Jerusalem: Leaflets signed by the commander of the Israeli military were dropped over northern Gaza on Saturday morning, warning residents to "leave the area immediately" to ensure their safety.
Israeli tanks and troops have massed on the Gaza border, and an Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman said ground forces are prepared to enter Gaza when they receive orders to do so.
"Due to the terrorist actions undertaken by terrorist elements from the region of your residences against the state of Israel, the Israel Defense Forces are compelled to respond immediately in the region of your residences. For your safety, you are ordered to leave the area immediately," the leaflets say.
The geographic area covered by the word "region" was not defined.
Exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal promised bloodshed if Israeli ground troops enter Gaza.
"As for you, the soldiers of the enemy whose leadership are getting you ready to enter Gaza in a ground attack, you need to know that doom will await you and you will be killed, injured and captured," Meshaal, speaking in Syria, told the Al Jazeera television network Friday.
"If the enemy got into Gaza, our people will fight from one street to the next, from one house to the other, and on every inch of the land."
Israeli attacks on Saturday killed the commander of Gaza City's rocket-launching squads, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman said.
Hamas commander Azkariah al-Jamal died when his car was attacked early Saturday, the eighth day of the bombing campaign, Palestinian sources and the IDF said.
Another airstrike killed two Hamas militants in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, Palestinian officials said Saturday.
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