The war between Israel and Hamas: explosions, communication breakdowns… what do we know about the situation in the Gaza Strip

On the 22nd day of the war between Israel and Hamas, fighting has raged for several hours in the Gaza Strip. Despite the difficulty in getting clear information – communications and the Internet are cut off in the Gaza Strip – here’s what we know about the situation this Saturday morning.

The Israeli army said it hit 150 underground targets. ” During the night (from Friday to Saturday), IDF fighters (Israeli army) hit 150 underground targets in the northern Gaza Strip, including tunnels used by terrorists, underground military installations and other underground infrastructure,” she said in a statement on Saturday morning.

On Friday they said they had stepped up their bombing “very significantly” in a move similar to the start of the “ground invasion” announced at the start of the war on October 7.

Artillery tanks and fighters

Explosions in the Gaza Strip continued Saturday morning, but with less intensity than during the night, according to AFP journalists in the area. According to one of them, based in Ashkelon (in the south of Israel, less than ten kilometers from the border), due to hours of continuous bombing and attacks, windows shook at night.

According to AFP and Guardian journalists located near the Gaza border, the night bombing was carried out not only from artillery tanks, but also from sea and air, using fighter jets. Although the morning is calmer, sporadic explosions still occur.

Communications and the Internet were cut off in the Palestinian enclave. The reduction, coupled with an increase in bombings, “foreshadows more killings that the occupier intends to carry out far from the attention of the media and the world,” Hamas chanted on Friday.

Hamas leader’s death announced

“Several Hamas terrorists were killed,” Israel said in a statement. On Twitter, the Israeli army claims to have attacked Hamas air training chief Assem Abu Raqaba overnight.

“Assem Abu Raqaba took part in organizing the massacre of communities bordering the Gaza Strip on October 7,” the IDF text clarifies. He led terrorists who infiltrated Israel by paramotor and was responsible for drone attacks on IDF observation posts. »

More contacts with the population

The UN General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly called for an “immediate humanitarian truce” – a non-binding resolution that Israel called “shameful” but welcomed by Hamas.

Shutting down telecommunications and the Internet in the Gaza Strip “risks providing cover for mass atrocities and promoting impunity for human rights violations,” Human Rights Watch spokeswoman Deborah Brown said in a press release.

The cuts “mean that it will be even more difficult to obtain vital information and evidence about human rights violations and war crimes committed against Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” regrets Amnesty International, which says it has lost contact with its staff in Gaza.