A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, stated that the military was “acting with great force… to achieve the objectives of the war.”
IDF’s Response to Hamas
In Gaza, the Israeli military has severed communications and nearly wiped out information while announcing an expansion of ground operations and issuing a warning to Gaza City residents to evacuate to the south.
IDF troops infiltrated northern Gaza during the night, and according to the military, they continued to be present in the region on Saturday morning.
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The IDF reported on Saturday that Israeli fighter aircraft struck 150 subterranean targets in the northern Gaza Strip overnight.
The operation resulted in the demise of a number of Hamas members and encompassed “terror tunnels, underground combat spaces, and additional underground infrastructure,” the statement continued.
As the besieged enclave’s 2.3 million inhabitants were largely cut off from the outside world, the Palestinian telecommunications provider Paltel reported that the bombardment caused “complete disruption” of internet, cellular, and landline services.
Hamas has reported that its militants engaged in combat with Israeli forces in the central region of al Bureij and Beit Hanoun in northeastern Gaza.
Hamas issued the following statement early on Saturday: “All Palestinian resistance forces and the al Qassam brigades are fully prepared to confront (Israel’s) aggression with massive force and thwart its incursions.”
Netanyahu and his defeated army will be incapable of achieving a military triumph.
Yes, the Israeli military announced that they had eliminated the leader of Hamas’ aerial wing, who assisted in the planning of the October 7 attack and oversaw the paragliders that crossed the boundary.
The announcement by the IDF follows its claim that it had conducted additional incursions into Gaza, which included a naval operation.
Notable advancements encompass:
- According to Israel, ground forces are “expanding their activity”
- The IDF claims to have struck 150 underground targets overnight
- Gaza authorities report that airstrikes have killed over 7,300 Palestinians.
- Israel claims the leader of the Hamas aerial detachment responsible for the paraglider attack has been killed.
- Hamas claims that Israeli forces and its fighters engaged in combat in northeast Gaza.
Warships and aircraft from the IDF attacked “Hamas military infrastructure” in the southern Gaza Strip coast Thursday night.
Officials issued footage purporting to depict the raid, but refrained from providing additional information.
The video captured soldiers discharging weapons into the darkness while explosions occurred near the water.
Hamas denied the IDF’s assertion and claimed its fighters had expelled the intruders, according to Israeli media.
Thursday night, Israeli forces reportedly conducted an additional ground assault on the periphery of Gaza City, which they described as a continuation of a recent surge in military activity within the region.
Along the Gaza border, Israel has accumulated hundreds of thousands of personnel in preparation for an anticipated ground offensive.
Nonetheless, it is probable that any assault will commence with the movement of armored vehicles and tanks across the frontier.
Military operations undergo numerous phases to progressively intensify and mitigate the risk of the final invasion, he explained.
“Recent nights have witnessed an escalation in the bombing campaign and what the IDF refers to as raids. This is all to test Hamas’s defenses and determine what threats the IDF will encounter as they approach the offensive.
“That will likely start with an armoured drive across the border to encircle Gaza.”
“The IDF’s urban foot combat in Gaza City is complicated by the tunnels.” “That appears to be an exceptionally perilous endeavor.”
International Concerns
In the interim, Jordan’s foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, accused Israel on Friday of “launching a ground war against Gaza.”
“[The] result will be an epic humanitarian catastrophe that will endure for years to come,” he said on Twitter’s X.
Hamas is a terrorist organisation according to the US, EU, and Israel. However, there are differing opinions on this matter, and some entities do not classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.
The 193-member international organisation passed the resolution on Friday, with Israel, the US, and the UK abstaining.
Israel and Hamas are not, nevertheless, compelled to take any action.
Israel accuses Hamas of launching assaults from hospitals in Gaza.
Hospitals as Conflict Sites
Rear Admiral Hagari previously asserted during a briefing that Hamas was facilitating attacks from hospitals located in Gaza.
He asserted that the Israeli government possessed “concrete evidence” that hundreds of Hamas fighters who participated in the terrorist attack in southern Israel on October 7 subsequently “flooded” into Shifa hospital, the most extensive medical facility in the Gaza Strip.
“Terrorists are currently free to move about Shifa hospital and other Gaza hospital facilities,” the spokesperson said.
Hamas consistently utilizes institutions… International law states that medical facilities can lose their protection against assault when terrorists use them.
IDF (Israel Defence Forces) will follow international law and minimise civilian casualties.
The claims could not be independently verified at that time.
When queried about whether hospitals would no longer be granted protection under international law, he responded as follows: “Should these behaviors persist from hospitals, they may, under specific circumstances, forfeit the safeguards to which they are rightfully entitled.
They cannot dictate what patients say or hold them hostage in hospitals.
A north London doctor working in Gaza called the Israeli briefing a “irrational pretext” to attack medical facilities.
Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah commented: “At the end of the day, what they need to be reminded of, continuously, by everybody, and press included, is that the targeting of any hospital is a war crime, regardless of what outlandish excuses they might provide.”
Mark Regev, a top adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warned Gazans who criticise Hamas of “repercussions.”
