Israel preparing to transfer Palestinians to southern Gaza

A woman with her face painted in the colors of the Israeli flag takes part in a protest demanding the end of the war, the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in Tel Aviv on Saturday. AP

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By Natalie Melzer

The Associated Press

NAHARIYA, Israel — Israel announced Saturday that it is preparing to move Palestinians from combat zones to southern Gaza as plans move ahead for a military offensive in some of the territory’s most populated areas.

The Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, COGAT, said the supply of tents to the territory would resume today.

The military said it had no comment on when the mass movement of Palestinians would begin, but Defense Minister Israel Katz said on social media that “we are now in the stage of discussions to finalize the plan to defeat Hamas in Gaza.”

Meanwhile, anxious families of Israeli hostages called for a “nationwide day of stoppage” in Israel today to express growing frustration over 22 months of war.

Families of hostages fear the coming offensive further endangers the 50 hostages remaining in Gaza, just 20 of them thought to still be alive. They and other Israelis were horrified by the recent release of videos showing emaciated hostages speaking under duress and pleading for help and food.

The families and supporters have pressed the government for a deal to stop the war — a call that some former Israeli army and intelligence chiefs have made as well in recent weeks.

A group representing the families has urged Israelis into the streets today.

“Across the country, hundreds of citizen-led initiatives will pause daily life and join the most just and moral struggle: the struggle to bring all 50 hostages home,” the group said in a statement.

“I want to believe that there is hope, and it will not come from above, it will come only from us,” said Dana Silberman Sitton, sister of Shiri Bibas and aunt of Kfir and Ariel Bibas, who were killed in captivity.

She spoke at a weekly rally in Tel Aviv, along with Pushpa Joshi, sister of kidnapped Nepalese hostage Bipin Joshi, a student seized from a kibbutz.

“I miss my best friend,” Pushpa said.

The U.S. State Department on Saturday said all visitor visas for people from Gaza are being stopped while a review is carried out of how “a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas” were issued in recent days.