On the 14th day of this unforeseen October war, tensions are high — not only in southern Israel, where terrorist targets in Gaza are firmly in the IDF’s sights, but also in the north, where Hezbollah looks to be stirring up trouble along Israel’s border with Lebanon. 

Several countries, including Britain, America, and Germany, are advising their citizens in Lebanon to leave the country as the risk of more hostilities looms.

Meanwhile Israeli forces bombarded the Gaza Strip early Friday and also began evacuating Kiryat Shmona, a sizable Israeli town in the north near the Lebanese border, as a potential ground invasion of Gaza is looking imminent. 

The IDF said it had struck more than 100 targets across Gaza linked to the territory’s Hamas rulers, including a tunnel and arms depots. Heavy airstrikes were reported at Khan Younis in the south. 

On Thursday, Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, ordered ground troops to prepare to see Gaza “from the inside,” hinting at a ground offensive aimed at crushing Gaza’s Hamas terrorist rulers nearly two weeks after their attack on communities across the border in southern Israel. Officials have yet to give a timetable for such an operation.

When asked about the miles of tunnels Hamas has built under Gaza, Israeli’s economy minister, Nir Barakat, told ABC News that they would become the “world’s biggest cemetery.” Hamas claims to be holding some or all of the 203 Israeli hostages it has captured within this vast underground network.

Also on Thursday, the European Parliament called for Hamas to be “eliminated” and in a nonbinding resolution called for the unconditional release of all hostages being held in Gaza.

More than a million persons have now been displaced in Gaza, with many heeding Israel’s orders to evacuate the northern part of the sealed-off coastal enclave. Tensions are also rising in the north along Israel’s border with Lebanon. 

Israel’s defense ministry announced evacuation plans Friday for Kiryat Shmona, a town of more than 20,000 residents near the Lebanese border. Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terrorist organization based in Lebanon, has exchanged fire with Israel almost daily and hinted that it could  join the war if Israel seeks to destroy Hamas. Hezbollah, as Jerusalem and Washington are both keenly aware,  has a large arsenal of long-range rockets.

On Thursday three Israelis were injured following multiple rocket and gunfire attacks launched from southern Lebanon in the direction of northern Israel. 

Separately on Friday, the IDF said  it had received reports of gunfire toward the northern town of Margaliot on the border with Lebanon. The Israeli press reported that a gunman may have infiltrated Israel, but that could not be immediately confirmed.

According to a report from Al Jazeera, Hezbollah, while attacking Israeli positions on the border, is also focusing on hitting communication tools, such as cameras used to take photos of the border and equipment used to intercept calls.

That report concluded that “Hezbollah is trying to hit more Israeli positions.” That report could not be independently verified. Also on Friday there were renewed calls from Jerusalem to ban the Qatari broadcaster.

An Arabic broadcaster, the Saudi-based Al Arabiya, confronted Hamas’s head political henchman, Khaled Mashaal, in an on-air interview: “How do you expect the world to support you when you committed such crimes against civilians? The entire world compares you to ISIS,” the network’s reporter said.

As of midday on Friday, the real heat continued to be on in Israel’s south. There were two direct rocket hits in the city of Sderot, with no casualties reported. Rocket alert sirens sounded at Ashkelon and Ashdod. 

Inside the Gaza Strip, the Israeli air force is striking terror targets “at a rate not seen in decades,” an Israeli military spokesman, Daniel Hagari, stated. Egypt is beginning preparations to open the Rafah border crossing with Gaza to allow humanitarian aid into the Strip.

Earlier this week President Biden told reporters aboard Air Force One that the goal of his whirlwind trip to Israel had been “multifold,” but was “basically to get humanitarian aid into Gaza” and also to get out as many Americans “who wanted to get out.”

In a speech from the Oval Office last night, Mr. Biden pledged unwavering support for  Israel’s security, “today and always,” and said that “there is no higher priority for me than the safety of Americans held hostage” in the Gaza Strip by Palestinian terrorists. On Thursday, hundreds of people rallied at New York City’s Times Square to demand the release of hostages held by Hamas.

With Associated Press