Israel steps up ground operation against Hamas militants in Gaza
By Emily Rose and Nidal al-Mughrabi
JERUSALEM/GAZA (Reuters) — Israel is expanding ground operations in Gaza and its fighter jets have struck hundreds more Hamas targets, the Israeli military said on Sunday, in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the second phase of a three-week-old war.
Telephone and internet communications were partially restored in Gaza after a more than day-long blackout that had badly impacted rescue operations as Israel pounded targets of the militant Hamas group that controls the territory.
«Israel cut us off from the world in order to wipe us out, but we are hearing the sounds of explosions and we are proud the resistance fighters have stopped them at meters distance,» said Shaban Ahmed, a public servant who stayed in Gaza City despite an Israeli warning to evacuate south.
Ahmed said he only found out on Sunday that his cousin had been killed in an air strike on Friday because of the blackout.
Israeli Defence Force (IDF) fighter jets struck over 450 military targets belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, including operational command centres, observation posts, and anti-tank missile launch posts, the military said.
«We are gradually expanding the ground activity and the scope of our forces in the Gaza Strip,» military spokesman Daniel Hagari told a briefing. «We will do everything we can from the air, sea and land to ensure the safety of our forces and achieve the goals of the war.»
Israel has tightened its blockade and bombarded Gaza for three weeks since Hamas militants killed at least 1,400 people and took more than 200 hostage in an Oct. 7 cross-border attack.
Medical authorities in the Gaza Strip, which has a population of 2.3 million people, said on Sunday 8,005 Palestinians
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