Huge explosions lit up the Gaza sky throughout Friday night and early Saturday after Israel stepped up its airstrikes with the heaviest bombardment of the war to date, which was accompanied by the entry of Israeli troops into the Palestinian territory.
Panic, fear and chaos reigned throughout the Strip this Saturday, according to BBC journalist Rushdi Abu Alouf, who reports from the southern city of Khan Yunis.
He stated that the scale of the bombing of northern Gaza was of an intensity never seen before.
The attacks Hundreds of buildings were destroyed and thousands of houses were affected.
Communications inside Gaza and from the Palestinian territory to the outside are cut off, making it difficult to know what is happening.
Besides, Israeli army forces carried out a ground raid in the north from Gaza and remain in the territory.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Saturday that the army moved “to the next phase of the war” and will continue to expand its land activity in the Strip until further notice.
Statements by Gallant and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicate that it began an Israeli ground raid sustained.
Netanyahu said Saturday that Israeli soldiers and commanders “are now in the Gaza Strip, deployed everywhere” and that the ongoing ground operation in Gaza It is the second stage of the war with Hamaswith “very clear objectives.”
He said additional Israeli ground forces have entered what he called “that fortress of evil,” referring to Gaza, to “dismantle” Hamas and bring the hostages home, and said that The battle will be “long and difficult.”
The president assured that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are taking precautions to protect civilians and accused Hamas of committing crimes against humanity by “using its people as human shields.”
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Saturday that More than 7,700 people have died in Gaza since Israel began bombing the territory. The World Health Organization said Friday that 40% of those killed were children.
Hamas killed more than 1,400 people in Israel in the October 7 attacks, most of them civilians, and took more than 200 hostages.
“Disconnected from the planet”
There were fewer attacks in southern areas in recent hours, but the panic among the thousands of people who took refuge there after Israel told them to leave their homes in the north was the same, Abu Alouf said.
According to BBC journalist Lucy Williamson, who was reporting from a hill in Israel overlooking Gaza, explosions in the Palestinian territory in recent hours have been almost constant: from the air and from heavy artillery located along the border. Machine gun bursts could also be heard.
But along with all this noise, there is also silence due to the almost total absence of information from inside Gaza.
Mobile phone and internet coverage stopped working, causing a communications blackout inside the Gaza Strip.
The blackout has also made it difficult for civilians, aid agencies and journalists to communicate with the outside world, with some reports blaming Israeli authorities.
“Last night, suddenly, all connection was lost… everything went down,” a resident of the city of Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, told the BBC, who managed to send a voice note on Saturday afternoon.
As he spoke, an explosion could be heard in the background.
“Now there is an attack. The situation is very dangerous. People are very tense, looking for their families, their loved ones.”
“Gaza is disconnected from the planet”, he claimed.
Meanwhile, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk warned on Saturday that there is a possibility of thousands of civilians being killed in an Israeli ground operation in Gaza.
“The bombings (…) take this terrible crisis to a new level of violence and pain,” he said in a statement.
“In the context of 56 years of occupation, I sound the alarm about the potentially catastrophic consequences of large-scale ground operations in Gaza and the possibility of thousands more civilians being killed,” he added.
Demonstrations in the world
This Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in cities across Europe, the Middle East and Asia to show their support for the Palestinians in Gaza.
In London large crowds march through the center of the capital to demand Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government a call for a ceasefire.
At a large rally in Istanbul, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Israel was an occupier and reiterated its stance that Hamas is not a terrorist organization.
Erdogan was heavily criticized this week by Israel for calling the militant group “freedom fighters.”
There were also massive demonstrations in cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Baghdad, Rome, Stockholm and Copenhagen.
“Destroy everything that the hand of Hamas touches”
Israel said it struck 150 Hamas targets in intensified bombing overnight Friday.
“About one hundred fighter planes” were used in the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip overnight that destroyed hundreds of Hamas targets, said Israeli Air Force Chief of Operations Brigadier General Gilad Keinan.
In a post on X, Israeli forces quoted Keinan as saying that the “air force objective is clear: destroy everything that the hand of Hamas touches.”
For his part, military spokesman Daniel Hagari told Reuters that Israeli forces were “in the field,” without giving further details.
According to Hagari, the strikes would allow Israeli forces to fight on the ground “against a weaker enemy.”
Israel has concentrated tens of thousands of soldiers along the border with Gaza, in addition to tanks and artillery.
It has also activated some 300,000 reservists, along with its permanent force of 160,000.
Hamas is believed to have about 25,000 troops in its military wing. It also has a vast labyrinth of underground tunnels throughout Gaza that the organization said was 500 kilometers long.
Has the Israeli invasion of Gaza begun?
Analysis by Jeremy Bowen, BBC international news editor, from Jerusalem
What appears to be happening is that Israeli forces are concentrating in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, in Beit Hanoun, and advancing a little further south from there.
As I understand it, the Israeli military is most likely trying to clear tunnels, probably with special forces spotting targets for those air force strikes.
Is it a ground offense? I don’t think we should get too hung up on definitions.
When more than 300,000 reservists were mobilized, we thought we would see an invasion of Gaza on all fronts.
However, I think what they could be doing is clearing areas of Gaza piecemeal.
From the tone of the Israeli army’s comments last night I felt that their emphasis was to continue pressing and that It was “revenge”.
I guess you could say this is a very extended raid or ground offensive.
It is certainly a very large military operation.
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