The Israeli army warned residents of Gaza City that the area was now a "battlefield," as it stepped up its air campaign against Hamas in the Palestinian territory. "To the residents of the Gaza Strip: The Gaza governorate (Gaza City) has become a battlefield. Shelters in northern Gaza and Gaza governorate are not safe," the army said in leaflets dropped by fighter jets. It also urged residents to "evacuate immediately" to the south.
This comes after Israel expanded its ground operation in Gaza, sending in tanks and infantry backed by massive strikes from the air and sea. Israel’s defense minister said that “the ground shook in Gaza” and that the war had entered a new stage.
“We moved to the next stage in the war,” Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, adding, “Last evening, the ground shook in Gaza. We attacked above ground and underground. ... The instructions to the forces are clear. The campaign will continue until further notice.”
Hamas, on the other hand, demanded that Israel must free all Palestinian prisoners in exchange for hostages, the group's spokesman said as per news agency AFP.
"The price to pay for the large number of enemy hostages in our hands is to empty the (Israeli) prisons of all Palestinian prisoners," Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida said in a statement, adding, "If the enemy wants to close this file of detainees in one go, we are ready for it. If it wants to do it step-by-step, we are ready for that too."
Read more: Israel targets Hamas' subterranean city but ‘wicked problem’ is… 'Gaza metro'
The Palestinian death toll in Gaza rose to just over 7,700 people since October 7, with 377 deaths reported since late Friday. A majority of those killed have been women and minors, Gaza's health ministry said while the spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra told reporters that the disruption of communications has “totally paralyzed” the health network.
{{/usCountry}}The Palestinian death toll in Gaza rose to just over 7,700 people since October 7, with 377 deaths reported since late Friday. A majority of those killed have been women and minors, Gaza's health ministry said while the spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra told reporters that the disruption of communications has “totally paralyzed” the health network.
{{/usCountry}}UN human rights chief Volker Turk warned of "the possibly catastrophic consequences of large-scale ground operations in Gaza", saying "thousands more civilians" could die.
Meanwhile, Gaza Civil Defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told news agency AFP that "hundreds of buildings and houses were completely destroyed and thousands of other homes were damaged" in the overnight strikes.
"If it were a natural earthquake, it would have been much easier than what happened last night," he told AFP, adding, "What happened last night was more like a horror movie. People in the streets have become lifeless bodies walking."