TEL AVIV (Israel): The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday said that one-fifth of the rockets fired by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have misfired in the last 24 hours, landing inside Gaza and killing civilians, The Jerusalem Post reported.
IDF Spokesman Daniel Hagari said this amounts to more than 550 rockets. “They are killing their own people,” he said.
The announcement by Hamari comes only a few days after Hamas accused Israel of firing a rocket that struck Gaza’s Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, killing dozens of people.
The IDF denied the accusations. Independent, international investigators found the rocket emanated from a PIJ misfire.
Hagari said that Israel is continuing to attack Hamas military targets in the northern Gaza Strip in preparation for an imminent ground invasion. Israel planned to enter Gaza last week but delayed first due to weather and then at the reported request of the United States to first allow entry of humanitarian aid into the southern part of the strip, as per The Jerusalem Post.
On Saturday, 20 trucks carrying medicine, food and other supplies entered Gaza. Israel did not allow fuel to enter.
Hagari said: “The humanitarian situation in Gaza is not good. We continue to tell residents to move south. The humanitarian aid will only go to the south, while the IDF continues to step up attacks against Hamas in the north.”
He said some 700,000 residents had already moved south.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday said a convoy carrying much-needed humanitarian assistance crossed the Rafah border this morning into Gaza to address the growing humanitarian crisis. “We thank our partners in Egypt and Israel, and the United Nations, for facilitating the safe passage of these life-saving shipments,” Blinken wrote on ‘X’.
Meanwhile, Hagari also updated the number of soldiers killed and hostages taken. He said that Israel had been in touch with the families of 307 fallen soldiers so far. He also raised the number of hostages to 210, noting that the country constantly gathers intelligence and informs families as soon as they know something new, as per The Jerusalem Post.
“That number will continue to change, and we will update you every time we tell a new family” that their loved one has been kidnapped.
Earlier, Israel Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that the main objective of the expected invasion of the Gaza Strip will be the destruction of Hamas. Following the elimination of Hamas, Galant said there would be a new “security reality” in the Gaza Strip.
Gallant made his remarks while speaking before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee meeting in Tel Aviv on Friday.
Gallant also outlined the war’s objectives, which include destroying both the military and government operations of Hamas.
Gallant also said Israel will move quickly to remove any governmental responsibility Israel has over Gaza by creating a new “security regime” in the strip.
Speaking to committee members, Gallant outlined the three phases that will occur during the war.
“We are in the first phase, in which a military campaign is taking place with [airstrikes] and later with a [ground] manoeuvre, with the purpose of destroying operatives and damaging infrastructure in order to defeat and destroy Hamas,” Gallant said.
The second phase will involve the elimination of “pockets of resistance.” Overall, according to Gallant, there will also be a lower intensity of fighting during the second phase.
“The third step will be the creation of a new security regime in the Gaza Strip, the removal of Israel’s responsibility for day-to-day life in the Gaza Strip, and the creation of a new security reality for the citizens of Israel and the residents of the [area surrounding Gaza],” he said. (ANI/TPS)