Israeli army “gradually increases ground operations” in northern Gaza, where “heavy fighting” is underway, according to Hamas

• The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced throughout the day Saturday that they would continue to intensify their operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. after a night of bombing on an unprecedented scale. The numerous strikes were still accompanied, according to the Israeli army on Saturday evening, by ground incursions. “A combined force of tanks, engineers and infantry operates on the ground” in the Palestinian enclave, the IDF said. Gaza City and its surrounding areas are now considered ” a battlefield ” by the Israeli army.
• The situation on the ground has always remained difficult to follow, due to the breakdown of a large part of telecommunications due to the bombings. led by Israel. On Saturday, the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza, territory under Hamas control, assured that “Hundreds of buildings and houses were completely destroyed.” The latest report from the Gaza Ministry of Health, also administered by the Islamist movement, shows more than 8,000 Palestinians killed since the start of the conflict on October 7.
• Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Saturday evening that war would be “long and difficult” and that its objective was to ” destroy ” Hamas. “We will fight and we will win”proclaimed the Israeli Prime Minister. “I think 90% of Hamas’ military budget comes from Iran. [Ce pays] he finances it, he organizes it, he guides it”Mr. Netanyahu also affirmedwho however recognized “not being able to say” that Iran “had participated in this specific action” from October 7.
• Mr. Netanyahu further promised that Israel “would explore all options” to obtain the release of some 220 hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist movement. For his part, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinouar, said he was ready to conclude ” immediately ” an exchange of “all prisoners” Palestinians incarcerated by Israel “against all the hostages” detained in the Gaza Strip.
• Israel recalled its diplomats from Turkey after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the Jewish state, announced Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Saturday. Earlier, the Turkish head of state said during a “rally in support of Palestine” in Istanbul : “Israel, we declare you before the whole world a war criminal” And “Israel, you are the occupiers, the invaders”. “What is happening in Gaza is not self-defense but a massacre”he added.
• During this same speech, Mr. Erdogan accused the West of being “the main culprits of the massacres in Gaza”. “I ask the West: will you create a new atmosphere of crusades against the Crescent [emblème de la religion musulmane] ? »he declared, adding: “You mourned the children killed in Ukraine, why this silence in the face of the children killed in Gaza? »
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday renewed his call for a “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” and to “the unconditional release of the hostages” of Hamas. The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, also called for “a pause in hostilities (…) to enable humanitarian access”.
• In London, tens of thousands of people took part in a demonstration in support of the Palestinians on Saturdayorganized for the third weekend in a row, to call for a ceasefire. In Paris, between “3,000 and 4,000” people, according to the prefecture, gathered at Place du Châtelet, despite the ban on demonstrations of support for Palestine.

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