Israel Gaza live: Gaza in blackout as IDF claims to have killed commander behind paraglider attack

The Israeli military has said its ground forces are “expanding their activity” in the Gaza Strip tonight, as lines of communication in the enclave have gone down.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the army’s spokesman, said aerial attacks had been targeting Hamas tunnels and other targets.

“In addition to the attacks that we carried out in recent days, ground forces are expanding their activity this evening,” he said. “The IDF is acting with great force … to achieve the objectives of the war.”

Israel has amassed hundreds of thousands of troops along the border with Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive against the Hamas militant group.

Airstrikes have intensified since nightfall and the territory’s internet and mobile communications services collapsed on Friday evening.

French Jewish groups have set up a helpline to provide support to people in the community traumatized by the latest Israel-Hamas war — from families who have lost loved ones in the Middle East to parents anxious about their children’s reaction to the conflict and Holocaust survivors.

Fabien Azoulay, the deputy director general in charge of solidarity at the United Jewish Social Fund, or FSJU, which brings together many associations in France, said that over 60 psychologists, psychiatrists and child psychiatrists are volunteering to call back those who leave messages on the helpline number. People of all ages are seeking support, from teenagers to parents and elderly people, Azoulay stressed. For some survivors of the Holocaust, “it brings back childhood traumas they thought they’d never see again,” Azoulay said. “They see it in the country (Israel) that was supposed to be the refuge for Jews. So it’s very, very traumatic.”

On 13 October, 1 million people were ordered by Israel to evacuate northern Gaza. The move garnered international criticism with the WHO calling it a “death sentence for the sick and injured” and the UN warning it was impossible to execute and would lead to a “calamitous situation”.

The call to evacuate was repeated on 21 October with leaflets dropped in the north of the strip asking residents to leave “immediately”. It prompted Amnesty International to release a statement suggesting that the order could amount to a war crime under international humanitarian law.

Israel’s military claimes it has killed the man who allegedly commanded the Hamas fighters who infiltrated Israel on paragliders on 7 October and was allegedly responsible for drone attacks on Israeli military posts.

The Israel Defense Force posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Overnight, IDF fighter jets struck Asem Abu Rakaba, the Head of Hamas’ Aerial Array.

“Abu Rakaba was responsible for Hamas’ UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles], drones, paragliders, aerial detection and defence. He took part in planning the October 7 massacre and commanded the terrorists who infiltrated Israel on paragliders and was responsible for the drone attacks on IDF posts.”

The World Health Organisation has warned that it urgently needs an estimated $80m (£66m) to respond to humanitarian needs in the West Bank and Gaza and to undertake contingency planning for Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan through the end of 2023.

Thousands of Palestinians were thrown into isolation as Israel struck targets in the Gaza Strip with bombardment and artillery fire stepped up overnight, knocking out communications and creating a near-blackout of information.

The enclave of nearly 2.3 million people, mostly living in refugee camps, lost all contact with the outside world.

The Israeli military said it was expanding ground operations in the territory, signaling it was moving closer to an all-out invasion of Gaza, where it has vowed to crush the ruling Hamas militant group after its bloody incursion in southern Israel three weeks ago.

Explosions from continuous airstrikes lit up the sky over Gaza City for hours after nightfall yesterday.

Scores of protesters filled the main concourse of New York City’s famed Grand Central Terminal during the evening rush hour yesterday, chanting slogans and unfurling banners demanding a cease-fire as Israel intensified its bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Wearing black T-shirts saying “Jews say cease-fire now” and “Not in our name,” at least 200 of the demonstrators were detained by New York Police Department officers and led out of the train station, their hands zip-tied behind their backs.

The NYPD said the protesters were taken briefly into custody, issued summonses and released, and that a more exact number of detentions would be available today morning.

Some protesters hoisted banners as they scaled the stone ledges in front of leaderboards listing departure times.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority asked commuters to use Penn Station as an alternative. After the sit-in was broken up by police, the remaining protesters spilled into the streets outside.

“Hundreds of Jews and friends are taking over Grand Central Station in a historic sit-in calling for a ceasefire,” advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace said on social media.

Police expect about 100,000 people to join a demonstration in London demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, with other rallies organised elsewhere in the UK – including in Manchester and Glasgow.

The United Nations said the move would prevent aid from reaching Palestinians trapped inside the bombarded territory, with Tel Aviv continuing to fire air strikes on the 25-mile stretch.

Doctors Without Borders, a charity organisation, said it had lost all contact with Palestinian colleagues on the ground.

“We are deeply concerned about the situation in Gaza. We have lost contact with some of our Palestinian colleagues on the ground,” it said.

“We are particularly worried for the patients, medical staff & thousands of families taking shelter at Al Shifa hospital and other health facilities.”

“We call for the unequivocal protection of all medical facilities, staff and civilians across the Gaza Strip.”

Labour leader Keir Starmer is facing mounting pressure to shift his stance on the Israel-Hamas war as some of his party’s most senior politicians outside the shadow cabinet broke ranks to call for a ceasefire.

In a blow to Sir Keir’s authority, mayors Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham as well as Anas Sarwar, Labour’s leader in Scotland, defied their leader’s position on Gaza.

Sir Keir was also hit with warnings that more than 100 Labour MPs – half his parliamentary party – back calls for an immediate cessation to the fighting. Forty nine MPs have now publicly made the call.

He now risks a thorny internal row within his previously united party, just two weeks after he appeared to be riding high in the wake of a successful party conference and well ahead of the Tories in the polls.

Kate Devlin and Adam Forrest have more in this report: