Israel warned that the streets of Gaza City are now a “battlefield” as fighting intensified yesterday between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists.
The military said its warplanes had attacked more than 450 targets in the past 24 hours, while dozens of terrorist commanders had been neutralized.
Tanks and infantry were photographed advancing along Gaza’s coastline and rolling across the desert border, while the Israeli flag was raised by troops over a beach hotel in northern Gaza City.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant underlined his government’s determination to ignore pleas for a ceasefire. He told the families of the 239 hostages held in Gaza: “We are fighting animals, not people.
‘It is a complex journey, with hopes and disappointments. I am determined to win the war and returning hostages is part of victory.” It came as:
Israel warned that the streets of Gaza City are now a ‘battlefield’ as fighting between the Israeli army and Hamas terrorists intensified yesterday.
A view of the remains of a mosque and houses destroyed by Israeli attacks in the central Gaza Strip
Palestinians evacuate a building destroyed during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip
- Palestinian authorities claimed that 8,000 people had been killed since October 7, including 3,324 children;
- The UN said civil order in Gaza was at breaking point as looters stormed aid warehouses;
- President Joe Biden urged Israel to “immediately and significantly” increase the flow of humanitarian supplies;
- Rioters tried to storm a flight from Tel Aviv on the tarmac of an airport in Dagestan, Russia.
In leaflets dropped by aircraft, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) warned civilians that “(bomb) shelters in northern Gaza and Gaza Governorate are not safe.”
IDF spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari reiterated earlier warnings to residents to flee south, while accusing “cynical” Hamas commanders of using civilians as “human shields.”
A man holds injured children near livestock around the heavily damaged buildings after Israeli attacks on the Nuseirat refugee camp
He said the military is “making progress and expanding ground operations at this stage of the war.” At a televised news conference, he said: “We have eliminated dozens of terrorists from the tactical command. We also bomb from the air to ensure the safety of our ground troops and to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure.”
Mr. Hagari also claimed that the people of Gaza said Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar “no longer cares about them.” He added: “He has imposed a terrible disaster on them. He has lost control and is responsible for the collapse and destruction of Gaza.” IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi told troops on the Gaza border: “We are at war. It will be a long process and we will hit the enemy hard. The IDF is focused on one thing: victory, dismantling Hamas, hitting as many enemy commanders and fighters and enemy infrastructure as possible.”
He pledged that Israel would do “everything possible from the sea, air and ground” to keep their troops safe, but added that at least 331 Israeli soldiers had been killed and 32 captured since the fighting began on October 7.
The army said combined forces of armor, engineers and infantry had been operating in northern Gaza since Friday afternoon. Israeli forces advanced on foot under cover of smokescreens and targeted terror cell hideouts, while also helping to direct fighter jets to new targets. Soldiers fought a fierce battle with Hamas terrorists who emerged from the network of underground tunnels near the Gaza border.
The IDF said several Hamas terrorists were killed and others injured after launching an attack from a tunnel near Erez in the northern Gaza Strip.
A huge fireball is seen rising over Gaza City after intense Israeli attacks
Birds pass by the wreckage of bombed buildings in the north of the Gaza Strip
Palestinians stand around a building destroyed during the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in Rafah
Additional ground forces entered the Gaza Strip overnight, with troops on the ground attacking terror cell hideouts and helping direct fighter jets to new targets
Earlier, the military shared video footage it said showed the “horrific underworld of Hamas terrorism” stretching beneath hospitals, schools, mosques and homes in Gaza. Airstrikes were carried out near the enclave’s main hospital, in Gaza City in the north, which Israel says is used by Hamas terrorists as a command center but is packed with patients and civilians seeking shelter.
The Palestinian Red Crescent claimed it had received “strong threats” from Israel to “immediately evacuate Al-Quds Hospital because it would be bombed.” Reports later emerged that several airstrikes hit the hospital area during the day, with some rockets landing within 10 meters of the hospital gates.
In response to the aerial bombardment, Hamas and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah continued to launch rockets and anti-tank missiles at Israel. One rocket fragment fell into a school near Tel Aviv, but no one was injured.
Despite the IDF’s formidable firepower, the head of the Home Front Command warned that the route to victory would not be a quick one. “This war will last a long time – weeks or months,” Major General Rafi Milo said at a news conference.
On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the nation that the second phase of the war “will be long and difficult and we are prepared for it.”
Netanyahu vowed to “eradicate” Hamas after meeting families of hostages held in Gaza. “This is the second phase of the war whose objectives are clear: to destroy Hamas and bring the hostages home,” he said.