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Israel deepening attacks on Gaza to prepare for ‘next stages of the war’, says military Israel intensifies attacks on northern Gaza as WFP says more aid urgently needed
(about 3 hours later)
Israel Defence Forces hit Gaza and West Bank early on Sunday as US prepares to send more air defence systems to region amid attacks on its troops Israel says anyone in northern Gaza will be considered ‘an accomplice in a terrorist organisation’
Israel has said it is intensifying attacks on north Gaza and warned that anyone who stays risks being considered a terrorist sympathiser, as airstrikes continued on Sunday in the south, where civilians had fled hoping to survive the war. Israel said it was intensifying attacks on northern Gaza and warned that anyone who stayed risked being considered a “an accomplice in a terrorist organisation”, as airstrikes continued on Sunday in the south, where civilians had fled hoping to survive the war.
The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, convened his cabinet late on Saturday, reportedly to discuss an expected ground invasion of the Gaza Strip by troops who have been massing near the enclave. A second trickle of aid was allowed into Gaza from Egypt on Sunday, but the head of the World Food Programme warned that the humanitarian situation was now catastrophic for the 2.3 million people currently trapped inside the enclave.
There has been pressure for a delay in military action from some relatives of hostages being held in Gaza, and the governments of countries with citizens among those being held, as they fear that once Hamas and Israeli troops are fighting face to face, negotiations for their release will collapse. Speaking on ABC’s This Week programme, the WFP chief, Cindy McCain, described the delivery of aid into Gaza so far as a drop. “We need – we need secure and sustainable access in there ... this is a catastrophe happening and we just simply have to get these trucks in.”
Israel’s military said the number of people held captive had risen to 212. The release of two Americans on Friday raised hopes that others might be able to return home. Israel’s leadership has pushed ahead with preparations for the next stage of the war, describing the destruction of Hamas as an urgent imperative. Israel is preparing for a ground invasion that is likely to deepen civilian suffering.
Palestinian media reported that at least 11 people were killed in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, and that Israel was bombing the southern city of Rafah. People are going hungry and drinking dirty water, and some doctors have been reduced to using vinegar as anaesthetic and operating with sewing needles, the Associated Press reported.
The attacks came hours after the Israeli military spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari called on Gaza’s residents to move south “for your own safety”, as the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) planned to step up their bombing campaign on the already shattered north in preparation for the next stage of the war. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, convened his cabinet late on Saturday, reportedly to discuss sending troops over the border. There has been pressure for a delay in military action from some Israeli allies with citizens held in Gaza and from the relatives of some hostages.
“We will deepen our attacks to minimise the dangers to our forces in the next stages of the war. We are going to increase the attacks, from today,” Hagari said. They fear that once Hamas and Israeli troops start fighting face to face, negotiations for the release of hostages will collapse. The release of two Americans on Friday raised hopes that others might be able to return home. The Israeli military has raised its estimate of the number of people held by Hamas to 212.
Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday got mobile phone audio messages, and leaflets marked with the IDF logo, warning they could be identified as sympathisers with a “terrorist organisation” if they stayed put in the north, Reuters reported. Israel’s leadership has pushed ahead with preparations for the next stage of the war, however, describing the destruction of Hamas as an urgent imperative. Netanyahu told troops on the border with Lebanon that it was an existential battle for Israel.
“Urgent warning, to residents of Gaza. Your presence north of Wadi Gaza puts your life in danger. Whoever chooses not to leave north Gaza to the south of Wadi Gaza might be identified as an accomplice in a terrorist organisation,” the leaflet said. “We are in the fight of our life, a fight for our home. That’s not an exaggeration, it’s not an overstatement, that’s this war,” he said, according to an official transcript of his remarks.
Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday that Israel’s retaliatory attacks had killed at least 4,385 Palestinians, including hundreds of children, with more than a million of the territory’s 2.3 million people displaced. On 7 October an attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants killed 1,400 people, mainly civilians, in massacres that have traumatised Israel. He also warned Hezbollah against opening a second front in the war, saying Israel would respond with counter-strikes of “unimaginable” magnitude, but he added: “I cannot tell you right now if Hezbollah will decide to enter the war fully.”
The US said late on Saturday that it would send more air defence systems to the Middle East and prepare to move in more troops, after attacks on its forces in Iraq and warnings from militants against intervening to support Israel against Hamas. Overnight Israeli missiles struck airports in Syria, a Hezbollah ally, and a mosque in the Israeli occupied West Bank – the second such airstrike in recent days – underlining fears that the fight with Hamas in Gaza might escalate into a broader conflagration. Israel also ordered the evacuation of 14 more communities in the north, near the border with Lebanon.
Israel has amassed tanks and troops near the fenced border around Gaza for a planned ground invasion aiming to annihilate Hamas, after several inconclusive wars dating to the group’s seizure of power there in 2007. “We are going to go into the Gaza Strip … to destroy Hamas operatives and Hamas infrastructure,” the IDF chief of staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, told troops in a video distributed by the Israeli military on Saturday. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Sunday that Washington saw potential for escalation in the Middle East due to the actions of Iran and its proxies in the region. The US is not looking for escalation, he told NBC news.
Israeli aircraft struck the West Bank, hitting a compound beneath a mosque early on Sunday that the military said was being used by Hamas. The airstrike is at least the second in recent days to hit the West Bank, where violence has surged since Hamas’s attack on 7 October. Hours after the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) warned of an intensified bombing campaign in northern Gaza, and called on civilians to move south “for your own safety”, airstrikes hit cities in the south crammed with refugees from the north.
Israel said the compound beneath al-Ansar mosque, in Jenin refugee camp, belonged to operatives from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad who were planning an imminent attack. The Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service said at least one Palestinian was killed and three others injured. Palestinian journalists said least 11 people were killed in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, and that Israel was also bombing the southern city of Rafah.
The military released images that it said showed an entrance to a bunker under the mosque. It also released a diagram that it said showed where militants had stored weapons there. Spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari said civilians should head south as the IDF prepared for the next stage of the war. “We will deepen our attacks to minimise the dangers to our forces in the next stages of the war. We are going to increase the attacks, from today.”
The West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp, a Palestinian militant stronghold, was the focus of a major Israeli military operation earlier this year. Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday got mobile phone audio messages, and leaflets marked with the IDF logo, warning they could be identified as sympathisers with a “terrorist organisation” if they stayed in the north, Reuters reported.
Footage on social media, appearing to show the scene of Sunday’s airstrike, showed a gaping hole in one of the mosque’s exterior walls, surrounded by debris. Several dozen Palestinians are seen assessing the damage, as ambulance sirens blare in the background. Gaza’s health ministry said on Saturday that Israel’s retaliatory attacks had killed at least 4,385 Palestinians, including almost 2,000 children, with more than a million of the territory’s 2.3 million people displaced. On 7 October, an attack on southern Israel by Hamas militants killed 1,400 people, mainly civilians, in massacres that have traumatised Israel.
Residents of the camp said they received warnings from the Israeli military to stay away from the militants due to an impending incursion into the site. They said the military did not specify a date. The US said late on Saturday that it would send more air defence systems to the Middle East and prepare to move in more troops, after attacks on its forces in Iraq and warnings from militants against intervening to support Israel.
Since the 7 October Hamas rampage, which has drawn two weeks of lethal Israeli bombardment of Gaza, at least 84 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed in clashes with Israeli forces, Palestinian officials say. Israel has amassed tanks and troops near the fenced border around Gaza for a planned ground invasion aiming to annihilate Hamas, after several inconclusive wars dating back to the group’s seizure of power there in 2007. “We are going to go into the Gaza Strip … to destroy Hamas operatives and Hamas infrastructure,” the IDF chief of staff, Lt Gen Herzi Halevi, told troops in a video distributed by the Israeli military.
Canada’s Department of National Defence said late on Saturday that Israel was not behind the al-Ahli hospital explosion in Gaza on 17 October. The strike was more likely caused by an errant rocket fired from Gaza, the department said, based on analysis of open source and classified reporting. Canada’s findings are similar to conclusions by France and the US. The Israeli military said that “an aircraft” carried out a strike on the Al Ansar mosque inside the Jenin refugee camp, early on Sunday morning. It is the second time Israeli authorities have used missiles in the West Bank in less than a week, saying they were targeting Palestinian militants.
Canada said its assessment was informed by analysis of the blast damage to the hospital complex, including adjacent buildings and the area surrounding the hospital, as well as the flight pattern of the incoming munition. Video from Jenin showed Palestinian paramedics rushing into the mosque compound. Health officials said that at least two people were killed in the strike, with several others wounded.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said 471 people were killed in the blast at the hospital last Tuesday. US intelligence has put the death toll at between 100 and 300 people. Gaza’s health ministry blamed an Israeli airstrike, while Israel said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by militants. In a joint statement, the IDF and Israel domestic intelligence service the Shin Bet said they had targeted tunnels underneath the mosque, and claimed Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants were using it as a headquarters to plan an imminent attack.
The US said it would send more air defence systems, including a terminal high altitude area defence (Thaad) system and additional Patriot air defence missile system battalions, to the Middle East and would ready more troops. The same Palestinian refugee camp was the focus of an intense Israeli military campaign last July which left at least 14 Palestinians dead, including a raid on the Al Ansar mosque.
Drones and rockets targeted two military bases housing US forces in Iraq last week, the latest in a series of attacks after Iraqi militants warned Washington against intervening to support Israel against Hamas in Gaza. Over 90 people have been killed by Israeli forces, settlers or Palestinian authority security forces in the West Bank since Hamas’ attack on 7 October, as well as growing numbers arrested in overnight raids by Israeli forces across the territory.
The Israeli military said on Sunday morning that their forces had arrested 727 people across the West Bank, while Palestinian prisoner groups said at least 1,000 had been arrested in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the raids.
Canada’s Department of National Defence said late on Saturday that Israel was not behind the al-Ahli hospital explosion in Gaza on 17 October. The strike on the Anglican-run hospital was more likely caused by an errant rocket fired from Gaza, the department said, based on analysis of open source and classified reporting. Canada’s findings are similar to conclusions by France and the US.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said 471 people were killed in the blast at the hospital last Tuesday. US intelligence has put the death toll at between 100 and 300 people. Gaza’s health ministry blamed an Israeli airstrike, while Israel said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launched by militants.
The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said on Sunday that he had “no idea” how many people had died in the blast at the Anglican hospital, adding that assuming Israeli culpability could be tantamount to antisemitic libel.
“I have no idea about how many civilians there were. I’ve heard so many numbers,” he told reporters on a visit to Jerusalem, Reuters reported.
“What I have said to people, publicly, is: ‘Don’t assume it’s Israel. You have no proof that it’s Israel. Many people have made a clear case it’s not. At the very best, do not start propagating another blood libel.’”
With Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-PresseWith Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse