Tel Aviv, Oct 7, (dpa/GNA) – The Israeli military on Sunday said, it has launched a new ground offensive in Gaza, on the eve of the anniversary of the October attacks by Palestinian militant Hamas, and fighting continues along the Lebanese border where the situation grows more desparate.
Israeli troops advanced with combat tanks into Jabalia in north-eastern Gaza overnight, the military said, reporting that Hamas had attempted to regroup in the area.
The military released photos of vehicles moving through sandy terrain, mirroring images of Israel’s initial offensive into the coastal territory last year.
Jabalia has reportedly been encircled by Israeli forces. The information could not be independently verified, and there were no comment from Hamas.
The Israeli military also said it has opened two escape routes from northern Gaza, to an expanded safe zone in the south, in preparation for possible fresh calls for residents to flee.
Almost all residents have been forced to flee at least once, since the conflict began in the Gaza Strip, where the humanitarian conditions are described as appalling by aid groups,
Israel also attacked what it said were two Hamas command centres, one in a former school and the other in a former mosque, both in the Deir al Balah area in central Gaza.
Arab media reported 24 dead and dozens injured in the area.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the command and control centres “were used by Hamas terrorists to plan and execute terrorist attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel.” It said it took “numerous steps” to mitigate harm to civilians.
This is another example of how Hamas uses civilian infrastructure, in violation of international law, the IDF said.
The conflict began, when fighters from the Palestinian Islamist Hamas militia and others invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking up to 250 hostage.
Israel retaliated with massive attacks that have resulted in what the Hamas-run health ministry says are more than 41,800 people killed.
Hamas does not distinguish between militant and civilian deaths. The figures cannot be independently verified.
A day after the Hamas attack, the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia fired missiles into northern Israel – a front that has escalated this past year.
Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a major bombing of a Beirut southern suburb on September 27.
Iran launched a salvo of missiles against Israel on Tuesday in response to Nasrallah’s killing and that of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, according to Iranian television, Haniyeh died in an explosion on July 31 in a Tehran guesthouse. Israel has not commented on the killing, but is widely believed to be behind it.
As fears of further escalation grow, Iran later closed its airspace in an announcement that came only briefly before the closure began.
“From 9 pm (1730 GMT) tonight until 6 am, all flights in the country have been cancelled,” a civil aviation authority spokesman said, according to a report by news agency.
In Israel, a gunman killed a woman and injured several people at the bus station in the southern city of Be’er Sheva before being “neutralized” by the police, they said.
Police said they were treating the incident as a terrorist attack.
The Israeli rescue service reported that 10 people were injured and treated at a city hospital.
Fighting also continues between Israel and Lebanon, as Israel seeks to push back Iran-backed Shiite group Hezbollah and enable the return of some 60,000 residents evacuated from its northern border regions, amid soaring tensions in the Middle East.
Israel attacked targets in Lebanon near to ancient Roman ruins, the governor of the Baalbek-Hermel district said.
The attack took place 500 to 700 metres from the archaeological sites in Baalbek, Bashir Khodr said in a post on X.
The Lebanese government received an aid delivery of 25 tonnes of medicines and medical supplies from the United Nations, a minister said.
The delivery from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is vital and will enable hospitals to continue to function, said Health Minister Firass Abiad.
Later, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, issued a call for donations for the people of Lebanon as he visited emergency shelters for displaced people in the Lebanese capital Beirut.
“I’ve witnessed today the tragic toll this war is taking on entire communities,” Grandi said. “International humanitarian law must be respected and cannot be ignored. Families have been left homeless, stranded in the open air with traumatized children unable to understand what’s happening.”
“They all told me how desperate they are to feel safe, and for the airstrikes to stop so they can return to their towns and villages,” he said.
Some 1.2 million people have been displaced in Lebanon since Israel intensified operations against Hezbollah two weeks ago, the government says.
There is little space for more people in the rapidly-established emergency shelters in schools and other buildings.
Grandi called for donations of $425.7 million to help displaced people through to the end of the year
The International Committee of the Red Cross says, there is an “intolerable toll of pain” a year into the war.
“Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions have been displaced across the region,” it said.
GNA
