Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters on Saturday, "We already have planes that have left Israel air space and are on its way to Florida. We are going to end up having hundreds and hundreds of Floridians that are going to be brought back to Florida in the ensuing days."

0:44

1st planes transporting Floridians back home left Israel: DeSantis

“We already have planes that have left Israel airspace and are on its way to Florida,” the Governor said to reporters on Saturday in Iowa.

DeSantis told reporters earlier in the day the planes will land on Sunday.

"We have a lot of Floridians there," DeSantis said Friday. "The federal government really wasn't doing what they needed to do get people out, so we just did an executive order yesterday. We’re going to be sending flights from Israel, back to Florida."

-ABC News' Will McDuffie and Hannah Demissie

In an interview with ABC News' Phil Lipof, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said they are preparing for an "intensification of our combat operations."

"The aim of our operation is to dismantle Hamas and its military capabilities to make sure that Hamas will never again have the ability to kill or abduct or threaten Israeli civilians," Conricus said.

Conricus said more than 400,000 people have evacuated Gaza to the south before it becomes an "active combat zone." Asked about the risk to civilians who remain, he conceded it will be a "difficult and dangerous" environment for them.

"Wherever applicable and wherever the situation on the ground allows us to do so, we will spare the life of civilians and we will try to apply our force in such a way that it causes minimal damage to civilians," he said.

"We will do our best not to strike civilians. They are not our enemy," he added.

6:25

'This is a war, not another military operation': IDF spokesperson

International spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, Jonathan Conricus joins ABC News Live to discuss the country's anticipated ground incursion into Gaza.

Iran's Mission to the United Nations warned Saturday of "far-reaching consequences" if Israel doesn't stop attacking Gaza.

"If the Israeli apartheid’s war crimes & genocide are not halted immediately, the situation could spiral out of control & ricochet far-reaching consequences," Iran's Mission to the UN said on X, adding the responsibility lies with the international community.

Earlier Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian also called on Israel to stop its attacks, warning that the conflict could spread, The Associated Press reported.

The USS Eisenhower carrier strike group will move to the Eastern Mediterranean to join the USS Ford carrier strike group that arrived there earlier this week, a senior U.S. official and a U.S. official told ABC News.

U.S. officials have said publicly this week that the presence of the USS Ford carrier strike group in the Eastern Mediterranean was intended as a deterrent to Iran and Hezbollah, not to get involved in the Israel-Hamas conflict. The Eisenhower joining the Ford will increase the show of force enhancing that message of deterrence.

0:33

USS Eisenhower carrier strike group to move to Eastern Mediterranean

The USS Eisenhower carrier strike group will move to the Eastern Mediterranean to join the USS Ford carrier strike group, a senior U.S. official and a U.S. official told ABC News.

The Eisenhower strike group includes the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower and the cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG-58), and the destroyers USS Laboon (DDG-58), USS Mason (DDG-87) and USS Gravely (DDG-107).

The strike group left Norfolk, Virginia, on Saturday bound for a previously scheduled deployment that would take it to the Middle East via the Mediterranean Sea. While in the Mediterranean it was to have participated in previously-scheduled exercises in the U.S. European Command area of responsibility.

Earlier this week the Pentagon issued a statement that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would "continue to review both the Eisenhower and Ford’s deployment plans as he considers the appropriate balance of maritime capability across theaters in support of national security priorities."

-ABC News' Martha Raddatz and Luis Martinez