The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Israel has urged Sri Lankans in northern parts of the Middle Eastern country to be on alert and to follow emergency instructions properly, as concerns are rife about impending attacks.

The embassy said the cities of Nahariyya, Akko, Haifa, Tiberias and Nazareth, located close to the borders of Lebanon and Syria are now under threat of attacks.

As such, Sri Lankans in the aforementioned northern cities have been advised to keep daily necessities including medicines and food in stock.

However, the Israeli government has deployed troops and beefed up the security in these areas, the embassy said further.

Meanwhile, earlier today, foreign media cited a United Nations spokesperson as saying that Israel’s military has ordered the evacuation of northern Gaza – a Palestine conclave that is home to approximately 1.1 million people – within 24 hours.

It was said that this could signal an impending ground offensive, despite the Israeli military not confirming such an appeal. Israel, on Thursday, said while it was preparing for a ground offensive, a decision had not yet been made.

The order, delivered to the U.N., came as Israel presses an offensive against Hamas militants. U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric called the order “impossible” without “devastating humanitarian consequences.”