Israeli air strikes on Gaza continue overnight amid humanitarian crisis as Blinken seeks support for a ceasefire
- The Israeli army said on Saturday its forces carried out an overnight “targeted raid” in southern Gaza, where it has struck before but rarely sent in troops
- Antony Blinken was in Jordan for talks with counterparts from 5 Arab countries, after visiting Israel in his efforts to secure humanitarian ‘pauses’ in the war
Fighting raged in Gaza on Saturday for a 29th day since Hamas militants stormed across the Israeli border and, according to Israeli officials, killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and abducted more than 240 others.
Since then, Israel has relentlessly bombarded the Gaza Strip and sent in ground troops, with the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory saying 9,227 people have been killed, two-thirds of them women and children.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Jordan on Saturday for talks with counterparts from five Arab countries, after visiting Israel in his efforts to secure humanitarian “pauses” in the war.
Amman said the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as well as a representative of the Palestinian Authority – led by president Mahmoud Abbas, a rival of Hamas – would meet Blinken about the conflict.
The Israeli army said on Saturday its forces carried out an overnight “targeted raid” in southern Gaza, where it has struck before but rarely sent in troops.
Soldiers “operated to map out buildings and neutralise explosive devices”, the army said without specifying the location.
Israel Defense Forces said infantry and armoured vehicles attacked Hamas militants coming out of underground tunnels in the north of Gaza and killed a number of them, according to an IDF post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
It said “troops encountered a terrorist cell exiting a tunnel shaft. In response, the troops fired shells toward the terrorists and killed them.”