The Israeli military on Saturday announced “extensive strikes” marking the “initial stages” of a fresh campaign in Gaza, even as rescuers reported about 100 fatalities across the besieged territory.
In a Telegram post in Arabic, the army said the new push, dubbed Operation Gideon’s Chariots, forms part of “the expansion of the battle in the Gaza Strip, with the goal of achieving all the war’s objectives, including the release of the abducted and the defeat of Hamas.”
A separate English-language statement said the Israel Defense Forces were “mobilising troops to achieve operational control in areas of the Gaza Strip.”
Gaza’s civil-defence agency put Friday’s death toll at 100, while the IDF said its forces had “struck over 150 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip” in the previous 24 hours.
Israel resumed major operations on 18 March after a two-month truce in the conflict triggered by Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attacks.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now faces mounting pressure to lift a sweeping aid blockade, with NGOs warning of critical shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine.
“This latest barrage of bombs… and the denial of humanitarian assistance underline that there appears to be a push for a permanent demographic shift in Gaza that is in defiance of international law and is tantamount to ethnic cleansing,” UN human-rights chief Volker Türk charged on Friday.
Israel’s main hostage-families association argued that prolonging the offensive meant Netanyahu was missing a “historic opportunity” for a negotiated release.
Hamas on Friday urged Washington to pressure Israel to reopen Gaza’s crossings as part of an understanding that saw Edan Alexander the last living US-born hostage, freed last week.
Senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu said the movement was “awaiting and expecting the US administration to exert further pressure” so humanitarian aid could enter “immediately.”
Israel maintains that cutting aid is meant to coerce Hamas, which still holds dozens of captives taken on 7 October.
“A lot of people are starving” in Gaza, US President Donald Trump told reporters in Abu Dhabi on Friday, adding, “We’re looking at Gaza. And we’re going to get that taken care of.”
The Arab League meets in Baghdad on Saturday, with Gaza topping the agenda.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres will attend, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, an outspoken critic of Israel’s campaign, is slated to address the summit.
The 7 October Hamas assault killed 1,218 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to official figures compiled by AFP.
Of the 251 captives seized, 57 remain in Gaza, including 34 whom the Israeli military says are dead.
Gaza’s health ministry says 2,985 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on 18 March, bringing the overall death toll in the territory to 53,119.
