Israel inched closer to launching a full invasion of Gaza Saturday, as it announced it was “preparing to expand” its military response to last week’s brutal terror attack on Israeli civilians.

The Israeli Defense Force signaled the imminent attack on Hamas forces with a lengthy post on its website hours after the close of a 24-hour evacuation window it had set for Gaza residents to flee.

The IDF boasted that Israel will conduct “an integrated and coordinated attack from the air, sea and land” — but did not indicate when the operation would begin.

“This is our hour to stand this test, and our job is to decide and win this war,” Col. Bnei Aharon, commander of the IDF’s 401st Brigade, said in the message.

“We have the best people, we have the best general,” Aharon said.

“We are a combination of the best forces in the world.”

The message came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited his troops Saturday at two kibbutzes that were ravaged by Hamas terrorists.

“The next stage is coming,” he pledged.

The emotional trip gave Netanyahu, 73, his first glimpse of the destruction at Kibbutz Be’eri and Kibbutz Kfar Aza, both of which suffered major casualties during the Oct. 7 surprise attack.

More than 1,300 Israeli civilians were slain by Hamas, including 40 babies and children, with at least 150 more taken into Gaza as hostages.

Twenty-nine Americans were among the dead, the US State Department told CNN, while 16 were missing.

In the days since, Israel has pummeled Gaza with more than 6,000 airstrikes, killing at least 2,200 Palestinians – including 28 medics, SkyNews reported, citing the Palestinian Health Minister.

Netanyahu’s remarks came as IDF forces warned “anyone coming near the [Gaza] border will be shot,” and troops continued to conduct “small raids” in the area, CNN reported.

“We are deployed and strongly prepared for the next stages of the war,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the military’s top spokesman, said in a Saturday news conference.

The IDF has set up a series of forward logistics centers within Israel to keep its troops supplied throughout the “significant ground operation,” the military said – hinting that Israel expects a lengthy battle in the weeks to come.

“We are preparing the forces, going over plans, prepared in all arenas, south, north and center,” Hagari said.

“We are focused on Gaza but are widely deployed” across Israel, he added. “That allows us to operate simultaneously in all arenas.”

On Friday, Israel told up to 1.1 million Palestinians living in the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate within 24 hours, an order the United Nations deemed “impossible” to execute.

The IDF extended the evacuation deadline for Gaza City’s Al Quds hospital by an additional 10 hours Saturday, after its original deadline of 11 p.m. Friday ET passed — but medics there refused to budge.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society “cannot evacuate the hospital,” the group said in a defiant statement publicizing its intent to ignore the new deadline.

“Al Quds Hospital is offering life-saving services to a large number of Palestinian patients and wounded … in addition to hundreds of civilians who took refuge” there, the PRCS added.

Officials at Shifa Hospital, the Gaza Strip’s largest medical center, said that 35,000 people had thronged into its buildings and grounds seeking refuge — despite widespread reports in Western media that the hospital serves a dual purpose as a de factor Hamas headquarters.

“People think this is the only safe space after their homes were destroyed and they were forced to flee,” said Dr. Medhat Abbas.

Israel has long claimed that Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, uses the territory’s civilians as human shields.

Israel-Hamas war: How we got here

2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip more than three decades after winning the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.

2006: Terrorist group Hamas wins a Palestinian legislative election.

2007: Hamas seizes control of Gaza in a civil war.

2008: Israel launches military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fired rockets into the town of Sderot.

2023: Hamas launches the biggest attack on Israel in 50 years, in an early-morning ambush Oct. 7, firing thousands of rockets and sending dozens of militants into Israeli towns.

Terrorists killed more than 1,200 Israelis, wounded more than 4,200, and took at least 200 hostage.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to announce, “We are at war,” and vowed Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”

The Gaza Health Ministry — which is controlled by Hamas — reported at least 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,500 injured since the war began.

The terror group denies the charge — but has told its people not to leave.

New IDF directives early Saturday told residents of Gaza’s densely populated northern section to head south along designated streets to “ensure their safety.”

“If you care about yourself and your loved ones, go south as instructed,” the warning read.

But thousands of Gazans who tried to heed Israel’s admonition found themselves stuck behind Hamas roadblocks, the IDF alleged.

“Hamas is making it difficult for the residents of the Gaza Strip to move on main roads, and prevents the passage of vehicles on these roads,” the IDF said as it released aerial surveillance footage of impossibly tangled traffic.

“We see an active effort by Hamas to block and prevent the population from going south,” Hagari said. “Hamas wants to show the world that it has casualties and dead.”

“Hamas wants [residents] as human shields,” he added.

“We are going to attack very widely in Gaza City in the near future.”

Meanwhile, National Security Council Head Tzachi Hanegbi told the Times of Israel that between 150 and 200 Israeli hostages are being held in the Gaza Strip — with little hope of their quick return.

“There is no way right now to have a negotiation for their release,” Hanegbi admitted.

“Israel will not hold negotiations with an enemy that we have vowed to wipe from the face of the earth,” he said.

The US State Department on Saturday authorized the departure of non-emergency personnel from the embassy in Jerusalem and the US branch office in Tel Aviv. Eligible family members are also permitted to leave.