Israel pounded Gaza on Friday night from the air, sea and ground with unprecedented ferocity, knocking out communication systems and internet networks across the coastal enclave.
The barrage, the heaviest in 21 days of fighting since Hamas’s attack of October 7th, was so intense that residents in southern Israel, many kilometres from the border, reported that the ground was shaking.
“In the last few hours we have increased our attacks in Gaza in a very serious way,” said Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari on Friday night.
There was speculation that the massive attacks may mark the prelude to a much-anticipated ground incursion or may be to pressure Hamas, the militant group that governs Gaza, to agree to a hostage release deal.
In response to the Israeli barrage, militants fired rockets into central Israel, including the greater Tel Aviv area.
The United Nations General Assembly on Friday evening adopted a non-binding resolution, drafted by Arab states and supported by Ireland, calling for an immediate humanitarian truce in Gaza.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said in a statement: “The resolution emphasises the urgent need for humanitarian assistance which civilians in Gaza so desperately need.
“We are disappointed that a Canadian amendment, clearly condemning the brutal terrorist attack by Hamas and calling for the immediate and unconditional release of hostages, was not approved. There should be no room for doubt on this. We also recall that obligations under International Humanitarian Law fall to all parties, state and non-state actors alike.”
The resolution passed with 120 votes in favour, while 45 abstained and 14 – including Israel and the US – voted no.
Despite foreign media reports of fresh progress over a deal to release some of the more than 200 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, Israeli officials would not confirm that a deal was close, and all the indications were that a ground invasion would take place in the coming days.
An uncorroborated Egyptian report spoke of a deal to free fewer than 100 hostages in return for a five-day ceasefire but Israeli officials described the reports of progress as “psychological terror” by Hamas, aimed at delaying Israel’s ground offensive.
Israel on Friday updated the number of hostages held by Hamas to 229. Four hostages have already been released.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens by the day. The Hamas-run health ministry said more than 7,000 people had been killed in Israeli air strikes, 40 per cent of them children, since Hamas gunmen stormed into Israel on October 7th, killing more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of UNRWA, the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, spoke on Friday about the urgent need for more humanitarian aid to be let into the coastal strip. “As we speak, people in Gaza are dying, basic services are crumbling,” he said, adding that food and water were running out, while the streets had started “overflowing with sewage”.
US special envoy David Satterfield acknowledged the need for fuel to alleviate Gaza’s humanitarian crisis but supported Israel’s claim that while hospitals were running low, Hamas had fuel for its tunnels.
The IDF on Friday disclosed intelligence allegedly showing a Hamas command centre located under and in the main Gaza City Shifa hospital.
“There are a number of areas used by Hamas to direct its military operations. A tunnel that reaches the hospital can access the command centre and a control room is located inside the hospital, heavily staffed by armed forces,” the IDF spokesman said, claiming Shifa’s 4,000 staff were used by Hamas as human shields. Hamas denied the allegations as “baseless lies”.
Apartments in Tel Aviv and buildings in the southern city of Ashkelon were hit by militant rockets launched from Gaza on Friday.
Earlier on Friday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar acknowledged the European Union’s “evolving” position on the conflict in Gaza. EU leaders on Thursday agreed on a call for “pauses” in the conflict to allow the passage of humanitarian aid.
“If you went back two-three weeks ago, it appeared that the EU was supporting Israel without any equivocation or qualification,” said Mr Varadkar, speaking in Brussels where he attended the European Council meeting. “That changed a week or so ago to continuing to support Israel’s right to defend itself but emphasising the supremacy of international law, particularly humanitarian law; to yesterday [Thursday], 27 countries calling for a pause to allow aid to get in and to allow citizens and hostages to get out.”
Mr Varadkar said that in foreign policy, any position taken by the EU had to have unanimity among its members – and therefore was going to be a compromise. “The option we have into the future is to have a common foreign policy but that means being willing to be outvoted on occasion, and I think people would be uncomfortable with that too.”
