Israel Military Pushes into Gaza (Latest as of Sat.)

Smoke coming out of Gaza

 Updated 

Oct. 28, 2023, 12:24 p.m. ET13 minutes ago

13 minutes ago

Patrick Kingsley, Aaron Boxerman and Yousur Al-Hlou

Here is the latest on the war.

The Israeli military appears to have begun an invasion of Gaza, without announcing it, sending troops into the enclave in what appears to be its longest and most ambitious ground incursion since Hamas carried out cross-border attacks on Oct. 7.

Troops advanced into the northern part of the enclave on Friday evening, accompanied by a massive aerial and artillery bombardment, and remained there on Saturday evening, according to military officials. The military has not publicly described the operation as an invasion, and the maneuver appears more limited at this point than some experts had predicted.

The military has released only brief footage of its advance, and few Palestinian accounts have emerged. Gazan internet connections and phone lines were down and the cutoff of most communications made it difficult to assess the extent of the military action. Hamas’s armed wing confirmed on Friday night and Saturday afternoon that its forces were fighting with Israeli soldiers inside Gaza.

Palestinian telecommunication networks blamed Israel’s bombardment for the wide-scale blackout, which left most people in Gaza unreachable by phone. The blackout sparked fear and panic, according to residents who were able to reach the outside world, as people struggled to get information or check on family and friends.

“The explosions were happening to our left, to our right — from all directions,” said Helmi Mousa, a Gaza City resident who was able to use his cellphone, possibly because he had a foreign SIM card. “The anxiety has been devastating ever since the communications went black.”

The head of the World Health Organization said on X that the blackout was “making it impossible for ambulances to reach the injured,” and international aid agencies said they had lost contact with their staff there.

A spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry said on Al Jazeera that Israeli strikes had killed nearly 400 Palestinians in the past several hours, raising its death toll in the Strip to over 7,700. Previously, its updates came every few hours to their social media channels, but they have been silent since phone and internet connections were cut off.

Here’s what else to know:

The U.N. General Assembly in New York voted overwhelmingly on Friday in favor of a nonbinding resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in the war. The resolution was presented by a group of Arab nations led by Jordan and sponsored by more than 45 countries.

Groups including the World Health Organization, Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF and the Palestinian Red Crescent said they had lost contact with staff members inside the Gaza Strip and expressed concern for their ability to continue providing critical aid.

The humanitarian crisis for Gaza’s population of more than two million is worsening under Israeli bombardment. Supplies of fuel, food, and water are running out. On Thursday, the United Nations said that its aid agency operating in Gaza had “almost exhausted its fuel reserves” and had begun to significantly reduce its operations.

The U.S. Treasury announced new sanctions aimed at cutting off financing for Hamas, targeting its investment fund and Iranians who funnel money and support to the group. The United States estimates that Hamas controls $500 million worth of assets that it uses to finance terrorism. 

The Israeli military is continuing to conduct “ground activity in the Gaza Strip,” the army chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, said in a video released by the military. “The ground forces are currently carrying out an important and complex action. The objectives of this war require a ground operation,” he said. “There will be no achievements without risks, and as we know, there will be no victory without a price.”