Agency Report<\/p>\n
Israel intensified its attacks on Gaza on Sunday, calling for civilians to flee south where it vowed aid would increase.<\/p>\n
This is as the Red Cross warned of \u201cintolerable\u201d suffering.<\/p>\n
The United Nations warned that thousands more civilians could die in Gaza as Israel declared the war had entered a \u201csecond stage\u201d, stepping up its ground operations inside the Hamas-run territory.<\/p>\n
Israel unleashed a massive bombing campaign after Hamas gunmen stormed across the border on October 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 230 hostages, according to Israeli officials.<\/p>\n
Since then, relentless Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed more than 8,000 people, half of them children, the Hamas-controlled health ministry in the territory said.<\/p>\n
Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, voiced shock Saturday at the \u201cintolerable level of human suffering\u201d, urging all sides to de-escalate the conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a catastrophic failing that the world must not tolerate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thousands of buildings have been flattened in the overcrowded territory of 2.4 million people, with more than half the population displaced as Israel imposed a near-total siege.<\/p>\n
Israeli fighter jets dropped leaflets over Gaza City on Saturday,\u00a0warning residents that the area was now a \u201cbattlefield\u201d, that shelters in northern Gaza were not safe, and they should \u201cevacuate immediately\u201d.<\/p>\n
The army delivered similar warnings earlier in its campaign, but many who fled south have returned home after failing to find refuge from Israeli bombing.<\/p>\n
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari restated on Sunday that civilians should go south \u201cto a safer area where they can receive water, food and medicine\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hagari vowed that \u201cthe humanitarian efforts to Gaza, led by Egypt and the United States, will be expanding\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hamas authorities reported on Sunday that a \u201clarge number\u201d of people were killed overnight in strikes on two refugee camps in northern Gaza.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s Home Front Command earlier warned residents in the southern cities of Ashdod and Ashkelon of incoming missile and rocket attacks.<\/p>\n
The intense strikes against Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, provided cover for Israeli ground forces to step up operations, ahead of an expected full-blown invasion.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince early Friday evening, combined combat forces of armour, combat engineers and infantry have been operating on the ground in the northern Gaza Strip,\u201d the Israeli army said late Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the second stage of the war whose goals are clear: destroying the military and leadership capabilities of Hamas, and bringing the hostages back home,\u201d Netanyahu told journalists.<\/p>\n
He vowed to \u201ceradicate\u201d Hamas \u201cfor the sake of our existence\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe war in the (Gaza) Strip will be long and difficult and we are prepared for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said earlier that Israel was attacking \u201cabove the ground and below the ground\u201d in the new phase of the war, alluding to the sprawling network of tunnels Hamas has built under Gaza.<\/p>\n
UN human rights chief Volker Turk has warned of \u201cthe possibly catastrophic consequences of large-scale ground operations in Gaza\u201d,\u00a0saying \u201cthousands more civilians\u201d could die.<\/p>\n
And as Israel sends troops and tanks further into Gaza, analysts cautioned of possible fallout threatening the entire Middle East, even as Western fears grow that Iran-backed Hezbollah could open a new front on the Lebanese border.<\/p>\n
A UN peacekeeper was injured Saturday by shelling in south Lebanon, the mission\u2019s spokesman said, hours after reporting a hit at its headquarters as Israel-Lebanon border skirmishes intensify.<\/p>\n
AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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