Israel retaliated with a brutal bombing campaign that killed more than 4,300 Palestinians.
Tel Aviv, Israel:
The Israeli army announced on Saturday that it would step up its bombing of Hamas-controlled Gaza, just hours after first aid vehicles from Egypt arrived, delivering much-needed aid to civilians in the war-torn enclave.
The military said it wanted to reduce the risks its troops would face if they entered Gaza in the next phase of the war it launched against Hamas after the group carried out the deadliest attack in Israel’s history on October 7.
According to Israeli officials, Hamas killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, maimed or burned, and took more than 200 hostages.
Israel has retaliated with a brutal bombing campaign that has killed more than 4,300 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-led Health Ministry.
An Israeli siege has cut off food, water, electricity and fuel supplies to the densely populated area of 2.4 million people, raising fears of a humanitarian catastrophe.
Tens of thousands of Israeli troops have been deployed to the Gaza border ahead of an expected ground offensive that officials have promised will begin “soon.”
“Starting today, we are stepping up attacks and minimizing the danger,” military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said at a news conference on Saturday.
“We must enter the next phase of the war in the best conditions, not based on what anyone tells us.”
During a visit to a frontline infantry brigade, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said the troops were ready to face any surprises Hamas had in store for them as they entered Gaza.
“Gaza is densely populated, the enemy is preparing many things there – but we are also preparing,” Halevi said.
‘Much more’ is needed
AFP journalists saw twenty trucks from the Egyptian Red Crescent pass through the Rafah border crossing from Egypt to Gaza on Saturday.
The border crossing – the only one not controlled by Israel – was closed again after the trucks passed through.
The trucks had been waiting on the Egyptian side for days after Israel agreed to a request from its main ally, the United States, to allow aid.
UN chief Antonio Guterres said the 20 trucks allowed in on Saturday fell far short of the needs of Gazans, more than a million of whom have been driven from their homes.
“Much more” aid needs to be sent, Guterres said at a peace summit in Egypt.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the aid and urged “all parties” to keep the Rafah crossing open.
But a Hamas spokesman said “even dozens” of such convoys could not meet Gaza’s demands, mainly because fuel was not allowed in to help distribute supplies to those in need.
‘Divine Nightmare’
In Cairo, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted a peace summit attended by regional and some Western leaders.
“The time has come for action to end this horrible nightmare,” Guterres said at the summit, calling for a “humanitarian ceasefire.”
Guterres said that “the grievances of the Palestinian people are legitimate and long lasting” after “56 years of occupation with no end in sight.”
But he stressed that “nothing can justify Hamas’ reprehensible attack that terrorized Israeli civilians.”
“These abhorrent attacks can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” he added.
According to Arab diplomats who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, the summit broke off without a joint statement, highlighting the divide between Arab and Western countries over how best to build lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Western delegates demanded a “clear condemnation placing responsibility for the escalation on Hamas,” but Arab leaders refused, the diplomats said.
Instead, the Egyptian hosts released a statement – drafted with the approval of Arab delegates – criticizing world leaders for trying to “manage the conflict and not end it permanently.”
The statement said such “temporary solutions and palliative measures… do not meet even the lowest aspirations” of the Palestinian people.
‘Splinter of Hope’
A full-fledged Israeli ground offensive against Gaza entails many risks, including for the hostages taken by Hamas and whose fate is shrouded in uncertainty.
So the release of two Americans among the hostages — mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Raanan — offered a rare “blade of hope,” said Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
US President Joe Biden thanked Qatar, home to Hamas’s political office, for helping to secure the release.
He said he was working “around the clock” to win the return of other Americans who were detained.
Natalie Raanan’s half-brother Ben told the BBC he felt an “overwhelming sense of joy” at the release after “the most terrible ordeal”.
Hamas said Egypt and Qatar had negotiated the release and that it was “working with all mediators to implement the movement’s decision to close the civilian file (hostages) if appropriate security conditions allow.”
Destruction
Nearly half of Gaza’s residents have been displaced and at least 30 percent of all homes in the area have been destroyed or damaged, the United Nations says.
Thousands have taken refuge in a camp in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis.
Fadwa al-Najjar said she and her seven children had walked for 10 hours to reach the camp, breaking into a flight at some points as rockets struck around them.
“We saw bodies and limbs being torn off and we just started praying, thinking we were going to die,” she told AFP.
In Al-Zahra in central Gaza, Rami Abu Wazna struggled to cope with the destruction caused by Israeli rocket attacks.
“Even in my worst nightmares, I never thought this would be possible,” he said.
The United States has moved two aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean to deter Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, both allies of Hamas, amid fears of a bigger conflagration.
The firefight continued Friday at Israel’s border with Lebanon, with Hezbollah reporting that four of its fighters had been killed. Two Thai farm workers were injured in Israel, emergency services said.
Violence has also flared in the West Bank, where 84 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
