Gaza Strip:
The Israeli military said on Saturday it would step up attacks on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip ahead of a planned ground invasion, as UN agencies warned of a “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in the blockaded territory.
A first drop of aid arrived in the Palestinian enclave from Egypt on Saturday, but the 20 trucks registered were described as a “drop in the ocean” given the needs of 2.4 million residents.
The military has bombarded Gaza with relentless attacks in response to Hamas’ murderous attack on October 7, in which militants said Israeli officials killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, maimed or burned.
The bombing killed more than 4,300 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and reduced parts of the densely populated area to smoldering ruins, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
The United Nations said, citing local authorities, that more than 40 percent of all homes had been damaged or destroyed and Israel had stopped delivering food, water, fuel and electricity.
Israel will now increase its bombing to minimize the risks to its troops if they begin a ground invasion, military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said.
“From today we are increasing attacks and minimizing the danger,” he said.
“We will intensify the attacks and that is why I have called on the residents of Gaza City to move further south for their safety.”
Israel has warned more than a million residents of the northern Gaza Strip to move south for security reasons, and the UN says more than half of the enclave’s population are now internally displaced.
However, the bombardment continued in the southern parts of the Gaza Strip. Hamas authorities reported that nine people were killed in an airstrike in Khan Younis overnight.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians in and around Gaza City are believed to remain in the north, unwilling or unable to leave.
Qatar is negotiating the release of hostages
Israeli troops have gathered on the Gaza border and commanders visited frontline units on Saturday to rally troops.
“We will invade Gaza,” Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi told an infantry brigade during a visit.
“Gaza is densely populated, the enemy is preparing many things there – but we are also preparing for it,” Halevi said.
A ground invasion poses myriad challenges for Israeli troops, as they will likely face Hamas booby traps and tunnels in a densely populated urban environment.
Another complicating factor is the safety of over 200 hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 and held in Gaza.
Two American hostages were released Friday evening after mediation from Qatar, which said more could be released “very soon.”
“We are taking a path that will very soon lead to the release of the hostages, especially the civilians,” Majed Al-Ansari, spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, told the German newspaper “Welt am Sonntag” on Saturday.
“We are currently working on an agreement under which all civilian hostages will first be released,” he added.
After negotiations and pressure from the US, 20 trucks carrying food and medicine, but no fuel, drove from Egypt to Gaza on Saturday.
The border crossing was subsequently closed and UN officials warned that much more was needed.
“Gaza was a desperate humanitarian situation before recent hostilities,” five U.N. agencies said in a statement.
“It’s catastrophic now. The world needs to do more.”
“Something has to be done”
At a peace summit organized by Egypt, UN chief Antonio Guterres again called for a humanitarian ceasefire “to end this terrible nightmare.”
However, in a sign of international divisions, the meeting failed to agree on a common call. Western officials called for a clear condemnation of Hamas and Arab participants opted to issue their own statement criticizing world leaders.
In Gaza, shaken residents said they didn’t know where to go or how to protect their families.
“Even in my worst nightmares, I never thought this could be possible,” said Rami Abu Wazna, staring at the destruction in the Al-Zahra neighborhood of central Gaza.
The scale of the bombing has caused basic systems to stop functioning. About 40 unidentified bodies were buried in a mass grave in Gaza City on Saturday because cold storage ran out before they could be identified, according to the United Nations.
Across the border, in the Israeli Kibbutz Beeri, where Hamas fighters killed ten percent of the population, funeral preparations were underway on Sunday.
Romy Gold, 70, said residents still struggle to understand the horror of their experience.
“All around us, entire families were being shot, slaughtered or burned alive,” he told AFP.
Like many others, he believes that the ground offensive in Gaza “cannot happen fast enough. Something has to be done.”
“We need some sort of assurance that something like this won’t happen again,” he said.
“Better go now”
The conflict has sparked fears of a wider conflagration, with Israeli raids and settler attacks killing dozens of Palestinians in the West Bank.
The Israeli military said on Sunday it had targeted “terrorists” with an airstrike on a mosque in the West Bank’s Jenin, where a group of Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters were said to be planning new attacks.
One person was killed and three injured in the attack, the Palestinian news agency Wafa said, citing the local Red Crescent.
Gunfights also continued on Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where the military traded blows with the militant group Hezbollah.
In southern Lebanon, Hezbollah said four of its fighters were killed, along with a Palestinian Islamic Jihad member.
Israeli authorities reported that three soldiers were injured, one seriously, in Hezbollah anti-tank fire on the village of Baram, and two Thai farm workers were also injured.
Western leaders have warned Hezbollah against intervening in the conflict, but the group’s number two said it was ready to step up its involvement.
“Let us be clear: if, as events continue, something arises that requires greater intervention on our part, we will do so,” Naim Qassem said.
Israel has evacuated dozens of northern communities and nearly 4,000 people in Lebanon have fled border areas to the southern city of Tyre.
“All my children are young. “If the apocalypse comes, how can I get them all out at once?” Mustafa al-Sayyid said in a classroom devoid of desks and littered with thin mattresses.
“So I thought it was better to leave now.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)