Israel expanding ground operations in Gaza as internet and mobile go down – live

The Israeli military has said its ground forces are “expanding their activity” in the Gaza Strip tonight, as lines of communication in the enclave have gone down.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the army’s spokesman, said aerial attacks had been targeting Hamas tunnels and other targets.

“In addition to the attacks that we carried out in recent days, ground forces are expanding their activity this evening,” he said. “The IDF is acting with great force … to achieve the objectives of the war.”

Israel has amassed hundreds of thousands of troops along the border with Gaza ahead of an expected ground offensive against the Hamas militant group.

Airstrikes have intensified since nightfall and the territory’s internet and mobile communications services collapsed on Friday evening.

Hamas is using hospitals in Gaza to “wage war”, the Israel Defence Forces spokesperson said.

Daniel Hagari said “hundreds of terrorists fled into the hospital to hide there” after attacks on Israel on 7 October, and Israel has intelligence that “there is fuel in hospitals in Gaza, and Hamas is using it for its terror infrastructures”.

He adds that Hamas does this because, he says, the IDF distinguishes between “terrorists and civilians” in its attacks. By contrast, he says Hamas is harming both Israeli and Gazan civilians.

More than 200 balloons have been released next to Tower Bridge, London, in support of the more than 220 people taken hostage by Hamas.

The Israeli military said today that the confirmed number of people held hostage in the Gaza Strip since the 7 October cross-border raids by Hamas has risen by five to 229.

Qatar has sad it is open to reconsidering the presence of Hamas in the country after the hostage crisis is resolved, a senior US official has said.

The gulf state is a US ally that hosts a large American military base, as well as Hamas’s political leadership, doubling up as the main residence of self-exiled leader Ismail Haniyeh.

The understanding was reached at a meeting in Doha this month between Antony Blinken and the emir of Qatar, the official said.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has become the latest senior Labour figure to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

“We recognise that Israel has the right to take targeted action within international law to defend itself against terror attacks and terrorist organisations and to rescue hostages,” he said in a statement signed by deputy mayor Kate Green and 10 leaders of Manchester councils

“We also have profound concerns about the loss of thousands of lives in Gaza, the displacement of many more and widespread suffering through the ongoing blockade of essential goods and services. It is vital that urgent support and humanitarian aid is allowed into the area.

“Given the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza, the mayor, deputy mayor and 10 leaders of Greater Manchester join the growing international calls for a ceasefire by all sides and for the hostages to be released unharmed.”

Hamas’s armed wing, the al Qassam brigades, has claimed responsibility for a rocket attack that struck an apartment building in southern Tel Aviv.

“Al Qassam Brigades renewed their bombing of Tel Aviv in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians,” the group said.

Israel’s ambulance service, the Magen David Adom, said it was treating a number of people left injured after the rocket attack.

Six more aid lorries filled with humanitarian aid have crossed into Gaza using the Rafah crossing borde, the International Committee for the Red Cross said.

“We are bringing in medical staff, including a war surgery team, alongside 6 trucks with urgent humanitarian aid,” it said in a statement.

The Red Cross said it brought medical materials, water purification tools and war surgery kits.

The Israeli Defence Forces conducted a “targeted raid from the sea” in southern Gaza overnight, the military said on X, formerly Twitter.

“Fighters of the 13th Fleet carried out a targeted raid from the sea in the south of the Gaza Strip during the night. As part of the operation, the forces destroyed terrorist infrastructures of the Hamas terrorist organization and operated in a compound used by the organization’s naval commando forces,” it said.

The attack was different to an attack conducted by ground troops and fighter jets over night, which targeted anti-tank missile launch sites, command centres and Hamas terrorists.