Gaza assault ‘only the beginning’ warns Netanyahu as tanks roll into enclave – live

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that Israel’s week-old retaliation for the Hamas assault from Gaza was “only the beginning,” though he did not elaborate on what might follow or for how long.

“We are striking our enemies with unprecedented might,” Netanyahu said in a brief statement which, unusually, was televised after the Jewish sabbath had begun. “I emphasise that this is only the beginning.”

The Israeli military says for the first time that ground troops have been operating inside the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the army said troops had entered Gaza, carrying out “small raids”, ready to battle militants, destroy weapons and search for evidence about the missing hostages held by Hamas.

The announcement did not appear to be the beginning of an expected ground invasion of Gaza. Israel has been massing troops along the Gaza border since last Saturday’s deadly incursion by Hamas militants.

UK’s International Development minister Andrew Mitchell has reportedly said the government is speeding up the delivery of “essential humanitarian supplies” to support Palestinians as they flee south of Gaza.

“We will do whatever is necessary to play our part in meeting humanitarian need,” Mr Mitchell told BBC.

He said steps are being taken to ensure the aid doesn’t leak to the Hamas administration in Gaza.

Anafa Ifshitcl was in Kathmandu when the news of the attack by Hamas in Israel broke last Saturday. With no direct flights to her home country, she took a 22-hour bus travelling around 1,100km from Nepal to India’s capital Delhi.

“I just got a flight back to Israel, [almost] all of the flights got cancelled,” she tells The Independent, standing in a dingy back street near Chabad House, a Jewish community centre in the heart of the city. “I hope I make it to Israel because a lot of my friends were kidnapped in the [Supernova] party or died.”

Ifshitcl’s brother, who is serving in the Israeli army, is among those who disappeared in the weekend’s fighting and has possibly been taken hostage, she tells The Independent. “We don’t know what happened with him or with his team … This is just a terrible situation.”

Having already served two years in the Israeli army, she is now racing to return in the hopes of serving again.

At least 100 people have joined her, travelling from the UK to Israel to serve in the Israeli military following the attacks by Hamas.

Namita Singh and Bel Trew report.

More than a million Palestinians face a deadline to flee south as first confirmation of Israel beginning ground offensive in northern Gaza surfaces.

Troops have begun raids to hit Hamas rocket crews and gather information about hostages, marking the first official account of ground troops in Gaza since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, Israeli military spokesperson rear admiral Daniel Hagari said.

“We are striking our enemies with unprecedented might. I emphasise that this is only the beginning,” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

“The IDF conducted raids in Gazan territory to eliminate the threat of terrorist cells and infrastructure. Soldiers collected evidence that will aid in locating hostages,” Israel Defense Forces posted on X.

Hamas intentionally targeted elementary schools and a youth centre at the Israeli kibbutz of Kfar Sa’ad, with the goal to “kill as many people as possible” and seize others as hostages, according to battle plans obtained by NBC News.

The alleged plans, labeled “top secret” in Arabic, reportedly were recovered from the bodies of dead Hamas militants.

The Gaza-based militant and political group has been condemned worldwide for its attacks on civilians.

“Oh my God. It’s another attack. Oh my God.” The sound of an Israeli air strike overhead was followed by a choking silence.

“No one would believe what is going on unless they live in the Gaza Strip,” the father-of-four told The Independent. “Even now as I’m talking to you, any place could be hit.

“What I am seeing is abysmal. Entire neighbourhoods have been entirely and completely wiped off the map. It’s not just about targeting particular houses or constructions.”

Maryam Zakir-Hussain reports on the Palestinian civilians caught in the Israel-Hamas war.

On Friday, members of IfNotNow, an activist movement seeking to end what it deems Israel’s “apartheid” regime, occupied the office of US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

The group argued that Israel, with US support, was about to “ethnically cleanse over 1 million Palestinians from Gaza,” a reference to Israel’s recent urging that numerous civilians, many with nowhere to escape to, evacuate northern Gaza as fighting continues.

The Israel Air Force’s Aerial Defense Array intercepted two “unidentified targets” above the city of Haifa, officials said on Friday.

The northern seaside city lies closer to Lebanon than to southern Israel and Gaza, where the heaviest fighting has taken place.

Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence system has been intercepting projectiles around the clock since the outbreak of war with Hamas last week.

Hamas fighters used light, hang glider-style aircraft to launch their initial brutal cross-border attack.

Israel said it “categorically” denies claims that it used white phosphorus in Gaza and Lebanon.

The denial follows allegations from Human Rights Watch and the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza that the IDF used the restricted chemical weapon in strikes on a children’s hospital in Gaza and on targets at the Israel-Lebanon border.

“Categorically, no,” IDF spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner told CNN.

White phosphorus, which can burn flesh down to the bone, is illegal under international human rights law when used specifically to cause burn injuries.

Here’s more reporting on the allegations.