Hopes that the killing of Hamas’ leader would rekindle momentum toward a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip dimmed further Saturday, as Israeli forces pressed their offensive in the ravaged north of the territory and health officials there said two hospitals had come under attack.
The largest telecommunications provider in the enclave said internet access was completely down in northern Gaza, making the extent of the dayslong Israeli military operation difficult to discern. But Palestinian Civil Defense, an emergency service, said that Israeli strikes overnight had killed or injured dozens of people in the northern Gaza town of Jabalia, which Israeli forces have encircled since last week.
Palestinians who had fled to neighboring areas reported intense bombardment and shelling throughout the night. On Saturday morning, the Gaza Health Ministry said that Israeli forces had fired gunshots and artillery toward the Indonesian Hospital, on Jabalia’s northern outskirts. The Israeli military confirmed that it was operating in the area but said that there had been no “intentional fire” at the hospital.
Gaza health authorities also said Israeli forces had fired at a building on the grounds of Kamal Adwan Hospital, another major facility near Jabalia, resulting in one death and multiple injuries. Some 20,000 people had fled Jabalia on Friday alone, the head of UNRWA, the main U.N. agency aiding Palestinians in Gaza, said on social media, adding that critical shortages of fuel and medical supplies were being reported in the area’s remaining functioning hospitals.
Israel’s deadly assault in Gaza has shown no sign of letting up in the days since Israel announced it had killed Hamas’ leader, Yahya Sinwar. U.S. officials have signaled they will try to renew long-deadlocked talks on a deal to stop the fighting in exchange for the release of the dozens of remaining hostages in Gaza.
But Sinwar’s longtime deputy said Friday that the group would not soften its demand for a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in a video posted to social media Saturday that his country would continue its fight with Hamas and “Iran’s other terrorist proxies.”
Here is what else to know:
— Major barrage: The Israeli military said that approximately 180 projectiles had been launched from Lebanon into Israel by midafternoon Saturday. Most were intercepted or allowed to fall into unpopulated areas, but one barrage that was fired toward the cities of Haifa and Acre killed a man and wounded another, emergency workers said. Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia that signaled after Sinwar’s death that it would escalate its conflict with Israel, issued statements saying it had targeted sites in northern Israel.
— Drone attack: A drone from Lebanon was launched toward Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal town of Caesarea and struck a building, his office said in a statement. Netanyahu and his wife were not there at the time, and there were no injuries, the office said.
— Strikes in Beirut: The Israeli military struck sites in the Dahiya, the densely packed urban area near Beirut where Hezbollah holds sway. The strikes occurred a short time after Israel issued evacuation warnings to residents of certain buildings, and appeared to be the heaviest bombardment in the area in days.
— Iranian leader: Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, offered his condolences for Sinwar and said Iran stood by Palestinian fighters. “Hamas is alive and will stay alive,” he said, according to a social media post. Iran is a longtime backer of the Gaza-based militant group.
— Sinwar’s autopsy: The Hamas leader was killed by a gunshot wound to the head and had suffered an arm injury in a firefight with Israeli soldiers, the director of Israel’s national forensic institute, Chen Kugel, told The New York Times. Kugel, who oversaw the autopsy, said that Sinwar’s body was later handed over to the Israeli military. It was unclear where the body was being kept or what would happen to it.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
