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Israel has launched a major new offensive in Gaza it says is aimed at destroying Hamas and freeing hostages, sparking condemnation from the United Nations and aid organizations who warn civilians are bearing the brunt of the expanded assault. More than 150 people have been killed and 459 others injured over the last 24 hours, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza said Saturday, adding to a mounting toll from days of intense Israeli strikes. “The situation for Palestinians in Gaza is beyond description, beyond atrocious & beyond inhumane,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a Saturday post on X. “A policy of siege & starvation makes a mockery of international law. The blockade against humanitarian aid must end immediately. This is a moment for moral clarity & action,” Guterres added. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a late Friday statement it launched “extensive attacks and mobilized forces to seize strategic areas in the Gaza Strip, as part of the opening moves of Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ and the expansion of the campaign in Gaza, to achieve all the goals of the war in Gaza, including the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas.” The development comes as US President Donald Trump concluded his visit to the Middle East without securing a ceasefire deal and after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier this month that the population of Gaza would be displaced to the south following his security cabinet’s approval of an expanded military operation that one minister described as a plan to “conquer” the territory. The IDF’s announcement also comes shortly after the Palestinian Ministry of Health marked a grim milestone in the war. On Thursday, the ministry said that the number of people killed by Israel’s offensive in Gaza in the wake of the October 7 attacks in 2023 now exceeds 53,000 – the majority of whom are women and children. Dr. Munir Al-Sultan, Director of the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, said Friday that there were “extremely intense explosions” around the hospital, which severed the connections to ventilators that some of their patients require to stay alive. Raed Radwan, a displaced resident in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, told CNN on Saturday that he could feel the ground shaking since dawn because of explosions in the enclave. “Many people who were unable to flee yesterday due to the intensity of the shelling are now on the move,” he said. “Following the announcement of the new military operation, food prices skyrocketed. Whatever goods remain in the markets or are being sold on the streets have become extremely expensive,” Radwan said adding that there is a “significant” movement of people from northern Gaza into the south with transportation costs surging dramatically. “The situation in Gaza is heartbreaking, beyond imagination. It’s hard to describe,” said Nael Rahmi, from the Al-Nasr neighborhood in Gaza. “People are fleeing with only the clothes on their backs, unable to carry any personal belongings.” Differences with US The new Israeli offensive comes amid what appear to be growing differences between the US and Israeli governments. Trump said last week that he wanted an end to the “brutal war” in Gaza and he did not visit Israel during his tour of the Middle East this week. He also bypassed Israel twice this month in reaching bilateral deals with regional militant groups. Hamas released an Israeli-American hostage last week, and the Houthis agreed to stop firing at American ships in the Red Sea while pledging to continue fighting Israel. On Wednesday, Trump denied that Israel had been sidelined. “This is good for Israel,” he said. But on Thursday, he said he wanted the US to “take” Gaza and turn it into a “freedom zone.” “I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good, make it a freedom zone, let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone,” Trump said in Qatar. While in the Gulf, Trump also acknowledged that people are starving in Gaza and said the US would have the situation in Gaza “taken care of.” “We’re looking at Gaza. And we’re going to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving,” he told reporters in Abu Dhabi. Meanwhile, in the Iraqi capital on Saturday, Arab leaders gathered for a summit expected to discuss the war in Gaza, with the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in attendance. The UN’s Guterres and Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez are also among those attending the Baghdad summit. Dire conditions in Gaza As the situation for Palestinian civilians grows increasingly dire, UN agencies are calling for urgent action. Around 436,000 people have been estimated to have been forcibly displaced since March, according to a report from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, when Israel launched a fresh ground campaign as part of its renewed assault on the enclave. For nearly 11 weeks, Israel has imposed a complete siege on Gaza, denying entry of food, medical supplies and other aid to the more than 2 million Palestinians who live in the territory. Israel says the blockade, along with the military’s expansion of its bombardment of Gaza, is intended to pressure Hamas to release hostages held in the enclave – but international organizations say it violates international law, with many accusing Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war. A UN study this week warned one in five people in the Gaza Strip are facing starvation and that the entire population of Gaza is at “high risk” of famine, the most severe type of hunger crisis. The US and Israel are backing the newly established Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a tightly controlled mechanism for Gaza aid deliveries that seeks to supplant the traditional role of UN agencies in delivering aid to the enclave. The foundation’s executive director, Jake Wood, told CNN on Friday that Israel has agreed to allow some food into Gaza before a newly approved mechanism for aid deliveries is up and running later this month, but he did not yet know when or how many aid trucks Israel would allow in. The Israeli government has not been swayed by a growing tide of international criticism over the blockade on aid reaching Gaza, now in its third month. Netanyahu said earlier this week: “We are destroying more and more homes, they have nowhere to return to. The only inevitable outcome will be the desire of Gazans to emigrate outside of the Gaza Strip,” a goal that Trump had supported soon after coming into office. Israel launched the war after Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups carried out a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. This attack marked the deadliest terror attack in Israel’s history. This story has been updated with additional information.
