Tel Aviv, 13 October 2023 (dpa/MIA) - The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has made several small-scale raids into Gaza during the past 24 hours.

The goal of these operations was to "clear the area of terrorists and weapons," Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Efforts had also been made to find missing people, he added.

Ground and armoured forces are seeking traces and "destroyed terror infrastructure and eliminated terror cells," the post said. Among them was a cell that had fired on Israeli territory with anti-tank weapons.

The update came as the Israeli military called on residents of Gaza to leave their homes by 8 pm on Friday (1700 GMT) and head south, seen as preparation for a possible ground offensive.

The United Nations immediately called on Israel to rescind the order, pointing to the threat of a "catastrophic situation."

Photo: MIA Archive