Israel says troops still in the field in Gaza, Hamas vows 'full force'
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[October 28, 2023]
By James Mackenzie
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Hamas pledged to confront Israeli attacks with
"full force" after Israel's military widened its air and ground attacks
on the Palestinian enclave, suggesting on Saturday that a long promised
ground offensive had begun.
Israel said on Saturday morning its troops, sent in on Friday night,
were still in the field, without elaborating. The country had earlier
made only brief sorties into Gaza during three weeks of bombardment to
root out Hamas militants, who it said had killed 1,400 Israelis, mostly
civilians, on Oct. 7.
"The forces are still in the field and continuing the war," Rear Admiral
Daniel Hagari told a news briefing on Saturday morning.
Gaza was under an almost complete blackout, with internet and phone
services cut for more than 12 hours by Saturday morning. Telecoms firms
and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said it was the result of
Israeli bombardments.
Hagari said Israel would allow trucks carrying food, water and medicine
to enter Gaza on Saturday, indicating that bombing might pause, at least
in the area of its border with Egypt where small amounts of aid have
been arriving.
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Aid agencies have said a humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding in Gaza,
whose 2.3 million people are under a total Israeli blockade. Health
authorities in Hamas-run Gaza said on Friday that 7,326 Palestinians had
been killed since Israel's bombardment began.
The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus, said the blackout was "making it impossible" for ambulances
to reach the injured in Gaza.
"Evacuation of patients is not possible under such circumstances, nor to
find safe shelter," he said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
He said also the WHO was not able to contact its staff and health
facilities.
FAMILIES OF HOSTAGES
Relatives of people captured in Israel during the Oct. 7 Hamas assault
demanded an urgent meeting with the Israeli government after what they
called "the most terrible of all nights".
"None of the war cabinet bothered to meet with the families of the
hostages to explain one thing - whether the ground operation endangers
the well-being of the 229 hostages in Gaza," the Hostages and Missing
Persons Families Forum headquarters said.
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![](../images/102823PIX/news_n86.jpg)
A child walks at the site of an Israeli air strike on a house, as
the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas
continues, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 27,
2023. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
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The government has said it is doing everything it can to rescue the
hostages.
The Palestinian militant group that rules Gaza said its fighters
were clashing with Israeli troops in areas near the border with
Israel.
Hagari had said on Friday evening its ground forces were widening
their operations along with extensive air strikes on tunnels dug by
Hamas and other infrastructure.
"In addition to the attacks carried out in the last few days, ground
forces are expanding their operations tonight," he said.
"Overnight, IDF fighter jets struck 150 underground targets in the
northern Gaza Strip, including terror tunnels, underground combat
spaces and additional underground infrastructure. Furthermore,
several Hamas terrorists were killed," the military said.
The armed wing of Hamas, the al-Qassam brigades, said early on
Saturday its fighters were clashing with Israeli troops in Gaza's
northeastern town of Beit Hanoun and in the central area of Al-Bureij.
"Al-Qassam Brigades and all Palestinian resistance forces are fully
prepared to confront the aggression with full force and thwart the
incursions," it said.
The United States and other Western countries have offered strong
support to Israel but had urged it to hold off on a ground offensive
for fear that high casualties among Palestinians would fuel wider
conflict.
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Hamas is backed by Iran, which also supports militias in Lebanon,
Syria, Iraq and Yemen. The Israeli military said it had stopped a
missile fired from Lebanon at one of its drones and was striking the
launch site, the latest in what have been the most serious clashes
on the border since 2006.
Israel's neighbour Egypt said drones fell on the country on Friday
and warned against any expansion of the conflict.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie, Nidal al-Mughrabi; Additional
reporting by Michelle Nichols and Rami Ayyub; Writing by David
Brunnstrom, Raju Gopalakrishnan and Philippa Fletcher; Editing by
William Mallard and Alison Williams)
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