LONDON: Israel鈥檚 expected ground, air and naval offensive on Gaza will be 鈥渉orrific鈥� and will involve 鈥渟eeing some awful things,鈥� the UK鈥檚 armed forces minister has said.

James Heappey鈥檚 comments come as Israel prepares a massive assault on the Palestinian enclave, warning residents in northern Gaza to move south, The Independent reported on Monday.

He claimed that the Israel Defense Forces are 鈥渄oing everything they can鈥� to avoid civilian casualties by telling populations to move, but the 鈥渦se of human shields鈥� by Hamas would make protecting civilians 鈥渋ncredibly difficult.鈥�

Heappey said: 鈥淚 have every confidence that Israel will be precise in its targeting and they鈥檒l have good intelligence about where it needs to target.

鈥淏ut nobody should pretend that this is going to be anything other than horrific. I鈥檓 afraid we鈥檙e going to see some awful things over the next few days.鈥�

He said it is 鈥渆ntirely understandable鈥� that Israel is aiming to 鈥渄estroy鈥� Hamas, 鈥渂ut it is going after an adversary that deliberately hides in amongst the civilian population 鈥� that hides its materiel in and amongst the civilian population.鈥�