Israeli Defence Minister declares ‘we are fighting animals, not people’ as he sets his sight on ‘winning the war and saving the hostages’ trapped in Gaza

• READ: Gazans told to move after Israeli airplanes pounded ‘450 Hamas sites’ 

Israel warned the streets of Gaza City were now a ‘battlefield’ as fighting intensified between the Israel Defence Forces and Hamas terrorists yesterday.

The military said its warplanes had attacked more than 450 targets in the last 24 hours, while dozens of terrorist commanders had been eliminated.

Tanks and infantry were pictured advancing down the Gazan coastline and rolling across the desert border, while the Israeli flag was hoisted by troops above a beach hotel in northern Gaza City.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant underlined his government’s determination to ignore pleas for a ceasefire. He told families of the 239 hostages trapped in Gaza: ‘We are fighting animals, not people.

‘It is a complex journey, with hopes and disappointments, I am determined to win the war and returning hostages is part of the victory.’ It came as:

Israel warned the streets of Gaza City were now a ‘battlefield’ as fighting intensified between the Israel Defence Forces and Hamas terrorists yesterday

A view of the remains of a mosque and houses destroyed by Israeli strikes in the central Gaza Strip

Palestinians evacuate a building destroyed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip

• Palestinian authorities claimed 8,000 people had been killed since October 7, including 3,324 children;
• The UN said civil order was at breaking point in Gaza as looters stormed aid warehouses;
• President Joe Biden urged Israel to ‘immediately and significantly’ increase the flow of humanitarian supplies;
• Rioters attempted to storm a flight from Tel Aviv on the tarmac in an airport in Dagestan, Russia.

In leaflets dropped by jets, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) warned civilians that ‘[bomb] shelters in northern Gaza and Gaza governorate are not safe.’

IDF spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari repeated earlier warnings for residents to flee to the south as he accused ‘cynical’ Hamas commanders of using civilians as ‘human shields’.

A man holds wounded children near livestock animals around the heavily damaged buildings after Israeli attacks at Nuseirat Refugee Camp

He said the military was ‘making progress at this stage of the war and expanding ground operations’. He told a televised press conference: ‘We have eliminated dozens of terrorists from the tactical command. We are bombarding from the air as well to ensure the safety of our ground forces and to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure.’

Mr Hagari also claimed that the people of Gaza said Hamas’s leader Yahya Sinwar ‘no longer cares’ about them. He added: ‘He has imposed a terrible disaster on them. He has lost control and is responsible for the collapse and devastation of Gaza.’ IDF chief of staff Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi told troops on the Gaza border: ‘We are at war. It will be a long process and we are hitting the enemy hard. The IDF is focused on one thing: victory, dismantling Hamas, hitting as many enemy commanders and fighters as possible and enemy infrastructure.’

He vowed that Israel would do ‘everything possible from the sea, air and ground’ to keep their troops safe, but added that at least 331 Israeli soldiers had been killed and 32 taken captive since fighting started on October 7.

The military said combined combat forces of armour, engineers and infantry had been operating in northern Gaza since Friday afternoon. Advancing on foot under cover of smokescreens, Israeli troops targeted terror cell hideouts, while also helping direct warplanes to new targets. Soldiers fought a fierce battle with Hamas terrorists emerging from the network of underground tunnels near the Gaza border.

The IDF said several Hamas terrorists had been killed and others were wounded after they launched an attack from a tunnel near Erez in the northern Gaza Strip.

A huge fireball can be seen rising over Gaza City following intense Israeli strikes

Birds pass in front of the wreckage of bombed out buildings in the north of the Gaza Strip

Palestinians stand around a building destroyed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip in Rafah

Additional ground forces entered the Gaza Strip overnight, with troops on the ground striking terror cell hideouts and helping to direct warplanes to new targets

Earlier, the military shared video footage they said showed the ‘horrific underworld of Hamas terrorism’ that stretches beneath hospitals, schools, mosques and homes in Gaza. Air strikes were carried out close to the enclave’s biggest hospital in Gaza City in the north, which Israel said Hamas terrorists use as a command centre but is packed with patients and civilians seeking shelter.

The Palestinian Red Crescent claimed it received ‘strong threats’ from Israel to ‘immediately evacuate the Al-Quds Hospital because it will be bombed’. There were later reports that several air strikes hit the area surrounding the hospital throughout the day, with some missiles landing within 10 meters of the hospital’s gates.

In response to the air bombardment, Hamas and Lebanon-based Hezbollah continued to launch rockets and anti-tank missiles at Israel. One fragment of rocket fell inside a school near Tel Aviv but no one was harmed.

Despite the formidable firepower wielded by the IDF, the head of its Home Front Command warned the route to victory would not be quick. ‘This war will be long – weeks or months,’ Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo told a press conference.

On Saturday, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the nation that the second stage of the war ‘will be long and difficult and we are prepared for it.’

Mr Netanyahu vowed to ‘eradicate Hamas’ after meeting families of hostages held in Gaza. ‘This is the second stage of the war whose goals are clear: destroying Hamas and bringing the hostages back home,’ he said.

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