Israeli forces waged ground operations against Hamas in Gaza on Sunday in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the second phase of a three-week-old war aimed at crushing the Palestinian militant group.
Gaza's besieged residents faced a near-total communications and Internet blackout as Israel's warplanes dropped bombs and its troops and armour pushed into the Hamas-ruled enclave, with Israeli military chiefs signalling they were gearing up for an expanded ground offensive.
"This is the second stage of the war whose goals are clear - to destroy Hamas' governing and military capabilities and to bring the hostages home," Netanyahu told reporters.Israel has tightened its blockade and bombarded Gaza for three weeks since the Islamist group Hamas' devastating Oct. 7 attack. At least 1,400 Israelis were killed in the deadliest day of the nation's 75-year history, Israeli authorities said.
President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Palestinian Authority governs parts of the occupied West Bank while Hamas rules Gaza, said, “Our people in the Gaza Strip are facing a war of genocide and massacres committed by the Israeli occupation forces in full view of the entire world.” Netanyahu on Saturday reiterated Israel's call for Palestinian civilians to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip where Israel was focusing its attack on what it was were Hamas hideouts and other installations.
Netanyahu, who met with hostages' families on Saturday, said contacts to secure their release would continue even during a ground offensive and that military pressure on Hamas could help bring them home. He did not elaborate.
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