Israel increases its attacks against Hamas. Tanks are advancing into the Gaza Strip and air strikes are becoming more intense. Meanwhile, the telephone and internet are down. The overview.
According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the second phase of the war against Hamas has begun with the expansion of the Israeli military’s ground operations in the Gaza Strip.
The aim is to destroy the military capabilities and the rule of the Islamist organization and to bring the hostages home, he told journalists in Tel Aviv that evening. The emergency government made the decision to expand ground operations unanimously.
Three weeks after the massacres, ground troops again advanced into the north of the sealed-off coastal area during the night. However, unlike limited operations of this kind on previous nights, the armored units did not withdraw again.
The Israeli army once again urged those remaining in the north of the Gaza Strip to seek safety in the south. The “window of opportunity” is closing quickly, it was said.
Aid organizations complained that the failure of almost all telephone and internet connections made it even more difficult to help victims of the war. There was talk of panic and chaos.
Israel takes action against Hamas
Israel’s army spokesman Daniel Hagari said Israel was “advancing in the phases of war.” According to its own information, the Israeli army identified several terrorist cells in the Gaza Strip and attacked them. The terrorist cells have been “neutralized”. It was initially unclear whether the extremist Palestinians were killed.
Armored troops, engineering corps and infantry are deployed together, it said. Soldiers also destroyed a booby-trapped building. Helicopters, guided by tanks, hit a Hamas meeting point.
Hagari said several senior commanders of the Islamist Hamas, which is also classified as a terrorist organization by the EU and US, were killed. According to the military, these include a Hamas naval commander and Hamas leader Asem Abu Rakaba, who is responsible for air strikes. Since the bloody terrorist attack by Hamas three weeks ago with more than 1,400 deaths, Israel has increasingly attacked the Gaza Strip from the air and on land.
More rocket attacks from Gaza on Israeli cities
Palestinian militants again fired rockets from the Gaza Strip at Israeli cities on Saturday. Warning sirens wailed several times in Israeli towns in the border area, the army said. There were also rocket alarms again in the greater Tel Aviv area, as well as in the coastal city of Ashkelon. According to police, a rocket hit a building in the desert town of Beersheva. There were initially no reports of injuries.
New fighting on Israel’s border with Lebanon
Fighting broke out again on Israel’s border with Lebanon. The Israeli army said several anti-tank missiles and mortar shells were fired at Israel from Lebanon. Military posts along the border were also attacked. The bullets hit open areas. The Israeli army fired back and attacked military facilities of the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.
Lebanese security sources said Israel was shelling the outskirts of several villages in the south of the country. This was “retaliation for a Hezbollah rocket attack.”
Internet and telephone services in Gaza largely collapsed
Communication within the Gaza Strip via the Internet and telephones almost completely collapsed. Connections to the outside world were also only possible with satellite cell phones and with Israeli SIM cards from tall buildings in the south of the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian company Paltel, based in the West Bank, said the heavy bombing by the Israeli army was to blame. The organization Netblocks, which is known for monitoring Internet blocks, also confirmed a breakdown in Internet connections in the Gaza Strip on Platform X.
Israel wants to enable further aid deliveries to Gaza
The Israeli army announced that it would allow an increase in humanitarian aid deliveries to the Palestinian population. “We are extending humanitarian assistance to the residents of the Gaza Strip who have gone to the area south of Wadi Gaza,” said army spokesman Hagari. During the course of the day, trucks with food, water and medicine will be allowed to be imported into the south of the coastal strip. “Whoever is in this area will receive these,” Hagari said. It was initially unclear whether deliveries were actually possible. Since the Hamas attack on Israel, only around four percent of supplies have reached the Gaza Strip in normal times.
The number of victims in the Gaza Strip continues to rise
According to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, the number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip has risen to 7,703 since the war began three weeks ago. Around 20,000 people were injured. The numbers could not initially be independently verified. The destruction to infrastructure and buildings was immense and greater than in previous conflicts between Hamas and Israel. The World Health Organization (WHO) expressed great concern about bombings, including near large hospitals. Israel accuses Hamas of setting up command centers for its tunnel system, known as the “Metro,” under hospitals.
Concern for Hamas hostages in the face of Israeli attacks
In view of the increasingly violent Israeli attacks on Hamas, concerns have also increased for the lives of the 229 Israelis abducted by Hamas into the Gaza Strip, some of whom also have a second citizenship, including German. On Saturday, around 600 people demonstrated in Tel Aviv with a solidarity run for the hostages. In New York, Jewish groups organized a rally at Grand Central Terminal calling for a ceasefire. Udi Gori, a relative of one of the abductees, called on the BBC for a humanitarian ceasefire to free the hostages. If Israel bombs the Hamas tunnels, they could also kill hostages, Gori said.
Meirav Leshem Gonen, mother of a hostage, told Israeli army radio “I don’t know anything about strategy, I know something about motherhood – and I feel like this is a war that we’ve already lost. How can you make sure that my “Daughter and the other hostages really come home alive?” There were large pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London and Turkey on Saturday.
German-Israeli Society criticizes German abstention from UN
The German-Israeli Society has sharply criticized Germany’s abstention from a vote on a UN resolution on the humanitarian situation in Gaza. “How can Germany abstain from a UN resolution that has the sole aim of delegitimizing Israel’s right to self-defense? Germany should have clearly voted no,” said the society’s president, Volker Beck, according to the statement.
The UN General Assembly in New York passed a resolution on Friday evening to improve the humanitarian situation and call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. 120 countries voted in favor, 14 against, 45 abstained, including Germany. Countries in the so-called global south in particular accuse the West of double standards with regard to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
