Smoke rising over Gaza is seen from the Israeli border with Gaza on Saturday. Photography: Amir Cohen – Reuters. reuters_tickers
This content was published on October 29, 2023 – 12:46 July, October 29, 2023 – 12:46
By Emily Rose
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli forces launched ground operations against the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Gaza on Sunday in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as the second phase of a three-week war aimed at crushing the militant group.
However, Palestinian media reported that telephone communications and Internet services began to slowly return after being severely interrupted late on Friday following Israeli warplanes dropping bombs and the entry of Israeli forces into the Hamas-run Strip.
The communications disruption affected rescue operations, with people targeted by Israeli air strikes unable to seek help.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said on Sunday that thousands of Gazans stormed its warehouses and aid distribution centers and seized flour and “basic food supplies.”
Colonel Elad Goren of the Israeli government coordination unit with the Palestinians said that Israel would allow a significant increase in aid directed to the Gaza Strip in the coming days and called on Palestinian civilians to go to what he described as a “humanitarian” area in the south of the Strip.
Netanyahu warned the Israelis to expect a “long and difficult” campaign, but stopped short of describing the current incursions as an invasion. American officials said that some of President Joe Biden’s aides advised their Israeli counterparts to postpone an immediate, all-out attack.
Although initial ground operations appear limited at the moment, Netanyahu pledged to spare no effort to free more than 200 hostages, including foreigners, held by Hamas.
Netanyahu said in a press conference on Saturday, “This is the second phase of the war, whose goals are clear, which is to destroy Hamas’s ruling and military capabilities and return the hostages.”
“We are only at the beginning. We will destroy the enemy above and below the ground,” he added.
Israel has tightened its blockade and bombardment of Gaza for three weeks since the devastating attack launched by Hamas on October 7. Israeli authorities said that at least 1,400 Israelis were killed on that bloodiest day in the country’s 75-year history.
Western countries generally support what they say is Israel’s right to defend itself. But there is growing international outrage over the number of victims of the bombing, while calls are increasing for a “humanitarian truce” to allow aid to reach civilians in Gaza and alleviate the humanitarian crisis.
Medical authorities in the Gaza Strip, which has a population of 2.3 million, say that more than eight thousand Palestinians were killed in the Israeli bombing.
* warning
The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Sunday that it had received warnings from Israeli authorities to immediately evacuate Al-Quds Hospital in the Gaza Strip. He added that the air strike on Sunday occurred 50 meters from the hospital.
An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment on the statement.
Palestinian officials say that about 50,000 people are taking shelter in Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza, and they expressed their concern about continued Israeli threats to launch an attack on the medical facility.
With many buildings reduced to rubble and finding shelter difficult, Gazans are suffering from shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine.
Commenting on the looting of flour and other supplies in Gaza, UNRWA said, “This is a worrying sign that public order has begun to collapse after three weeks of war and the tightening siege on Gaza.”
“May God help anyone under the rubble,” said one journalist in Gaza, who spent a terrifying night on the stairs of a building as bombs fell and Israeli forces apparently exchanged fire with Palestinian fighters.
Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal told Al Jazeera that there were sounds coming from beneath the rubble, and he appealed to Arab rescue teams to provide heavy equipment to help extract survivors.
Israel sent troops and tanks into Gaza on Friday evening, focusing its destruction on infrastructure, including the vast network of tunnels built by Hamas. No details were provided about the size of the forces and equipment.
The Israeli army’s chief spokesman refused to say whether Israel was behind the communications outage in Gaza, but said it would do what was necessary to protect its forces.
On Saturday, Netanyahu repeated Israel’s demand for Palestinian civilians to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip, where Israel is focusing its attack on Hamas hideouts and other facilities.
* ‘HUMANITARIAN DISASTER’
Palestinians say nowhere is safe, with Israeli bombs also destroying homes in the densely populated south of the enclave.
“A humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding before our eyes,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Diplomats said that the United Nations Security Council intends to meet on Monday to discuss the crisis between Israel and Gaza.
Billionaire Elon Musk offered to operate his company SpaceX’s Starlink service to support communications in Gaza for the benefit of “internationally recognized relief organizations.” Israel responded that it would oppose the move, saying Hamas would “use it for terrorist activities.”
Netanyahu, who met with the families of the hostages on Saturday, said that contacts to secure their release would continue even during the ground offensive, and that military pressure on Hamas might help bring them back. He did not give details.
A source familiar with the talks said that the negotiations brokered by Qatar between Israel and Hamas are continuing, but at a much slower pace than before the escalation that occurred on Friday in Gaza.
The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, said that its fighters clashed with Israeli forces in northeastern and central Gaza.
She added, “The Al-Qassam Brigades and all Palestinian resistance forces are fully prepared to confront the aggression with full force and thwart the incursions.”
(Additional reporting by James McKenzie, Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reham al-Kousi, Omar Abdel Razek, Ari Rabinovitch, Adam Makari, Ali Sawafta, John Davison and Michelle Nicholls – Prepared by Marwa Salam, Muhammad Attia and Sameh al-Khatib for the Arab Bulletin – Editing by Muhammad Muhammadin)
#Israel #launches #ground #campaign #Gaza #gradual #return #communications
2023-10-29 11:46:34
