Israel launches expanded Gaza offensive aimed at defeating Hamas

Israel launches expanded Gaza offensive aimed at defeating Hamas

Smoke billows over the Gaza Strip after the Israeli military announced the start of an intensified operation in the territory

Israel launched an intensified offensive in Gaza on Saturday aimed at "the defeat of Hamas", with rescuers in the Palestinian territory reporting at least 32 killed by new Israeli strikes.

The stepped-up campaign came amid growing international concern over worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza as an Israeli aid blockade wore on, and as a new round of indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel got underway in Doha.

Israel's military said the operation marked "the expansion of the battle in the Gaza Strip, with the goal of achieving all the war's objectives, including the release of the abducted and the defeat of Hamas".

UN chief Antonio Guterres, addressing an Arab League summit in Baghdad, said he was "alarmed" at the escalation and called for "a permanent ceasefire, now".

The summit's final statement urged the international community "to exert pressure to end the bloodshed" and let in aid.

Gaza's civil defence agency said at least 32 deaths had been recorded Saturday, more than half of them women and children.

Spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP some people were still buried under rubble after the strikes, and that there were also reports of deaths and injuries elsewhere but rescuers were unable to reach the areas due to ongoing shelling.

In Deir el-Balah, displaced Gazans sifted through belongings, some stained with blood, for whatever could be salvaged after overnight strikes hit their tents.

"We woke up at half past two in the morning to the sound of a loud explosion that shook the entire area," said Umm Fadi Quzaat.

"There was blood and body parts everywhere."

Italy urged Israel to stop the strikes, while Germany said it was "deeply concerned". European Council President Antonio Costa said he was "shocked by the news from Gaza".

Israel resumed its operations in the territory on March 18, ending a two-month truce in the war.

- Protests -

Thousands protested in London on Saturday against the war.

"The situation in Gaza is worsening and worsening," said one demonstrator, who gave his name as Laurens, adding that "more organisations and agencies are talking about genocidal violence".

While the Eurovision Song Contest final took place in Basel, Switzerland, pro-Palestinian protesters in the city upset at Israel's participation clashed with police just before the country's entrant took the stage.

Israel's Yuval Raphael, singing "New Day Will Rise", survived the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the Gaza war.

In Tel Aviv, crowds of supporters and family members of Israeli hostages in Gaza turned out for a protest demanding a deal for the captives' return.

Levy Ben Baruch -- the uncle of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, who was recently released after direct talks between Hamas and the United States -- said his nephew's freedom offered a lesson for Israel's leaders.

"Edan's return is a miracle -- but also a reminder... that war is not needed to return (the hostages)! That we can talk. That we can bring everyone back," he said in a statement released by the main organisation representing hostages' families.

- Doha talks -

Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said Saturday that new talks on ending the war had begun in Doha "without any preconditions from either side".

Previous negotiations failed to secure a breakthrough, but the talks have been ongoing.

The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, said the renewed offensive had brought Hamas back to the table.

Both sides have insisted on certain conditions in past talks, with Hamas saying disarmament was a red line and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unwilling to agree to a deal that would leave the group intact.

Netanyahu's Likud party said he had been "in continuous contact throughout the day with the negotiating team", as well as with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, and had ordered the negotiators "to remain in Doha for the time being".

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke by phone with Netanyahu on Saturday about "the situation in Gaza and their joint efforts to secure the release of all remaining hostages", a spokeswoman said.

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, however, argued against a deal, saying "now is not the time to pull back", but rather to go in "with full force and finish the job -- conquer, seize the territory, crush the enemy, and free our hostages".

- 'Catastrophic' -

Israel has faced increasing pressure to lift its aid blockade, as UN agencies warn of critical shortages of food, clean water, fuel and medicines.

Marwan Sultan, director of the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, said the situation was "catastrophic after its surroundings were targeted again this morning".

The hospital was "unable to receive any more critical cases" amid "a severe shortage" of blood units, medicine and supplies, he said.

Hamas's October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Of the 251 hostages taken during the attack, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said 3,131 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 53,272.

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Originally published as Israel launches expanded Gaza offensive aimed at defeating Hamas