Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops on the front lines at the Gaza Strip Saturday as his forces prepare to invade and take on Hamas, whose recent horrific terror attacks rocked the Jewish state. Netanyahu posted photos of his visit to social media:

עם הלוחמים שלנו בעוטף עזה, בקו החזית. כולנו מוכנים.

(צילום: אבי אוחיון, לע״מ) pic.twitter.com/TiGzHcWhPK

— Benjamin Netanyahu - בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 14, 2023

"With our fighters in the Gaza Strip, on the front line," Netanyahu posted on X. "We are all ready." 

In a video shared in the post, Netanyahu asks troops, "Are you ready for the next stage?"

"The next stage is coming," he says, without stating what the next stage of Israel's conflict with Hamas is.

It’s clear that things are about to heat up and that Israel is gearing up for heavy fighting.

Israel has called up some 360,000 troops and amassed forces on the border with Gaza ahead of an anticipated ground assault to annihilate Hamas' capabilities. The terror group launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, rampaging through communities in southern Israel and killing as many as 1,300 Israelis in the worst attack in the country's history. 

Israel had given the entire 1.1 million population of the northern half of the Gaza Strip, which includes the enclave's biggest settlement Gaza City, until Saturday morning to move south.

The mass evacuation ordered does not have an end date:

The Israeli military warned the more than one million residents of northern Gaza to move to the south of the densely populated enclave for their own safety, even as the Gazan authorities said airstrikes on the south continued. Those who evacuated would be allowed to return home “only when another announcement permitting it is made,” the Israeli military said. But Israel has not suggested they will never be allowed to go back.

The deadline has passed, and Israel is stepping up its attacks:

This also marked the end of a window for 'safe passage' marked by the Israeli military, which said Palestinians could travel along two main routes from northern Gaza without being harmed from 10am to 4pm local time.

Israel have put the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, under a total siege and bombarded it with unprecedented air strikes. Gaza authorities said that more than 2,200 people have been killed, a quarter of them children, and nearly 10,000 wounded.

Netanyahu’s visit with the front-line troops, combined with the expiration of the evacuation timeline, indicates that this war is about to intensify dramatically. RedState will keep you updated with events as they unfold.