Israel’s military announces start of ‘extensive’ new ground operations in Gaza – Israel-Gaza war live

Here is the fuller statement from Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on the resumption of humanitarian aid into Gaza:

“Israel will allow a basic amount of food for the population to ensure that a hunger crisis does not develop in the Gaza Strip.”

Over the last year and a half, Israel’s deadly war on Gaza has killed over 53,000 Palestinians while leaving 2 million survivors forcibly displaced across the narrow strip amid severe food and aid shortages due to Israeli aid restrictions.

Israel has repeatedly claimed that there is “no hunger in Gaza,” despite the overwhelming evidence of images of clearly malnourished Palestinians – including babies – coming out of the strip, as well as statements from the World Health Organization on the devastating impacts of Israel’s aid blockade.

A recent report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification found that Palestinians living in Gaza face “a critical risk of famine.”

Israel decided on Sunday to resume the entry of “basic quantity” of food into Gaza, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, Reuters reports.

Separately, Axios reporter Barak Ravid cited two senior Israeli officials on Sunday saying that the resumption of aid flow will come through existing channels until a new mechanism is implemented.

Tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators are protesting Israel’s deadly war in Gaza.

Agence France-Presse reports:

Tens of thousands of people turned out Sunday in The Hague to protest the Dutch government’s policy on Israel’s war on Gaza.

Many protesters dressed in red at the request of the organisers, Oxfam Novib, who wanted to symbolically trace a red line for Gaza.

Rally participants pressed the Dutch government to take action against Israel, arguing that it is commiting “genocide” in Gaza.

Organisers said more than 100,000 people took part, describing it as the largest demonstration in the country in 20 years. Police did not give an estimate.

One demonstrator, 25-year-old Rick Timmermans accused the government of supplying parts for the F-35 warplanes Israel was using for strikes on Gaza.

“Sometimes I’m ashamed of the government because it doesn’t want to set any limits,” said 59-year-old schoolteacher Jolanda Nio.

Israel’s army announced “extensive ground operations” Sunday as part of its newly expanded campaign in the Gaza Strip, where rescuers reported dozens killed in a wave of Israeli strikes.

The International Committee of Red Cross released a statement on Sunday, urging for the “immediate respect and protection of civilians by all parties during the increased military operations in Gaza”.

“Entire families are trapped and are desperately seeking safety and security. The needs in Gaza are overwhelming and are beyond our capacity to respond,” the ICRC said amid Israel’s deadly bombardment of Gaza.

“Constant care must be taken to spare them,” the group added.

Sammy Gecsoyler

Layla Moran has told the UK government to match its tougher tone on Israel with action as she warned that people in Gaza face “unbearably cruel levels of destitution”.

The Lib Dem MP called for further action, including recognition of a Palestinian state, in a renewed appeal for the family of Mohammad, an NHS doctor who operated on her last year, whose elderly parents remain stuck in northern Gaza.

He described conditions on the ground as a “slaughterhouse” and said people were on the brink of starvation.

The Guardian spoke to the pair last October when Mohammad’s parents were trapped in their home as drones stalked the streets outside. Shortly after, they were forced to flee when it was bombed in a strike that killed his cousin and nephew.

They have since returned, being among the lucky few in the neighbourhood to “have walls that remain standing”.

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A senior Hamas official has told CNN: “We agree to release seven to nine hostages in exchange for a two-month ceasefire and release of 300 prisoners.”

One of the hostages who was released from Hamas captivity in February has been calling on the Israeli prime minister and defence minister to secure the release of another hostage, Alon Ohel, who he called his “brother”.

“Bring my brother back,” Eliya Cohen wrote on Facebook, according to the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. “This isn’t a game, it’s not politics – this is reality. Alon is wounded, alone, in a situation no one should endure. I’m asking you not as leaders but as human beings, do whatever is necessary to bring him home. Now there’s an option, we’re at a critical moment, if you managed to bring me home, I trust you can succeed in bringing back the rest.”

Cohen was held with Ohel in Hamas tunnels. “I can’t stop thinking about Alon,” he wrote. “It’s been three months since I last saw him, and my heart is torn with longing, but it’s not just longing, it’s also fear. The last time I saw Alon, he was wounded. He wasn’t in good condition physically or mentally.”

“The thought of what he’s going through there, without treatment and without someone to talk to, is inconceivable,” he added. “Alon also deserves to breathe clean air, Alon also deserves to walk without anyone reprimanding him for it, Alon also deserves to enter a pizzeria on the street and choose his own food, he also deserves to feel independent and free from worry.”

The Israeli army has issued an evacuation order for several areas in Gaza ahead of what it is saying is an imminent attack.

Addressing Gazans “in the Al-Qarara area, the Salqa municipality, and the south of Deir al-Balah, and the neighbourhoods of Al-Ja’farawi, Al-Suwar, Abu Hadab, and Al-Satar”, the army said: “This is a preliminary and final warning before the attack… For your safety, you must move immediately west to the known shelters in Al-Mawasi.”

Protesters have been marching through The Hague in the Netherlands, demanding their government halt Israel’s campaign in Gaza, in what organisers are calling the country’s biggest demonstration in 20 years.

According to the Associated Press, “tens of thousands” of peaceful protesters, clad in red, took part in the march.

The crowd included elderly protesters and babies in prams.

“We hope this is a wake-up call for the government,” said teacher Roos Lingbeek, attending the march with her husband and their 12-week-old daughter, Dido, who slept in a carrier as her parents brandished a sign simply reading: “STOP.”

Here’s what the Gaza strip looks like today, from southern Israel:

Reuters has some images of security personnel clashing with left-wing demonstrators during a protest demanding to end the war in Gaza, in Sderot, Israel. (See 5.04pm)

An Israeli military chief has said he is planning to continue the IDF’s latest large-scale offensive in northern Gaza until “until we break the enemy’s combat capabilities and defeat it where we operate”.

The IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi said the army would “allow the political leadership flexibility to advance any hostage deal”, according to the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz.

The newspaper is also reporting that around 500 people in Israel have marched from the southern city of Sderot towards the Gaza border to protest against the expansion of Israeli’s military campaign in the territory.

They carried signs showing images of children killed in Israeli airstrikes and wore shirts with messages like “Stop the atrocities in Gaza” emblazoned on them.

Organisers warned that “within hours or days, Smotrich, Ben Gvir and Netanyahu are planning to send tens of thousands of soldiers to occupy Gaza, starve more children, kill more Palestinian civilians, displace more families, and sacrifice the lives of the hostages and the security of us all to settle the Strip.”

Two of the protestors were reportedly detained by police after attempting to block a junction.

Nearly 65,000 people were uprooted from their homes in the Gaza strip between Thursday and Saturday, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz is reporting.

According to the newspaper, which has vowed to report critically on the war and “its dire consequences for all sides”, data from a coalition of international organisations which are monitoring population movement in Gaza indicates that at least 63,534 people have been displaced from their homes in the strip since Thursday.

Thousands are reported to have been displaced from the northern areas of Jabaliya and Tel al-Zaatar – both locations where the Israeli military reportedly dropped leaflets on Friday, urging residents to evacuate.

Airstrikes in Israel’s new offensive killed at least 103 people overnight, several news agencies are reporting.

Medics and hospitals have told the Associated Press that the number of people killed is “at least 103”, including dozens of children, while Reuters is reporting “at least 130” fatalities.

As reported earlier, the strikes appear to have forced northern Gaza’s main hospital, the Indonesian hospital, to close because of Israeli fire.

Israel’s military had no immediate comment. Its statement announcing the ground operations said preliminary strikes over the past week killed dozens of militants and struck more than 670 targets. Israel blames civilian casualties on Hamas because the militant group operates from civilian areas.

“Complete families were wiped off the civil registration record by [overnight] Israeli bombardment,” Khalil Al-Deqran, Gaza health ministry spokesperson, told Reuters by phone.

“Hospitals are overwhelmed with a growing number of casualties, many are children,” he added.

One of Israel’s overnight strikes hit a tent encampment housing displaced families in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing women and children, wounding dozens and setting tents ablaze, medics said.

Staff at Shifa hospital, Gaza’s largest, said they received 40 dead and dozens of wounded overnight and urged people to donate blood.

The Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said 75% of its ambulances could not run because of fuel shortages. It warned that within 72 hours, all vehicles may stop.

“When the Jews want a truce, Hamas refuses, and when Hamas wants a truce, the Jews refuse it. Both sides agree to exterminate the Palestinian people,” Jabaliya resident Abu Mohammad Yassin told the Associated Press. He was among those interviewed by the news agency fleeing the new offensive on foot or in donkey carts. “For God’s sake, have mercy on us. We are tired of displacement.”

The Israeli army says two projectiles were launched from the Gaza Strip, shortly after it announced it had commenced “extensive ground operations” across the besieged Palestinian territory. (See 14.46pm)

The army said in a statement: “Following the sirens that sounded in Kissufim, two projectiles were identified crossing into Israel from the central Gaza Strip.”

It said one was intercepted and the other fell in an open area. No injuries were reported.

According to Agence France-Presse, Hamas’s armed wing claimed responsibility, saying the launches were linked to the new ground operation.

The Israeli plan to expand its war on Gaza was denounced by the UN’s deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq who told journalists at a media briefing in New York in early May that it would “inevitably lead to countless more civilians killed and the further destruction of Gaza”.