Israel-Hamas war live: Aid efforts about to expand in southern Gaza, says Israeli military | Israel-Hamas war

The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza on Monday afternoon at the request of the United Arab Emirates, the Arab representative on the council, according to a report by Associated Press.

Israeli airstrikes have hit areas around Gaza’s largest hospital, destroying roads leading to the facility, which is a major shelter for Palestinians fleeing Israeli bombardment, residents have told Associated Press.

Here is some further detail from AP’s report:

The Israeli military has renewed longstanding allegations in recent days that top Hamas leaders and operatives have built underground bunkers below Shifa hospital and accused the militant group of using civilians as human shields. Israel has not presented evidence, and Hamas denies the claims.

“Reaching the hospital has become increasingly difficult,” Mahmoud al-Sawah, who was sheltering in the hospital, said over the phone on Sunday. “It seems they want to cut off the area.”

Another Gaza resident, Abdallah Sayed, described the Israeli air and land attacks in the past two days as “the most violent and intense” since the war started.

Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank overnight, according to the Fatah-run health ministry in the West Bank.

A 32-year-old in the northern West Bank and a 29-year old in Biet Rima, near Ramallah, were both shot dead. A 31-year-old was also killed in the Askar refugee camp in Nablus, it was reported.

Gaza civilians should move south where aid efforts ‘will expand’ – Israeli military

Republican presidential hopefuls pledged unwavering support for Israel in its war on Hamas as they spoke at an annual gathering of influential Jewish donors on Saturday night, reports AFP.

Former president Donald Trump told the Republican Jewish Coalition event he would “defend our friend and ally in the State of Israel like nobody has ever.”

The conflict between Israel and Hamas is “a fight between civilization and savagery, between decency and depravity, and between good and evil,” said Trump.

Trump has provoked fury over recent weeks after describing Lebanon-based Islamist group Hezbollah as “very smart” and criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump’s nearest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, called the Oct 7 Hamas surprise attack on Israel “the most deadly attack against Jews since the Holocaust itself.”

DeSantis and others pointed to what they said was rising anti-Semitism on US college campuses, and proposed cutting funding for universities and canceling visas for pro-Palestinian foreign students.

The Palestine Telecommunications Company (Paltel) has also confirmed that landline, mobile and internet services in the Gaza Strip are gradually being restored.

“Our technical teams are diligently addressing the damage to the internal network infrastructure under challenging conditions,” it said on social media.

The return of communications is a very welcome development in Gaza, which was cut off from the world late on Friday as Israel expanded ground operations and launched intense airstrikes.

Associated Press has spoken to some of the journalists who were still able to get news out, using international sim cards or satellite phones. Some moved closer to the southern border with Egypt, hoping to pick up that country’s network.

AP spoke to 28-year-old Palestinian journalist Hind al-Khoudary, who said the massive airstrikes that shook the ground exceeded anything she had experienced over the past three weeks or any of the four previous Israel-Hamas wars.

Here’s some detail from AP’s report:

“It was crazy,” she said. When the pace of bombardment slowed Saturday morning, residents rushed to the homes of loved ones with whom they had lost touch overnight.

“People right now are walking, using their cars because there isn’t internet,” al-Khoudary said. “Everyone is checking on us, seeing us, and now we are going to check on others.”

She went directly to Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s largest, where doctors, exhausted from operating on patient after patient with dwindling fuel and medical supplies, pressed on, despite the crowds of some 50,000 people sheltering in the compound.

The wounded poured in from Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, al-Khoudary said, where Israeli bombs wrought destruction the night before.

Here’s a recap of the Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest comments, televised on Saturday night, in which he said the military had opened a “second stage” in the war against Hamas by sending ground forces into Gaza and expanding attacks from the ground, air and sea.

He said the war will be “long and difficult,” calling it a battle of good versus evil and a struggle for Israel’s existence.

Netanyahu told Israelis: “We have unanimously approved the widening of the ground invasion … Our objective is singular: to defeat the murderous enemy. We declared ‘never again’, and we reiterate: ‘never again, now’.”

Describing the expanding war as Israel’s “second war of independence” Netanyahu continued: “In the initial weeks of the war, we launched massive airstrikes that dealt a severe blow to the enemy.

“We eliminated many terrorists. However, we are only at the beginning. The battle within the Gaza Strip will be difficult and long; this is our second war of independence.”

NetBlocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cybersecurity and the internet, has reported that internet connectivity is being restored in the Gaza Strip. Most communications in the territory were knocked out late on Friday, with the Palestinian Red Crescent saying the blackout had blocked emergency calls and disrupted critical ambulance services.

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