Metro
Ground Battles Rage In Gaza After Israel Escalates Bombing
Battles raged in Gaza on Saturday as Israel’s army said it expanded ground operations after intensifying its bombardment of the Palestinian territory three weeks after the deadliest attack in the country’s history.
The United Nations warned of a looming “unprecedented avalanche of human suffering” inside the Gaza Strip, after weeks of relentless Israeli bombing, while the General Assembly called for an “immediate humanitarian truce”.
Israeli soldiers ride armoured vehicles near the southern Israeli city of Sderot on October 28, 2023, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP)
“We are confronting an Israeli ground incursion in Beit Hanoun (in the northern Gaza Strip) and east Bureij (in the centre) and violent engagements are taking place on the ground,” Hamas’s armed wing the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said.
Israeli military spokesman Major Nir Dinar told AFP: “Our troops are operating inside Gaza as they did yesterday.”
Israel launched its bombardment of Gaza after Hamas gunmen stormed across the border on October 7, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and taking nearly 230 others hostage, according to Israeli officials.
The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said Friday that Israeli strikes had now killed 7,326 people, more than 3,000 of them children.
Israeli soldiers ride an armoured vehicle near the southern Israeli city of Sderot on October 28, 2023, amid the ongoing war between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. – Battles raged in Gaza on October 28, 2023, as Israel’s army said it expanded ground operations after intensifying its bombardment of the Palestinian territory three weeks after the deadliest attack in the country’s history. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP)
With tens of thousands of troops massed along the Gaza border ahead of an expected full-blown invasion, Israeli forces had also made limited ground incursions on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
“The ground forces are extending the ground operations tonight,” military spokesman Daniel Hagari said late Friday.
The Israeli army said it had increased its strikes “in a very significant way”, while the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said on Telegram it responded with “salvos of rockets”.
In overnight raids, Israeli fighter jets hit 150 “terror tunnels, underground combat spaces and additional underground infrastructure” and “several Hamas terrorists were killed”, the army said on Saturday morning.
‘Why are they bombing us?’
AFP live footage had shown air strike after air strike light up the night sky of northern Gaza late Friday as thick black smoke clouded the horizon.
In a bombed-out street in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood, 50-year-old Om Walid Basal said her apartment block had been destroyed by Israel.
An Israeli air force AH-65 Apache attack helicopter flies near the border with the Gaza Strip close to Israel’s southern city of Ashkeon on October 28, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. (Photo by Yuri CORTEZ / AFP)
“This was our house. We lived here just with our children. It was full of children,” she said.
“Why are they bombing us? Why are they destroying our homes?”
Hamas insisted it was “ready” for an invasion.
“If (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu decides to enter Gaza tonight, the resistance is ready,” Ezzat al-Rishaq, a senior member of the Hamas political bureau, said on Telegram on Friday.
“The remains of his soldiers will be swallowed up by the land of Gaza.”
Internet cut
Hamas said all internet connections and communications across Gaza had been cut, and accused Israel of taking the measure “to perpetrate massacres with bloody retaliatory strikes from the air, land and sea”.
Human Rights Watch also warned the near-total telecommunications blackout in Gaza risks providing cover for “mass atrocities”.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said the communications outage had disrupted ambulance services.
A dense cloud of smoke from the bombing of the Gaza Strip invades the Israeli border city of Ashkelon on the night of October 27, 2023 as battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement continue. (Photo by Yuri CORTEZ / AFP)
“We have completely lost contact with the operations room in the Gaza Strip and all our teams operating there,” it said on X, formerly Twitter.
Lynne Hastings, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, also stressed on X that “hospitals & humanitarian operations can’t continue without communications”.
Scotland’s First Minister Humza Yousaf, whose inlaws are trapped in Gaza, voiced alarm at the communications shutdown.
“Telecommunications have been cut. We can’t get through to our family who have been trapped in this war zone for almost 3 weeks,” he wrote on X.
“We can only pray they survive the night.”
‘Stop the war’
The reports of ground fighting came after the UN General Assembly called on Friday for an “immediate humanitarian truce” in Gaza.
The non-binding resolution received overwhelming support, with 120 votes in favour, 14 against and 45 abstentions.
“Today the General Assembly declared a call: stop the war,” the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, told reporters at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
It was also welcomed by Hamas, but it was harshly criticised by Israel and the United States for failing to mention Hamas, with Israeli ambassador Gilad Erdan calling it an “infamy”.
A picture taken from near the southern Israeli city of Sderot on October 28, 2023, shows an Israeli Merkava tank stationed on a hill top close to the Israeli border with the northern Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. – Battles raged in Gaza on October 28, 2023, as Israel’s army said it expanded ground operations after intensifying its bombardment of the Palestinian territory three weeks after the deadliest attack in the country’s history. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP)
Washington had earlier said it supports a “humanitarian pause” so aid can get into Gaza.
Israel’s bombardment has displaced more than 1.4 million people inside the crowded territory, according to the UN, even as supplies of food, water and power to Gaza have been almost completely cut off.
And Israel has blocked all deliveries of fuel, saying it would be exploited by Hamas to manufacture weapons and explosives.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that misery was “growing by the minute”.
“I repeat my call for a humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages, and the delivery of life-saving supplies,” Guterres said.
“Without a fundamental change, the people of Gaza will face an unprecedented avalanche of human suffering.”
‘Nothing more than crumbs’
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has cautioned that “many more will die” in Gaza from catastrophic shortages.
“People in Gaza are dying, they are not only dying from bombs and strikes, soon many more will die from the consequences of (the) siege,” said UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini.
A first tranche of critically needed aid was allowed in last weekend, but only 74 trucks have crossed since then. The UN says an average of 500 trucks entered Gaza every day before the conflict.
“These few trucks are nothing more than crumbs that will not make a difference,” Lazzarini said.
Between the bombardments and the fuel shortages, 12 of Gaza’s 35 hospitals have been forced to close, and UNRWA said it has had to “significantly reduce its operations”.
Israel’s military accused Hamas of using hospitals in Gaza as operations centres for directing attacks, an allegation Hamas swiftly denied.
A picture taken from near the southern Israeli city of Sderot on October 28, 2023, shows an Israeli Merkava tank rolling close to the Israeli border with the northern Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas. – Battles raged in Gaza on October 28, 2023, as Israel’s army said it expanded ground operations after intensifying its bombardment of the Palestinian territory three weeks after the deadliest attack in the country’s history. (Photo by Aris MESSINIS / AFP)
The growing toll in Gaza has spurred demonstrations in the occupied West Bank and across the Muslim world, but also in a number of Western countries.
Late Friday, hundreds of people were arrested when police broke up a large demonstration of mostly Jewish New Yorkers who had taken over the main hall of Grand Central station to protest Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and demanding a ceasefire.
Violence has also risen sharply in the occupied West Bank since the October 7 attacks, with more than 100 Palestinians killed and nearly 2,000 wounded, according to the UN.
A tragic incident occurred on Saturday morning in the Ojodu-Berger area of Lagos State, as a building housing a popular local restaurant on Oremeta Street collapsed, leaving many feared dead.
The building was said to have given way at about 8:00 am, causing panic among residents and passers-by. Eyewitnesses reported a loud rumble before the structure came crashing down, trapping several individuals inside.
Emergency responders, including residents and rescue officials, have since commenced search and rescue operations at the site. As of the time of filing this report, the exact number of casualties remains unconfirmed, but several persons are believed to be trapped beneath the rubble.
Authorities are yet to issue an official statement regarding the cause of the collapse or the number of victims. However, efforts are ongoing to clear the debris and reach those who may still be alive underneath.
More details to follow.
Grief hung heavily in the air as the Zike community in Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State laid to rest 51 of its residents brutally murdered in a pre-dawn attack that has once again cast a dark shadow over the troubled region.
The victims, mostly women and children, were gunned down in the early hours of Monday when yet-to-be-identified assailants stormed the sleepy village, firing indiscriminately. The massacre is the latest in a string of violent assaults that have plagued Plateau State in recent times.
At the mass burial held in the community, emotions ran high as families, friends, and sympathizers wept uncontrollably. Traditional mourners draped in black wailed as the victims’ coffins were lowered into the earth — a harrowing scene that has become all too familiar in the region.
Speaking at the funeral, a visibly distraught community leader, Davidson Malison, described the attack as “disheartening” and lamented the scale of the devastation.
“I can tell you the situation is very disheartening,” Malison said. “We are still searching for more corpses. Something needs to be done to put an end to this.”
The Irigwe women leader, Mary Dikwa, echoed similar concerns, calling on the government to step up its responsibility in securing lives and property.
“They have been killing us in this our community,” Dikwa said in tears. “Several times they will come and attack us. This situation has gone out of hand.”
Monday’s carnage came barely two weeks after another deadly assault left over 50 people dead and several others severely injured, despite repeated reassurances by the government to restore peace to the North-Central state.
Reacting to the renewed wave of violence, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ordered security agencies to track down the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
“I have instructed security agencies to thoroughly investigate this crisis and identify those responsible for orchestrating these violent acts,” the President said in a statement released by his spokesman, Bayo Onanuga. “We cannot allow this devastation and the tit-for-tat attacks to continue. Enough is enough.”
As the Zike community mourns yet another loss, residents are left clinging to hope — that someday soon, peace will return to their land and they can finally bury their dead without fearing for the lives of the living.
At least forty people have been confirmed dead following a brutal attack by unidentified assailants on Zike community in Kimakpa, located within the Kwall district of Bassa Local Government Area in Plateau State.
According to local sources, the assault took place in the early hours of Monday, with the attackers storming the village and opening fire indiscriminately. Residents, startled by the sound of gunfire, fled in panic, but many were caught in the hail of bullets.
A community leader in Kwall, Wakili Tongwe, revealed that he and a group of vigilantes, along with some security personnel, were on patrol in a nearby community when the assault occurred.
“We were on routine patrol in a different area when the attackers struck. By the time we arrived, they had already done significant damage,” Tongwe said.
He added that while the joint team of vigilantes and security operatives engaged the assailants and eventually repelled them, the casualties were already high. Thirty-six people were confirmed dead at the scene, with four others succumbing to their injuries later in hospital.
Several other villagers sustained gunshot wounds and are currently receiving treatment in medical facilities nearby.
As of the time of filing this report, security agencies in Plateau State are yet to issue any official statement regarding the incident.
This latest massacre comes barely two weeks after a similar attack in the Bokkos Local Government Area of the state, where over fifty people lost their lives in coordinated assaults on several communities.
-
News6 days agoFood Security: Rep. Oseni Boosts Oyo Agriculture, Distributes 5,200 Bags of Fertiliser to Farmers
-
Metro1 week ago
Tragedy as Building Collapse Leaves Many Feared Dead in Lagos {Photos}
-
Education1 week ago
JAMB Reschedules 2025 UTME to 24th April, Opens Portal for Slip Printing
-
News1 week ago
Enugu Runway Shut for Emergency Repairs, Airlines Reroute Flights — FAAN
