence it has in the Middle East to keep other countries and groups from entering the conflict.

Miller would not say which countries and groups the U.S. believes Beijing has influence with but China is known to have close trade and political ties with Iran, which in turn supports Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.

Miller declined to characterize Wang’s response but said the U.S. believes it and China have a shared interest in Middle East stability.

Hezbollah TV reports exchange of fire with Israeli troops

Hezbollah’s TV station has reported an intense exchange of fire along Lebanon’s border with Israeli positions in a disputed area along the border with Syria’s Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Al-Manar TV reported that Hezbollah fighters pounded Israeli positions in the Chebaa Farms and Kfar Chouba hills area on Saturday.

It was the latest exchange of shelling between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters since last Saturday following Hamas’ attack on southern Israel.

Israel’s military said that it was striking Lebanon after coming under fire from Hezbollah. Chebaa Farms was captured by Israel from Syria during the 1967 Mideast War, but Lebanon considers it and the nearby Kfar Chouba hills as Lebanese territories.

The Golan Heights were annexed by Israel in 1981.

Eygptian humanitarian aid for Gaza arrives in Sinai

Egyptian charities on Saturday sent over 100 trucks carrying 1,000 tons of humanitarian aid including food and other supplies to the Palestinian people in Gaza, local media reported. The aid will wait in Sinai until a deal is secured with Israel to allow the delivery of aid into the besieged territory.

Foreign ministers from OIC to meet in Saudi Arabia about Israel-Hamas war

Saudi Arabia called an urgent meeting of foreign ministers from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a 57-member bloc of Muslim countries. The OIC said in a statement Saturday that the meeting will “address the escalating military situation in Gaza and its environs as well as the deteriorating conditions that endanger the lives of civilians and the overall security and stability of the region.”

The meeting will take place on Wednesday in Jeddah.

Unicef calls for immediate cease-fire and humanitarian access to Gaza

The UN children’s agency is calling for an immediate cease-fire and humanitarian access into the Gaza Strip, saying hundreds of thousands of children and their families have started fleeing northern Gaza.

Unicef said children and families in Gaza have practically run out of food, water, electricity, medicine and safe access to hospitals, following days of hostilities and cuts to all supply routes.

“The situation is catastrophic, with unrelenting bombing and a massive increase in the displacement of children and families. There are no safe places,” said Unicef Executive Director Catherine Russell.

Unicef said its staff have continued to respond to the critical needs of children across the Gaza Strip, but access is becoming increasingly difficult and dangerous.

The agency said Unicef staff will stay in southern Gaza to continue to provide support for children in need.

Iran’s foreign minister warns Israel from Beirut it could suffer ‘a huge earthquake’

Iran’s foreign minister on Saturday called on Israel to stop its attacks on Gaza, warning that the war might expand to other parts of the Middle East if Hezbollah joins the battle, and that would make Israel suffer “a huge earthquake.”

Hossein Amirabdollahian told reporters in Beirut that Lebanon’s Hezbollah group has taken all the scenarios of a war into consideration and that Israel should stop its attacks on Gaza as soon as possible.

AP