JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said Saturday it is expanding its ground operation in Gaza with infantry and armored vehicles, backed by “massive” air and sea strikes, including the bombing of Hamas tunnels — a key target of its campaign to dismantle the territory ruling group after its bloody invasion of southern Israel three weeks ago.
The Israeli military released grainy images of tank columns moving slowly in open areas of the Gaza Strip and said warplanes bombed dozens of Hamas tunnels and underground bunkers.
“The armed forces are still on the ground and continuing the war,” army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said on Saturday, indicating that the next phase of an expected all-out ground offensive had begun in northern Gaza.
Israel had already massed hundreds of thousands of troops along the border days ago. So far, the troops have conducted short nighttime ground incursions before returning to Israel.
Hagari said ground forces were supported by what he called massive air and sea attacks. He said two more key Hamas military commanders were killed overnight and argued that Israel was facing a “weakened” enemy. There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas.
The new phase of the campaign began late Friday as the bombing crippled communications in the besieged Gaza Strip, cutting off the 2.3 million people there from contact with the outside world.
The near-total loss of information from Gaza allowed the military to largely control the story in an important new phase of the fighting. Palestinians have been thrown into isolation, huddling in homes and shelters as food and water supplies dwindle. In the early stages of the war, Israel cut off electricity.
The loss of internet and phones is another blow to a health and aid system that aid workers said was already on the verge of collapse under Israel’s weeks-long seal. More than 1.4 million people have fled their homes, with almost half crowded into UN schools and emergency shelters. Aid workers say the little aid Israel has allowed from Egypt in the past week represents only a tiny fraction of what is needed.
Hospitals in Gaza are scrambling for fuel to power emergency generators that power incubators and other life-saving equipment.
The U.N. health agency and other aid agencies said Saturday that they remained unable to communicate with their teams in Gaza.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom said the power outage had made it impossible for ambulances to reach the injured. “We are still not in contact with our staff and health facilities. I am worried about their safety,” he wrote on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
The increased air and ground campaign also raised new concerns about the safety of dozens of hostages who were dragged into Gaza on October 7. Hagari said on Saturday that the confirmed number of hostages now stands at 229, following the release of four hostages in recent days through the mediation of Egypt and Qatar.
He dismissed media reports of a possible ceasefire agreement in exchange for the release of hostages as a “cynical exploitation” by Hamas of the fears of the hostages’ relatives.
The families of the hostages demanded a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday as concerns grew over the fate of their loved ones.
The communications disruption in Gaza also increased Palestinians’ fear of their relatives in the area. Wafaa Abdul Rahman, head of a feminist organization based in the West Bank city of Ramallah, said she had not heard from her family in central Gaza for hours.
“We saw these terrible things and massacres live on television. “So what happens if there is a total power outage?” she said, referring to scenes of families crushed in their homes by airstrikes in recent weeks.
Israel says its attacks target Hamas militants and infrastructure and that the militants operate from among civilians, putting them in danger.
According to the territory’s Ministry of Health, the Palestinian death toll in Gaza has risen to over 7,300, more than 60% of whom are minors and women. A blockade of Gaza has led to a decline in supplies, and the United Nations warned that its aid operation helping hundreds of thousands of people is “collapsing” as fuel nears exhaustion.
According to the Israeli government, more than 1,400 people were killed in Israel and at least 229 hostages were taken to Gaza during the Hamas attack on October 7. According to the military, at least 311 soldiers were among those killed.
Palestinian militants have fired thousands of rockets into Israel.
The total death toll far exceeds the total of all four previous Israel-Hamas wars, which is estimated at around 4,000.
Israeli Defense Minister Gallant said Friday that Israel expects a long and difficult ground offensive in the Gaza Strip soon. It “will take a long time” to dismantle Hamas’ vast network of tunnels, he said, adding that he expects a prolonged period of less intense fighting as Israel destroys “pockets of resistance.”
His comments suggested a potentially grueling and open new phase of the war after three weeks of relentless bombardment. Israel has said it wants to destroy Hamas’s rule in Gaza and its ability to threaten Israel. But how Hamas’s defeat will be measured and what the final outcome of an invasion will be remains unclear. Israel says it does not intend to rule the tiny territory, but rather who it should rule – although Gallant suggested a long-term insurgency could ensue.
In Washington, the Pentagon said U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Gallant on Friday and “underscored the importance of protecting civilians during Israel Defense Forces operations and focused on the urgency of providing humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.” The Pentagon said Austin also addressed “the need for Hamas to release all hostages.”
The conflict threatens to spark a larger war across the region. Arab nations – including U.S. allies and those that have peace deals or normalized ties with Israel – have expressed increasing alarm about a possible ground invasion that is likely to cause even more casualties as fighting in the cities takes place.
Many of those stuck in Gaza had no choice but to wait in their homes or seek the relative safety of schools and hospitals as Israel expanded its bombing campaign on Saturday.
Throughout the night, orange fireballs exploded on the horizon over Gaza City’s homes and refugee camps, briefly illuminating clouds of white smoke that hung in the air from previous attacks. Some bombs fell in dense clusters and appeared to hit the same spot.
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Magdy reported from Cairo.