Israel vows to step up Gaza strikes, warns civilians to keep moving south
- Israel military says it wants to enter the next phase of the war ‘in the best conditions, not according to what anyone tells us’
- Hours after first international aid into Gaza since the Hamas attack on Israel enters the enclave, officials say 55 people killed overnight
Israel’s military says it will intensify strikes on Hamas-controlled Gaza ahead of a planned ground invasion, as UN agencies warned of a “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in the blockaded territory.
Overnight raids killed at least 55 people, the Hamas government said on Sunday. “More than 55 martyrs,” the government press office said in a statement on the latest night of bombing in response to the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
The press office added that more than 30 homes had been destroyed in the hours after an Israeli military spokesman said that raids would be increased.
A first trickle of aid entered the Palestinian enclave from Egypt on Saturday, but the 20 trucks permitted to cross with food and medicine, but no fuel, have been described as a “drop in the ocean” given the needs of 2.4 million residents.
Hundreds of trucks carrying aid entered Gaza daily before Israel’s bombardment.
The military has pounded the territory with relentless strikes in response to Hamas’s murderous October 7 attack, in which militants killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death, according to Israeli officials.
