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Hamas says 'heavy fighting' in Gaza as Israel steps up ground war

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Adel Zaanoun with Rosie Scammell in Jerusalem, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Smoke rises after Israeli shells strike the northern part of the Gaza Strip during sunset, October 29, 2023. More than 7,600 Palestinians and at least 1,300 Israelis have been killed, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Palestinian health authority, since Hamas militants launched an attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, and the Israeli operations in Gaza and the West Bank which followed it. Hannibal Hanschke, EPA-EFE." src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/10/30/103023_gaza-strip_epa.jpg"/><figcaption>Smoke rises after Israeli shells strike the northern part of the Gaza Strip during sunset, October 29, 2023. More than 7,600 Palestinians and at least 1,300 Israelis have been killed, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Palestinian health authority, since Hamas militants launched an attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, and the Israeli operations in Gaza and the West Bank which followed it. <em>Hannibal Hanschke, EPA-EFE.</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Hamas said it was engaged in &quot;heavy fighting&quot; with Israeli troops on Sunday inside northern Gaza, where besieged residents were again told to flee.</p><p>After weeks of ferocious air strikes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared a new &quot;stage&quot; in what he warned will be a &quot;long and difficult&quot; war.</p><p>Israel&#x27;s military released a series of images late Sunday purporting to show tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery and equipment-laden infantrymen operating inside Palestinian territory.</p><p>Hamas said its Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades were already &quot;engaged in heavy fighting... with the invading occupation forces&quot;.</p><p>The Israel Defense Forces claimed to have struck more than &quot;450 terror targets, including operational command centers, observation posts, and anti-tank missile launch posts&quot;.</p><p>The military also said 31-year-old sergeant Yinon Fleishman was killed in Gaza when his tank overturned.</p><p>With a fierce urban war now feared, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari told Palestinian civilians to go south &quot;to a safer area&quot;.</p><p>&quot;We are gradually expanding the ground activity and the scope of our forces in the Gaza Strip,&quot; he said.</p><p>It is now more than three weeks since Hamas gunmen launched a wave of bloody cross-border raids against homes, communities, farms and security posts inside Israel.</p><p>An estimated 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 239 people were taken hostage, according to the latest Israeli tallies.</p><p>Grieving and enraged, Israel has vowed to free the hostages, track down those responsible and &quot;eradicate&quot; Hamas, a Palestinian Islamist movement that has governed Gaza since 2007.</p><p>But there is growing international concern about the toll of Israel&#x27;s campaign on Gaza&#x27;s two-plus million residents.</p><p>The territory is under siege, with people unable to leave and only a trickle of humanitarian aid allowed in.</p><p>Meanwhile, Israel has carried out one of the most intense bombing campaigns in recent memory.</p><p>Gaza&#x27;s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 8,000 people, mainly civilians, have been killed -- half of them children.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/10/29/23/israel-pounds-gaza-as-red-cross-warns-of-intolerable-suffering">Israel pounds Gaza as Red Cross warns of &#x27;intolerable&#x27; suffering</a></li></ul><div><strong>- Food, water, medicine -</strong></div><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="Volunteers and UAE" s="" Red="" Crescent="" members="" collect="" and="" prepare="" boxes="" with="" humanitarian="" aid="" relief="" goods="" at="" Festival="" Arena="" in="" United="" Arab="" October="" as="" a="" result="" of="" the="" conflict="" between="" Palestine="" Israel="" causing="" many="" victims="" Gaza="" strip="" UAE="" launched="" campaign="" Tarahum="" for="" to="" provide="" food="" other="" donations="" people="" Gaza.="" Ali="" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/life/10/30/103023_gaza-aid_epa-(1).jpg"/><figcaption>Volunteers and UAE&#x27;s Red Crescent members collect and prepare boxes with humanitarian aid and relief goods at Festival Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, October 29, 2023. As a result of the conflict between Palestine and Israel causing many victims in the Gaza strip , the UAE launched a campaign &quot; Tarahum for Gaza&quot; to collect and provide humanitarian aid, food and other relief donations for people in Gaza. <em>Ali Haider, EPA-EFE.</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>Inside Gaza&#x27;s maze of streets, rubble and hulled-out buildings, there is a growing sense of panic, fear and desperation.</p><p>Ibrahim Shandoughli, a 53-year-old from Jabaliya in northern Gaza, asked why he would head south when that area is also being bombed.</p><p>&quot;Where do you want us to evacuate to? All the areas are dangerous,&quot; he said.</p><p>Etidal al-Masri was among those who did move south.</p><p>But even in the border town of Rafah, she still struggles to find even the basics amid shortages of food, water and medicine.</p><p>Gazans &quot;must now queue for bread, toilets and even for sleep&quot;, she said.</p><p>On Sunday, the desperation appeared to boil over.</p><p>The United Nations reported that &quot;thousands of people&quot; had ransacked its warehouses looking for tinned food, flour, oil and hygiene supplies.</p><p>The UN also reported that 33 trucks carrying water, food, and medical supplies had entered Gaza from Egypt on October 29.</p><p>It is one of the largest deliveries to date, but still far short of the 100 trucks a day that aid groups say is needed.</p><p>International Criminal Court lead prosecutor Karim Khan warned Israel on Sunday that preventing access to humanitarian aid could be a &quot;crime&quot;.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/overseas/10/30/23/smoke-rises-over-gaza-as-israeli-army-intensifies-military-strikes">Smoke rises over Gaza as Israeli army intensifies military strikes</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/overseas/10/30/23/smoke-rises-over-gaza-as-israeli-army-intensifies-military-strikes">Smoke rises over Gaza as Israeli army intensifies military strikes</a></li></ul><div><strong>- &#x27;Axis of resistance&#x27; -</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2858556" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>In a phone call with Netanyahu on Sunday, US President Joe Biden also underscored the need to &quot;immediately and significantly&quot; increase the flow of aid.</p><p>And while the White House has welcomed the gradual return of cell phone and internet services that had been cut for days, it had a sharp warning for Israel&#x27;s leaders.</p><p>The &quot;burden&quot; lies with Israel to distinguish between militants and innocent civilians in Gaza, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told CNN.</p><p>According to the UN, all 10 hospitals in northern Gaza have received evacuation orders -- despite sheltering thousands of patients and about 117,000 of the displaced.</p><p>The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has said evacuation is impossible and reported repeated strikes around Al-Quds hospital in central Gaza.</p><p>The head of the World Health Organization said calls to evacuate Al-Quds hospital were &quot;deeply concerning&quot;.</p><p>&quot;We reiterate -- it&#x27;s impossible to evacuate hospitals full of patients without endangering their lives,&quot; Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.</p><p>Mohamed al-Talmas, who has taken shelter in Gaza&#x27;s biggest hospital Al-Shifa, said &quot;the ground shook&quot; there with intense Israeli raids.</p><p>Israel describes Al-Shifa hospital as a de facto Hamas &quot;command centre&quot; and headquarters.</p><p>Washington has also expressed deep concern about the war spilling over, as Israel&#x27;s enemies -- and in particular an Iran-allied &quot;axis of resistance&quot; -- step up actions across the Middle East.</p><p>Iran&#x27;s President Ebrahim Raisi has warned Israel&#x27;s &quot;crimes have crossed the red lines, which may force everyone to take action&quot;.</p><p>Since Hamas&#x27;s attack on October 7, Iran-backed groups have launched attacks from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria.</p><p>Skirmishes have intensified on the Israeli-Lebanese border with Iran-backed Hamas ally Hezbollah.</p><p>On Sunday militants in south Lebanon fired rockets towards Israel, which has responded with strikes.</p><p>The Israel Defense Forces also said they had &quot;struck military infrastructure in Syrian territory&quot; in response to launches &quot;toward Israeli territory.&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/10/30/23/33-aid-trucks-entered-gaza-sunday-un">33 aid trucks entered Gaza Sunday: UN</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/10/30/23/us-says-burden-on-israel-to-distinguish-between-hamas-gaza-civilians">US says burden on Israel to distinguish between Hamas, Gaza civilians</a></li></ul><div><strong>- &#x27;Psychological games&#x27; -</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2858443" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div><p>Inside Israel, where shocked residents still face daily rocket attacks, much of the focus is on the hostages abducted by Hamas.</p><p>Hamas has released four prisoners and offered to release more as part of a swap for Palestinians detained in Israel.</p><p>It has also claimed &quot;almost 50&quot; hostages were killed by Israeli strikes -- a claim that was impossible to verify but has caused anguish to those praying for their loved ones to return.</p><p>&quot;We demanded that no action be taken that endangers the fate of our family members,&quot; said Meirav Leshem Gonen, the mother of hostage Romi Gonen.</p><p>Israel&#x27;s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant accused Hamas of playing &quot;psychological games&quot;.</p><p>&quot;Hamas is cynically using those who are dear to us -- they understand the pain and the pressure,&quot; he said.</p><p>© Agence France-Presse</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/multimedia/photo/10/29/23/israel-intensifies-raids-vs-hamas">Israel intensifies raids vs Hamas</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/overseas/10/29/23/israeli-military-releases-videos-of-ground-forces-and-strikes-in-gaza">Israeli military releases videos of ground forces and strikes in Gaza</a></li></ul><p>RELATED VIDEO</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3MqstTqhptM?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

Hamas said it was engaged in 'heavy fighting' with Israeli troops on Sunday inside northern Gaza, where besieged residents were again told to flee.

Hamas says 'heavy fighting' in Gaza as Israel steps up ground war

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Hamas says 'heavy fighting' in Gaza as Israel steps up ground war

Adel Zaanoun with Rosie Scammell in Jerusalem,

Agence France-Presse

Published Oct 30, 2023 03:28 PM PHT

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Israel

Gaza Strip

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Benjamin Netanyahu

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