Thousands break into UN aid warehouses in Gaza in a sign of growing desperation as war escalates

DEIR EL-BALAH – Thousands of folks broke into aid warehouses in Gaza to take meals and “basic survival items,” a U.N. company mentioned Sunday, in a mark of growing desperation and the breakdown of public order 3 weeks into the war between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers.

Tanks and infantry driven into Gaza over the weekend as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu introduced a “second stage” in the war, 3 weeks after Hamas introduced a brutal incursion into Israel. The widening floor offensive got here as Israel pounded the territory from air, land and sea.

The bombardment — described through Gaza citizens as probably the most intense of the war — knocked out most communications in the territory overdue Friday, in large part reducing off the besieged enclave’s 2.3 million folks from the arena. Communications have been restored to many of us in Gaza early Sunday, in keeping with native telecoms firms, Internet-access advocacy staff NetBlocks.org and affirmation at the floor.

The U.N. company for Palestinian refugees, identified as UNRWA, supplies elementary products and services to masses of 1000’s of folks in Gaza. Its faculties around the territory had been reworked into packed shelters housing Palestinians displaced through the warfare. Israel has allowed simplest a small trickle of aid to go into from Egypt, some of which used to be saved in one of the warehouses that used to be damaged into, UNRWA mentioned.

Thomas White, the company’s Gaza director, mentioned the break-ins have been “a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege on Gaza. People are scared, frustrated and desperate,” he said.

Residents living near Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, said Israeli airstrikes overnight Sunday hit near the hospital complex and blocked many roads leading to it. Israel accuses Hamas of having a secret command post beneath the hospital, without providing much evidence.

Tens of thousands of civilians are sheltering in Shifa, which is also packed with patients wounded in the strikes.

“Reaching the hospital has become increasingly difficult,” Mahmoud al-Sawah, who’s sheltering in the health center, mentioned over the telephone. “It seems they want to cut off the area.” Another Gaza City resident, Abdallah Sayed, mentioned the Israeli bombing over the last two days used to be “the most violent and intense” because the war began.

Israel says most residents have heeded its orders to flee to the south, but hundreds of thousands remain in the north, in part because Israel has also bombarded targets in so-called safe zones.

An Israeli airstrike hit a two-story house in the southern city of Khan Younis on Sunday, killing at least 13 people, including 10 from one family. The bodies were brought to the nearby Nasser Hospital, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment when asked about reports of strikes near Shifa. The army said it had struck over 450 militant targets over the last 24 hours, including Hamas command centers, observation posts and anti-tank missile launching positions.

The military also said more forces were sent into Gaza overnight.

The army recently released computer-generated images showing what it said were Hamas installations in and around Shifa Hospital, as well as interrogations of captured Hamas fighters who might have been speaking under duress. Israel has made similar claims before, but has not substantiated them.

Little is known about Hamas’ tunnels and other infrastructure, and the claims could not be independently verified. Hamas’ government dismissed the allegations as “lies” and said they were “a precursor for striking this facility.”

The escalation ratcheted up domestic pressure on Israel’s government to secure the release of some 230 hostages seized in the Oct. 7 rampage, when Hamas fighters from Gaza breached Israel’s defenses and stormed into nearby towns, gunning down civilians and soldiers in a surprise attack.

Desperate family members met with Netanyahu on Saturday and expressed fortify for an alternate for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

Hamas’ best chief in Gaza, Yehia Sinwar, mentioned Palestinian militants “are ready immediately” to unencumber all hostages if Israel releases all of the thousands of Palestinians held in its prisons. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an Israeli army spokesman, pushed aside the be offering as “psychological terror.”

Netanyahu told the nationally televised news conference that Israel is determined to bring back all the hostages, and maintained that the expanding ground operation “will help us in this mission.” He said he couldn’t reveal everything that is being done due to the sensitivity and secrecy of the efforts.

“This is the second stage of the war, whose objectives are clear: to destroy the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and bring the hostages home,” he said in his first time taking questions from journalists since the war began.

Netanyahu also acknowledged that the Oct. 7 “debacle,” in which more than 1,400 people were killed, would need a thorough investigation, adding that “everyone will have to answer questions, including me.”

The Israeli military said it was gradually expanding its ground operations inside Gaza, while stopping short of calling it an all-out invasion. Casualties on both sides are expected to rise sharply as Israeli forces and Palestinian militants battle in dense residential areas.

Despite the Israeli offensive, Palestinian militants have continued firing rockets into Israel, with the constant sirens in southern Israel a reminder of the threat.

The Palestinian dying toll in Gaza rose Saturday to only over 7,700 folks because the war started, with 377 deaths reported since overdue Friday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Most of the ones killed had been ladies and minors, the ministry mentioned.

An estimated 1,700 people remain trapped beneath the rubble, according to the Health Ministry, which has said it bases its estimates on distress calls it received.

Israel says its strikes target Hamas fighters and infrastructure and that the militants operate among civilians, putting them in danger.

More than 1.4 million people across Gaza have fled their homes, nearly half crowding into U.N. schools and shelters, following repeated warnings by the Israeli military that they would be in danger if they remained in northern Gaza.

Gaza’s sole power plant shut down shortly after the start of the war, and Israel has allowed no fuel to enter, saying Hamas would use it for military purposes.

Hospitals are struggling to keep emergency generators running to operate incubators and other life-saving equipment, and the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees is also trying to keep water pumps and bakeries running to meet essential needs.

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Magdy reported from Cairo. AP writer Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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Full AP protection: https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.