The announcement by Israel’s prime minister on Saturday appeared to signal the start of a sustained ground incursion into the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces near the border with Gaza fire a long-range howitzer artillery weapon on Oct. 28, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an expanded ground operation as the “second stage” of the war. JERUSALEM — Israel has embarked on the “second stage” of its war in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday, as ground troops pressed into the besieged territory and a near total communications blackout cut Palestinian residents off from the rest of the world.
“Communication crisis continues. Limited access and limited information about the situation outside my own location. Sounds of air strikes and unprecedented artillery bombardment. No internal communication between team. Can’t confirm safety of any staff.” “The objectives of this war require a ground operation, the best soldiers are now operating in Gaza,” Chief of Staff Gen. Herzi Halevi said. Netanyahu warned Saturday night that the war would be “long and difficult.”
Aid groups, struggling to make contact with their teams inside of Gaza, reported life-threatening conditions as Gaza’s infrastructure and health networks crumbled. Witnesses, those who could hold a signal from cell towers outside the enclave, said most ambulances could not pass through ruined streets and people were carrying the dead and injured by foot.“Now there is a new bombing,” Palestinian journalist Anas Al-Shariff said in a text Saturday to The Washington Post.
In Israel, the military tighten control of areas outside of Gaza. News crews set up on an overlook on the Israeli side of the border fence less than a mile from Beit Hanoun in the northeast corner of the enclave. Jets roared overhead and artillery units fired into the enclave. Machine gunfire rang out.
But an organization of hostage families expressed outrage, setting up a vigil outside of Israel Defense Forces headquarters in Tel Aviv and vowing not to disband until granted a meeting with Netanyahu. Some held signs that read “POW exchange now” and “At any cost.”
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