Israel launches major new Gaza offensive – Middle East crisis live
Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Jason Burke
Gaza's civil defence agency said strikes on Friday killed 108 people, mostly women and children, and some officials in the Palestinian territory put the number killed by Israeli attacks in recent days as high as 250 or 300.
At least 48 bodies were taken to the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza, and 16 to Nasser hospital after strikes on the outskirts of the central town of Deir al-Balah and the southern city of Khan Younis, health officials said.
In Jabaliya, a neighbourhood in the north of Gaza that has seen heavy bombardment for weeks, women sat weeping beside 10 bodies draped in white sheets that were lined up on the ground amid rubble.
Umm Mohammed al-Tatari, 57, said she had been awoken by a pre-dawn attack on northern Gaza.
'We were asleep when suddenly everything exploded around us … everyone started running … there was blood everywhere, body parts and corpses,' she said.
Israel's military said its air force had struck more than 150 'terror' targets across Gaza.
Hamas still holds 57 of about 250 hostages seized in its October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Share Jason Burke
Israel has announced a major new offensive in Gaza after launching a wave of airstrikes on the territory that killed more than 100 people, in what it said was a fresh effort to force Hamas to release hostages.
In a statement late on Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they had 'launched extensive attacks and mobilized forces to seize strategic areas in the Gaza Strip, as part of the opening moves of Operation Gideon's Chariots and the expansion of the campaign in Gaza, to achieve all the goals of the war in Gaza'.
Israel has called up tens of thousands of reservists for the new offensive, in which troops will hold on to seized territory and which will lead to a significant displacement of the population, Benjamin Netanyahu has said. Israeli ministers have spoken of 'conquering' Gaza.
The announcement came as Donald Trump finished a visit to the region that included stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates but not Israel.
Earlier on Friday, Donald Trump acknowledged that people are starving in Gaza and claimed the US would have the situation in the territory 'taken care of'.
The US president told reporters in Abu Dhabi: 'We're looking at Gaza. And we're going to get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving.'
You can read Jason's full report here: Share
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Reuters
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