Israel Shows Images of Tanks in Gaza as War on Hamas Deepens

Israel signaled intent to encircle Gaza's main city on Sunday, publishing pictures of battle tanks on the Palestinian enclave's western coast 48 hours after ordering expanded ground incursions across its eastern border.

Israel's self-declared "second phase" of a three-week war against Hamas militants had initially been kept from public view, with forces moving under darkness and a telecommunications blackout cutting off Palestinians.

The phone and internet cuts appeared to be easing on Sunday, according to Gaza residents. But they have severely hampered rescue operations for casualties of Israeli barrages wreaking destruction, especially on northern Gaza City, site of Hamas's government and command centers.

As well as the Israeli military's pictures of tanks, some pictures online appeared to show Israeli soldiers waving an Israeli flag deep inside Gaza.

Reuters could not verify those images.

Hamas said it was firing mortars against Israeli forces in north Gaza and had hit Israeli tanks with missiles, belittling reports of deep advances by its enemy.

"Israel cut us off from the world in order to wipe us out, but we are hearing the sounds of explosions and we are proud the resistance fighters have stopped them at meters distance," said Shaban Ahmed, a public servant who stayed in Gaza City despite an Israeli warning to evacuate south.

Ahmed said he only found out on Sunday that his cousin had died in an air strike two days previously due to the blackout.

Israeli Defense Force (IDF) fighter jets struck over 450 Hamas targets, including operational command centers, look-out posts, and anti-tank missile launch posts, in the last 24 hours, the military said on Sunday.

It said several gunmen emerged from a tunnel near Israel's border and were killed or wounded in a clash with troops.

"We are gradually expanding the ground activity and the scope of our forces in the Gaza Strip," said IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari.

Israel has tightened its blockade and bombarded Gaza since Hamas gunmen stormed across the border into Israel on Oct. 7, killing at least 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostages.

Medical authorities in the Gaza Strip, which has a population of 2.3 million people, said on Sunday 8,005 people - including 3,324 minors - had been killed.

Regional overspill?

Israel has vowed to annihilate Hamas, a task that it described as necessitating protracted ground assaults in, around and under Gaza City, where the militants have an extensive subterranean bunker network.

Western countries have generally backed what they say is Israel's right to self-defense. But there has been mounting international outcry over the toll from the bombing and calls for a "humanitarian pause" to allow aid to reach Gaza civilians.

There are fears too of regional overspill to the Gaza war, including in Lebanon where the Israeli army and Iranian-backed Hezbollah group have been exchanging fire.

On Sunday, the United Nations' Lebanon peacekeeping force UNIFIL said one of its members was injured after shells hit the mission's base near Houla on the Lebanese-Israeli border the day before.

Israel said there were several rocket or mortar launches from Lebanon at its territory, and that it was returning fire.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN that Israel must use every means possible to distinguish between Palestinian civilians and Hamas in Gaza. He also urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "rein in" violence against innocent people in the occupied West Bank.

Pope Francis on Sunday called for a ceasefire and renewed his call for the release of all hostages.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron expressed concern about getting aid into Gaza during a phone call on Sunday, Sunak's office said.

With supplies of food, water and medicines running low and much of Gaza reduced to rubble, thousands of residents broke into warehouses and distribution centers of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), grabbing flour and other basics, the organization said on Sunday.

Israel will allow a dramatic increase in aid to Gaza in coming days and Palestinian civilians should head to a "humanitarian zone" in the south of the tiny territory, said Colonel Elad Goren of Cogat, the Israeli Defense Ministry agency that coordinates with the Palestinians.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Sunday 10 Egyptian trucks carrying food and medicine had arrived in Gaza via the Rafah crossing, bringing the total number so far to 94, a small fraction of what is needed.

'God have mercy'

Displaced Palestinians staying in tents in Gaza’s Khan Younis described dire living conditions, with little access to food and water and having to queue hours for the toilet.

"I wish God will have mercy on us and the war stops," said Rami Al-Erqan, a father cradling his daughter, one of his six children. "We reached a state where we wish to have died under the rubble just to find some rest. Our life is torture."

Central Israel also came under heavy rocket fire on Sunday, with sirens sounding in several major cities.

Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said on its Telegram account that it was "bombing Tel Aviv in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians".

They later said their fighters had clashed with Israeli forces northwest of Gaza and had also set fire to two Israeli tanks. There was no immediate word from Israel on the claims.

The conflict has prompted large demonstrations worldwide in support of the Palestinians. On Sunday several thousand people rallied in Beirut to show solidarity with Gaza.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had received warnings from Israeli authorities to immediately evacuate al-Quds hospital in the Gaza Strip, adding that raids conducted on Sunday had taken place just 50 meters from the facility.

The Red Crescent says some 14,000 people have sought shelter at the hospital from Israeli air strikes.

Israel has accused Hamas of locating command centers and other military infrastructure in Gaza hospitals, something the group denies.

Palestinian officials said around 50,000 people had also taken shelter in the Gaza Shifa Hospital and said they were concerned about ongoing Israeli threats to the facility.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was heading on Thursday to Rome for talks with European counterparts on bringing stability to Syria in the face of flare-ups with Türkiye, capping what is likely his final trip.
Blinken had been expected to remain in Italy through the weekend to join President Joe Biden but the outgoing US leader scrapped his trip, which was to include an audience with Pope Francis, to address wildfires sweeping Los Angeles.
Blinken, on a trip that has taken him to South Korea, Japan and France, was heading on Thursday from Paris and will meet for dinner in Rome with counterparts from Britain, France, Germany and Italy.
In Paris on Wednesday, Blinken said the United States was united with the Europeans on seeking a peaceful, stable Syria, a month after the opposition factions toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.
But concerns have mounted over Türkiye’s threats against Syrian Kurdish fighters, who have effectively run their own state during the brutal civil war engulfing Syria.
A war monitor said that battles between Turkish-backed groups, supported by air strikes, and Kurdish-led forces killed 37 people on Thursday.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have worked with the United States on Washington's main stated priority -- battling the ISIS extremist group -- but Türkiye says the SDF has links with PKK militants at home.
Blinken in Paris said that Türkiye had "legitimate concerns" and that the SDF should gradually be integrated into a revamped national army, with foreign fighters removed.
"That's a process that's going to take some time. And in the meantime, what is profoundly not in the interest of everything positive we see happening in Syria would be a conflict," Blinken told reporters.
"We'll work very hard to make sure that that doesn't happen."
Blinken said he expected no change on goals in Syria from US President-elect Donald Trump, who takes over on January 20.
During his last term, Trump briefly said he would accede to a plea by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to pull out US troops that have been working in Syria with the Kurdish forces.
But he backed down after counter-appeals led by French President Emmanuel Macron.
When to ease sanctions?
Also on the agenda in Rome will be whether and when to ease sanctions on Syria.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Wednesday that some sanctions "could be lifted quickly".
The US Treasury Department said this week it would ease enforcement on restrictions that affect essential services.
But US officials say they will wait to see progress before any wider easing of sanctions -- and the Biden administration is unlikely in its final days to accept the political costs of removing Syria's victorious Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels from the US "terrorism" blacklist.
While Western powers are largely in synch on Syria, some differences remain.
Blinken reiterated US calls on European countries to repatriate citizens of theirs detained in Syria for working with the ISIS group and languishing in vast camps run by the Kurdish fighters.
France and Britain, with painful memories of attacks by homegrown extremists, have little desire to bring militants back.
The Rome talks come a week after the French and German foreign ministers, Jean-Noel Barrot and Annalena Baerbock, jointly visited Damascus and met new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa to encourage an inclusive transition.
Sharaa, has promised to protect minorities after the fall of the iron-fisted but largely secular Assad.
A senior US official in turn said last month on meeting Sharaa that Washington was dropping a $10-million bounty on his head.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani will pay his own visit to Syria on Friday, during which he plans to announce an initial development aid package.
Italy's hard-right government has pledged to reduce immigration. Millions of Syrians sought asylum in Europe during the civil war, triggering a backlash in some parts of the continent that shook up European politics.
In contrast to other major European powers, Italy had moved to normalize ties with Assad just weeks before he fell, presuming at the time that he had effectively won the war.

Israel Shows Images of Tanks in Gaza as War on Hamas Deepens