Fighting in the Gaza Strip continues. Since Friday night, the Israeli army has been operating on the ground with soldiers and armored vehicles, while continuing to intensify its bombardment of the 362 square kilometer territory, in retaliation for the bloody attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on its soil on October 2.
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Since then, 1,400 people have died on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to local authorities. Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, says more than 8,000 Palestinians, half of them children, have been killed in Israeli shelling since the conflict began just over three weeks ago. A "large number" were still killed overnight Saturday in airstrikes on two refugee camps in northern Gaza, he added.
Earlier, the Israeli command warned residents of the southern Israeli cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon against missile and rocket fire. Rescue services reported no casualties there, but three people were wounded during the day after more shelling from Gaza.
'A long and difficult war'
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday deplored the "unprecedented escalation of bombings" that "undermine humanitarian objectives", again calling for an immediate ceasefire. The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mirjana Spoljaric, said on Saturday that she was "shocked by the intolerable level of human suffering". "It is unacceptable that civilians have no safe place to go in Gaza in the midst of massive bombardment, and that with the military siege in place, no adequate humanitarian response is currently possible," she said, denouncing "a catastrophic failure that the world must not tolerate."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "the war in the Gaza Strip will be long and difficult and we are ready for it" at a press conference on Saturday, adding that his army "will destroy the enemy on earth and underground." A reference to the network of hundreds of kilometers of underground tunnels, from which Hamas directs its operations, according to Israel. "The second stage of the war, the objective of which is clear: to destroy Hamas' military capabilities and leadership; to bring the hostages home," he said after meeting with the families of Hamas captives, of whom Israel estimates there are 230.
'Absolute uncertainty' about hostages
Their relatives are increasingly unhappy with the "absolute uncertainty" they face about their fate, especially during the heavy shelling, said Haim Rubinstein, their spokesman. "Families are not sleeping, they want answers, they deserve answers." Only four women have been released so far. Hamas, which had threatened to execute hostages, estimated that "close to 50" of them had been killed in the bombings.
Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, who spoke Saturday night for the first time since Oct. 7, said he was ready "to immediately conclude an exchange to have all prisoners in the prisons of the Zionist enemy released for all hostages."
The Israeli military on Saturday repeated its call on residents of the northern Gaza City to "leave immediately" for the south, saying it now considers the city and its region a "battlefield" as the UN counts 1.4 million displaced. In the Shati refugee camp on the outskirts of Gaza City, the shelling caused extensive damage. "What happened in Shati is worse than an earthquake," resident Alaa Mahdi, 54, told AFP. "It was bombing everywhere, the navy, the artillery and the planes. Who do they hit, the resistance? No, poor people."
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Several Hamas terrorists killed, including a senior official "who took part in the organization of the October 7 massacre," the Israeli army said. Israel wants to "annihilate" the Islamist movement, in retaliation for the October 7 attack. On that day, in the middle of Shabbat, the weekly Jewish holiday, hundreds of Hamas fighters infiltrated Israeli soil from Gaza, where they carried out the deadliest attack in Israel's history.
The network is in the process of being restored
The intensified bombardment of Gaza has coincided with a shutdown of communications and the internet, further complicating the task of humanitarians. The network is being restored as of Sunday morning, network watchdog Netblocks said. An AFP staff member in Gaza City confirmed that he had access to the internet and mobile network, and that he had managed to reach people in the south of the territory.
Since 9 October, Israel has imposed a "total siege" on Gaza, cutting off water, electricity and food supplies, while the territory where 2.4 million people are crammed together has already been under an Israeli land, air and sea blockade since 2007. Medicines are also in short supply and some surgeries are being carried out without completely putting patients to sleep, including amputations, due to the shortage of anesthetics, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned on Saturday.
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Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters around the world
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday called Israel a "war criminal" and accused the West of being "the main culprit for the massacres in Gaza." Israel responded by recalling its diplomats. Saudi Arabia denounced an "unjustified" violation of international law and Oman accused Israel of "war crimes.
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated Saturday in support of the Palestinians in London, and thousands in Paris, Zurich and the United States. The international community fears a regional conflagration, as Iran, a backer of Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah, has issued warnings to the United States, a close ally of Israel. Tensions are also running high in the West Bank, which has been occupied since 1967, where more than 100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers since 7 October.
On Israel's border with Lebanon, where there are almost daily exchanges of fire between the Israeli army and Hezbollah, the headquarters of UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon was hit by a shell on Saturday, without causing any casualties. On the other hand, a peacekeeper was lightly wounded near Hula by shelling, UNIFIL announced overnight.