Israel presses ground offensive in Gaza

Israel, Mar. 24: Israel's military pressed ground operations across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, urging Palestinians to flee an offensive in Rafah city nearly a week into a renewed assault on the Hamas-ruled territory. 

The latest evacuation warning follows a deadly flare-up in Lebanon and missiles fired from Yemen, as Israeli troops again deploy to parts of Gaza despite calls to revive a January truce. 

In a statement on X, military spokesman Avichay Adraee said the army "launched an offensive to strike the terrorist organisations" in a district of the southern city of Rafah, already the target of a major Israeli offensive about a year ago. 

In a message that AFP correspondent said also appeared on leaflets dropped over the area by drone, Adraee called on Palestinians there to leave the "dangerous combat zone" in Tal al-Sultan district and move further north.  At a charity kitchen in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza's main city just north of Rafah, 19-year-old Iman al-Bardawil said many displaced Palestinians like her struggle to "afford food and drink".

 "We are in the month of Ramadan, which is a blessed month, and people... find themselves obliged to come here," Bardawil told AFP, lamenting "the suffering" she saw around her. "I'm here to get rice for the children, but it's gone," said Saed Abu al-Jidyan, who like Bardawil has fled his home in northern Gaza. "The crossings are closed, and my salary has been suspended since the beginning of the war... there is no food in Gaza." - Top Hamas official killed - Before its renewed assault, Israel in early March blocked the entry of humanitarian aid into war-ravaged Gaza and cut electricity supply, in a bid to force Hamas to accept the Israeli terms for an extension of the ceasefire and release the 58 hostages still held by Palestinian militants since the October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.

 The electricity supplied by Israel had fed Gaza's main water desalination plant, and the decision to cut power has aggravated already dire conditions for Gaza's 2.4 million people. Part of its renewed operations, the Israeli military said "troops began operating in the area of Beit Hanun in northern Gaza", targeting Hamas militants and seeking "to expand the security zone in northern Gaza". 

On Friday, Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the army to "seize more territory in Gaza", warning Israel could annex it if Hamas failed to heed Israel's demands for the next steps in the Gaza ceasefire. Hamas has accused Israel of sacrificing the hostages with the resumed bombardments, while many of the families of the captives have called for a renewed ceasefire, noting that most of those released alive did so during truce periods.

 In northern Gaza, a military statement on Sunday said that adding to ground opeartions, "fighter jets struck several Hamas targets and terror infrastructure sites". An Israeli air strike Saturday on a displacement camp in the Khan Yunis area killed senior Hamas political official Salah al-Bardawil and his wife, the group said.(AFP)