Key Points
- Israel has opened a direct crossing for aid into Gaza.
- Telecommunications have been partially restored in central and southern areas.
- Aid agencies say aid distribution has been disrupted by violence.
Israel has opened a direct crossing for aid into Gaza for the first time in its more than two-month-old war on Hamas while also stepping up attacks on the Palestinian enclave, saying military pressure is the only way its hostages will be freed.
The Israeli attacks took place amid fierce fighting the length of the coastal strip, according to residents and militants, with communications down for a fourth day, making it hard to reach the wounded.
“The communication blackout in Gaza is the longest since the start of the Israeli escalation,” the Palestinian Red Crescent said on X, adding that its teams were also hampered by shelling.
Telecommunications were gradually being restored in central and southern areas, telecoms companies said later.
Hopes for peace had been raised when a source said Israel’s spy chief had spoken with the prime minister of Qatar, which mediated hostage releases in return for a week-long ceasefire and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners.
In a further positive sign, the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza opened for aid trucks for the first time since the outbreak of war, officials said, in a move to double the amount of food and medicine reaching Gazans.
But Israel cast doubt on whether the aid would be distributed, accusing aid officials of not distributing aid that had crossed from Egypt, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “fight to the end”.
Aid agencies say aid distribution has been disrupted by the violence.
Hamas said it would not discuss freeing on 7 October while Israel continues its attacks.
Israel has bombarded Gaza since Hamas’ 7 October attack in which more than 1,200 people were killed, according to the Israeli government, and over 200 hostages taken.
More than 19,000 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.The attack on 7 October was an escalation of a long-running conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli missile strikes on a house belonging to the Shehab family killed 24 people and wounded dozens of others in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, Hamas al-Aqsa radio said, quoting the director of the health ministry.
The son of Dawoud Shehab, spokesman of Hamas-ally Islamic Jihad, was among the dead, an official from the group told Reuters.
A medic said dozens people had been killed or wounded in the Shehab family home and others nearby that were also hit.
In Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, medics said 12 Palestinians had been killed and dozens were wounded while in Rafah in the south, they said an Israeli air strike left at least four people dead.
Israel said it had operated against “terrorist” targets.
Israel’s military said on Sunday that 121 soldiers had been killed since the ground campaign began on 27 October, when tanks and infantry began to push into Gaza’s cities and refugee camps.
The toll is already almost twice as high as during a ground offensive in 2014, a reflection of how far it has pushed into the enclave and of Hamas’ effective use of guerrilla tactics and an expanded arsenal.
The Israeli military said its troops had found weapons and a tunnel used by militants to attack troops in Shejaia, a suburb east of Gaza City in the north, and destroyed a weapons storage facility in the home of a Hamas operative.
The Israeli military said it had killed seven “terrorists” in an air strike on Khan Younis and found rocket manufacturing parts and three tunnel shafts near a school used as a shelter.
