Three weeks after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip have intensified. Since the early evening of Friday October 27, the bombings have increased in a “very significant manner”, according to the Israeli army, and are continuing this Saturday. They targeted the north of the enclave, in particular the sectors of Jabaliya, Beit Lahya and Beit Hanoun. The number of victims is currently unknown. An imposing column of black smoke was visible above Gaza City.
The Israeli army announced that it had “hit 150 underground targets” in northern Gaza overnight, including “tunnels used by terrorists, underground combat sites and other underground infrastructure.” Hundreds of tunnels have been dug under the 14-kilometer border between Gaza and Egypt’s Sinai to move fighters, weapons and other contraband goods. Many have since been destroyed. The Hebrew State reports killing several Hamas members, including “the head of the Hamas air network, Asem Abu Rakaba”. In response, Hamas fired salvos of rockets towards several cities in Israel.
Ground fighting
Hamas reported on Friday evening violent fighting between its fighters and the Israeli army, in the center and north of the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army said it had intensified its strikes. An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed that Israeli forces were operating “inside the Gaza Strip, as they did” by carrying out an incursion the previous night. Following these announcements, Hamas said it was “ready” to face a ground offensive.
“When the war (the ground offensive) starts, we will know it, we will hear it, we will see it,” Colonel Golan Vach, head of the army’s search and rescue operations, said Friday evening. “It’s going to be lethal and it’s going to take time.”
A member of the Hamas political bureau, Houssam Badran, launched an appeal to the Palestinians in the West Bank, inviting them to join the fight in all its forms, armed or not, starting tonight.
Hostages’ families want to meet Netanyahu
Several Israeli media, like Haaretz, Ynet And The Times of Israel, report that the families of hostages wish to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and other members of the war cabinet after “this night which was the worst of all nights”. “Families are worried about the fate of their loved ones and are waiting for explanations. Every minute seems like an eternity. We demand that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and members of the war cabinet meet with us this morning,” according to a statement from the association bringing together relatives of the hostages.
According to the IDF, the hostages were taken to Gaza on October 7 by Hamas, which has since released four women. One of them described being taken into “a sprawling network” of tunnels at the start of her detention. Still according to the Israeli army, the families of some 200 hostages were contacted to be informed that their loved ones were being held by Hamas. The terrorist group estimated Thursday that “nearly 50” hostages were killed in the Israeli bombings.
In Gaza, communications are cut
Communications and the internet have been cut since Friday. The Palestinian Red Crescent and several UN agencies said they had lost contact with their teams in Gaza. The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned on Saturday that this cut risked “serving as a cover for mass atrocities”.
UN General Assembly calls for truce
The UN General Assembly demanded on Friday by a large majority (120 for, 14 against and 45 abstentions, for 193 UN member countries) an “immediate humanitarian truce”. A non-binding resolution described as “infamy” by Israel but welcomed by Hamas. “It’s a dark day for the UN and for humanity,” lambasted Gilad Erdan, assuring that Israel would continue to use “all means” at its disposal to “rid the world of the evil that Hamas represents” and “bring the hostages home.”
This Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan affirmed on X that “the Israeli bombings which intensified last night on Gaza have once again targeted women, children and innocent civilians and deepened the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Israel must immediately stop this madness and put an end to his attacks.” On Wednesday October 25, he had already attacked the Jewish state and described Hamas as “liberator”, behind the massacre of Israeli civilians on October 7.
Furthermore, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), regrets that “the evacuation of patients is not possible in such circumstances, nor the search for safe shelter.”
He specifies that the power cut prevents “ambulances from reaching the injured”, adding that the organization is “still disconnected [du] personnel and health establishments”. He says he is “worried for their safety”.