Israel carried out the heaviest bombing of Gaza so far last night and sent forces to the area. And they still haven’t withdrawn. Communicating with people in the area is almost impossible. Summary of the past hours.
The intensification of Israeli attacks began late Friday evening. The number of attacks increased, especially in northern Gaza. This was accompanied by a hostile shout: “Tonight our revenge begins.”
But the long-awaited ground offensive has not yet been carried out. An advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later weakened this statement: At the beginning of the night, he preferred to talk about “retaliatory actions.”
The United States had already called on Israel to reconsider the ground attack. Although the country is one of Israel’s closest allies, it is concerned about the consequences of a ground attack.
According to the Americans, it is doubtful whether Hamas will be eliminated in this way. They are also concerned about the fate of more than two hundred hostages held by Hamas. Partly for this reason, the United States reportedly requested a postponement of the ground offensive last week.
0:43The Israeli army after violent explosions in Gaza: “They took great force”
In the night that followed, the Israeli army continued its violent attacks. Witnesses told American media about the most violent attacks since the conflict escalated three weeks ago. Sometimes several explosions can be heard per minute and the sky turns orange.
As a result, telephone and Internet traffic in the Gaza Strip has stopped since Friday evening. This makes it almost impossible to contact residents, organizations and journalists in the Gaza Strip. It is difficult to know exactly what is happening in the area.
a BBCA journalist in the region who was in contact with the outside world said that the region was experiencing “a state of panic, fear, and chaos.” Palestinian citizens currently live completely isolated from the world, without water, food and medicine.
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Saturday morning it became clearer about the night Israeli practical. The Israeli army published pictures of tanks and soldiers in Gaza. This is the first visual evidence of Israeli forces entering the area.
This has happened often in recent days. But they were short night operations that often ended before sunrise. The Israeli army reported that its forces were still in the Gaza Strip on Saturday morning. It appears that Israel is close to launching a ground attack.
The Israeli army claims to have killed several Hamas leaders. Among them was the commander of the Hamas air force. He was involved, among other things, in planning the massive surprise attack on Israel on October 7. In addition, the IDF is said to have struck 150 underground targets.
Meanwhile, concerns are growing about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip to. Due to an almost complete power outage, the region has become completely isolated from the rest of the world. Human Rights Watch said the communications blackout could serve as a “cover for carrying out large-scale atrocities.”
The World Health Organization is also deeply concerned. The World Health Organization, which itself has been unable to contact its staff in the Gaza Strip, says the power outage makes it “almost impossible” for ambulances to reach the wounded.
On Saturday, Israel promised to allow trucks loaded with food, water and medicine to enter the area. Last week, dozens of trucks carrying aid entered from Egypt.
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