Israel introduced an expanded floor operation on Saturday after knocking out communications and making a near-blackout of information within the Gaza Strip with higher bombardment and artillery hearth in a single day.
Explosions from steady airstrikes lit up the sky over Gaza City for hours after dusk Friday as the Israeli military mentioned it used to be increasing floor operations within the territory, signaling a transfer nearer to an all-out invasion of Gaza intended to weigh down the ruling Hamas militant staff after its bloody rampage in southern Israel on Oct. 7.
The Palestinian telecom supplier, Paltel, mentioned the bombardment brought about “complete disruption” of web, mobile and landline products and services as the besieged enclave’s 2.3 million other folks had been in large part bring to a halt from touch with the out of doors global. Some satellite tv for pc telephones endured to serve as.
The Palestinian dying toll handed 7,300. The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, which tracks the toll, released a detailed list together with names and ID numbers on Thursday. In the occupied West Bank, greater than 110 Palestinians had been killed in violence and Israeli raids for the reason that battle’s get started 3 weeks in the past.
More than 1,400 other folks had been slain in Israel all over the Hamas incursion, together with no less than 310 infantrymen, consistent with the Israeli govt. At least 229 hostages had been taken into Gaza, and four hostages had been launched previous.
Currently:
Here’s what is occurring in the most recent Israel-Hamas battle:
ISRAEL ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF GROUND OPERATION INTO GAZA
Israel is increasing its floor operation in Gaza with infantry and armored automobiles sponsored by way of “massive” moves from the air and sea, the Israeli military spokesman mentioned Saturday.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari mentioned “the forces are still on the ground and are continuing the war.”
Troops in the past performed transient nightly floor incursions prior to returning to Israel.
Earlier Saturday, the military launched movies appearing columns of armored automobiles shifting slowly in open, sandy spaces of Gaza, the primary visible affirmation of floor troops. The military mentioned warplanes bombed dozens of Hamas tunnels and underground bunkers.
Journalists within Gaza who had been ready to keep in touch with the out of doors global mentioned there used to be intense Israeli bombardment in northern Gaza in a single day and early Saturday.
“The raids were very intense from artillery shelling and air raids. There is an explosion, gunfire and clashes are heard on the border,” journalist Mohammed Abdel-Rahman informed The Associated Press.
They heard sounds of clashes Saturday morning at the western borders of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza and “artillery shelling from time to time, intermittent and not continuous,” Abdel-Rahman said.
Another journalist, Anas al-Sharif, reported shelling close to the Indonesian hospital in Beit Lahia and said rescuers have retrieved wounded people and many bodies from rubble across northern Gaza.
Israel’s military also announced Saturday it had struck and killed a top Hamas naval operative, Ratib Abu Tzahiban, who it says orchestrated an attempted naval attack in Israel on Oct. 24. It was unclear if the military was referring to an episode when a group of Hamas divers were repelled after trying to infiltrate Israel on a beach north of Gaza.
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION AND DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS LOSE CONTACT WITH TEAMS, AGENCIES SAY
CAIRO — The U.N. health agency and other aid groups said Saturday they remain unable to communicate with their teams in the besieged Gaza Strip during intense Israeli air and land bombardment.
Tedros Adhanom, head of the World Health Organization, said the blackout has made it “impossible for ambulances to reach the injured.”
“We are still out of touch with our staff and health facilities. I’m worried about their safety,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
UNWRA, the U.N. agency for refugees, announced that as of Friday, 58 staff members had been killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.
Guillemette Thomas, Palestinian territories medical coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, said the aid group had not able to reach its team for more than 12 hours.
“The situation is very difficult,” she told The Associated Press. “We can’t communicate with our team. We don’t know whether they are safe.”
In the occupied West Bank, increased violence from Israeli settlers has prompted many Palestinians, particularly Bedouin communities, to flee. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Territories said Friday that settler violence in the West Bank has displaced more than 600 Palestinians, including 211 children.
LARGE DEMONSTRATION AT U.S. EMBASSY IN INDONESIA CALLS FOR END TO WAR
JAKARTA, Indonesia — More than 3,000 protesters marched to the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy in Indonesia’s capital on Saturday to demand an end to the war and bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Waving Indonesian and Palestinian flags, the protesters, many wearing white Islamic robes, filled a major thoroughfare in downtown Jakarta running outside the embassy. About 1,000 police were deployed around the compound, which is blocked off by concrete road barriers.
The protesters, organized by the Indonesian Ulema Council, known as MUI, chanted “God is Great” and “Freedom for Palestine” during the noisy but peaceful protest. Banners and placards proclaimed, “We stand with Gaza,” and slammed the Israeli government while denouncing the staunch U.S. support of Israel.
“We are not willing to allow our brothers and sisters in Palestine to be tyrannized or genocided by Israel,” MUI Secretary General of MUI Amirsyah Tambunan told the crowd. “We will continue to support and fight for Palestinian independence and sovereignty.”
NYC PROTESTERS DEMAND GAZA CEASE-FIRE, MANY ARRESTED AFTER FILLING GRAND CENTRAL TRAIN STATION
NEW YORK – Hundreds of protesters in black T-shirts filled New York City’s iconic Grand Central Terminal during the evening rush hour on Friday to demand a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
Many of the protesters were detained by police and taken out of the station, their hands zip tied behind their backs. The NYPD could not immediately say how many were taken into custody.
“Hundreds of Jews and friends are taking over Grand Central Station in a historic sit-in calling for a ceasefire,” advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace said on social media.
Inside the main concourse, protesters wearing shirts that read “cease-fire now” and “not in our name” chanted, with some holding banners in front of the list of departure times. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority asked commuters to use Penn Station as an alternative.
The scene echoed last week’s sit-in where more than 300 people were arrested for illegally demonstrating on Capitol Hill in Washington.
EXPLOSIONS SHATTER THE NIGHT SKY OVER GAZA AS ISRAEL EXPANDS BOMBING
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – The dull orange glow of Israeli flares shone in the night sky over Gaza, slowly descending through the haze to illuminate targets for warplanes before eventually flickering out, plunging the scene back into darkness.
Multiple explosions from Israeli airstrikes tore into northern Gaza on Friday, quick flashes of bright orange silhouetted against the rooftops of Palestinian apartments and refugee camps. The sharp crunching sound of the bombs followed each time, seconds later, one after another.
Overhead, the buzz of Israeli military drones cut through, growing quieter and louder as the crafts circled the airspace.
For most Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip, their world has shrunk to these few sounds and colors.
Israel dramatically ramped up its bombardment Friday after knocking out internet and communication in Gaza, largely cutting off the tiny besieged enclave’s 2.3 million people from contact with each other and the outside world.
U.N. GENERAL ASSEMBLY CALLS FOR ‘HUMANITARIAN TRUCE’ IN GAZA LEADING TO HALT IN ISRAEL-HAMAS FIGHTING
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly approved a nonbinding resolution on Friday calling for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza leading to a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
It was the first U.N. response to Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and Israel’s ongoing military response and vow to obliterate Hamas.
The 193-member world body adopted the resolution by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions after rejecting a Canadian amendment backed by the United States to unequivocally condemn the “terrorist attacks” by Hamas and demand the immediate release of hostages taken by the militant group.
GAZA’S LARGEST HOSPITAL STRUGGLES TO KEEP ITS NEONATAL UNITS RUNNING AS ISRAEL TIGHTENS SEIGE
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Premature babies wiggle and squirm, some with oxygen tubes under their noses, in rows of clear plastic incubators inside the neonatal unit of Gaza’s largest hospital, which, like the rest of the besieged Palestinian territory, is running out of fuel, food, water and electricity.
Doctors in Gaza say conditions have reached catastrophic levels. They say a lack of basic supplies has left them struggling to maintain hygiene and sanitation, and hospital grounds are overcrowded with displaced civilians seeking refuge from Israeli airstrikes.
“We have noticed an increase in premature birth cases,” said Dr. Nasser Bulbul, head of the NICU at al-Shifa Hospital.
“We had to perform a premature delivery of the fetus from the mother’s womb while she’s dying,” he said. “Many of these infants are orphaned, and we don’t know the fate of their relatives or have information about their identities.”
Around 50,000 pregnant women are caught up in the conflict, with around 5,500 due to give birth within the next 30 days, according to the United Nations Population Fund.
If fuel supplies run out, neonatal intensive care units will be impacted and planned or emergency caesarean sections will be impossible, the U.N. agency said.
PRESS GROUP SAYS THE PAST 3 WEEKS HAVE BEEN DEADLIEST PERIOD FOR JOURNALISTS COVERING CONFLICT
NEW YORK — The Committee to Protect Journalists says the past three weeks have been the deadliest on record for journalists covering conflict since the organization started tracking in 1992.
The organization said in a statement Friday that at least 29 journalists have died covering the Israel-Hamas war since it ignited Oct. 7, including 24 Palestinians, four Israelis and 1 Lebanese. Additionally, 8 other journalists were reported injured and 9 were reported missing or detained.
CPJ also criticized the cutting of communications services in the Gaza Strip, warning that the blackout is also a “news blackout” that has compromised the public’s ability to “know and understand what is happening in this conflict.”
“This can lead to serious consequences with an independent, factual information vacuum that can be filled with deadly propaganda, dis- and misinformation,” it said.
The organization stressed that journalists are civilians that must be respected and protected in accordance with international humanitarian law, adding that “deliberating targeting journalists or media infrastructure constitutes possible war crimes.”
‘WE’RE NOT DRAWING RED LINES FOR ISRAEL,’ WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL SAYS
WASHINGTON — White House National Security spokesman John Kirby repeatedly refused to comment on Israel saying its ground forces were expanding activity in Gaza and also refused to comment on what a satisfactory long-term objective might be for the fighting.
“We’re not drawing red lines for Israel,” Kirby said Friday on a call with reporters. “We’re going to continue to support them” but “since the very beginning we have, and will continue to have, conversations about the manner that they are doing this.”
Kirby said the U.S. is still evaluating the impact of airstrikes against Iranian-backed militias and “we will not hesitate to take further actions in our own self-defense.”
He also said 10 additional trucks filled with humanitarian aid had made it to Gaza, bringing the total to 84, but that the U.S. is aware that fuel there “is only anticipated to last a couple of days.”
The White House previously said President Joe Biden was briefed Friday morning by his national security team on the latest developments in Israel and Gaza.
AID GROUPS SAY BLACKOUT IS IMPEDING STAFF COMMUNICATIONS AND OPERATIONS
RAMALLAH, West Bank — Aid groups say the communications blackout in the Gaza Strip has not only left them unable to contact their staff, but has also impeded their operations in the territory.
“It doesn’t only mean that Gaza is isolated from the world but also it means people can’t connect to each other. Our emergency line is down so people are literally not able to call an ambulance,” said Nebal Farsakh, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent. “We are extremely worried because we are completely cut off from our teams.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross also said it’s currently unable to reach its staff in Gaza.
“We are deeply worried for their safety and the safety of all civilians where hostilities are taking place,” the organization said in a statement. “Without access to information in a communication blackout, people don’t know where to go for safety.”
ISRAELI ARMY SAYS GROUND FORCES WILL EXPAND THEIR ACTIVITY IN GAZA FRIDAY EVENING
JERUSALEM — The Israeli military on Friday mentioned its floor forces had been “expanding their activity” within the Gaza Strip, as the military moved nearer to a full-on floor invasion of the besieged territory.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the military’s spokesman, mentioned aerial assaults have been focused on Hamas tunnels and different goals.
“In addition to the attacks that we carried out in recent days, ground forces are expanding their activity this evening,” he mentioned. “The IDF is acting with great force … to achieve the objectives of the war.”
Israel has accumulated masses of hundreds of troops alongside the border with Gaza forward of an anticipated floor offensive in opposition to the Hamas militant staff.
Israel has been pounding Gaza with airstrikes since Hamas militants carried out a bloody cross-border incursion on Oct. 7.
POPE FRANCIS LEADS SPECIAL PRAYERS FOR COUNTRIES AND REGIONS AFFECTED BY WAR
VATICAN CITY — Amid indicators of escalating tensions within the Middle East, Pope Francis led particular prayers Friday night in St. Peter’s Basilica for an international “in a dark hour” and in “great danger” from what he described as the folly of battle.
In his remarks, delivered within the shape of a prayer to the Virgin Mary, Francis didn’t point out by way of identify the Israeli-Palestinian war, which exploded into battle after the Hamas assault in opposition to Israelis on Oct. 7.
Instead, he mentioned he used to be praying for “especially those countries and regions at war.”
“Intercede for our global, in such turmoil and nice risk,″ the pope prayed, in obvious connection with fashionable nervousness that the Israeli-Hamas battle may briefly grow to be a much broader, regional battle within the Middle East.
PALESTINIAN TELECOM PROVIDER SAYS INTERNET SERVICE HAS BEEN CUT IN GAZA STRIP
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian telecom supplier Paltel says web provider in Gaza Strip has been bring to a halt by way of Israeli bombardment. Services had been minimize Friday night, following a heavy spherical of Israeli airstrikes that lit up the evening sky over the darkened territory.
Rights teams and newshounds additionally say they misplaced touch with colleagues within the enclave. The Associated Press’s makes an attempt to touch other folks in Gaza didn’t undergo.