The Japan Times - Israel expands Gaza ground offensive, hits Hamas in Lebanon

Since renewed military operations last month ended a short-lived truce in its war with Hamas, Israel has pushed to seize territory in the Gaza Strip in what it said was a strategy to force militants to free hostages still in captivity.

Israel has also escalated attacks on Syria and Lebanon, where a US envoy was visiting on Friday, hours after a pre-dawn strike on the port city of Sidon killed a Hamas commander.

In Gaza City, the Israeli army said ground troops were operating in the Shujaiya area "in order to expand the security zone" established by the military inside the Palestinian territory.

"The situation is very dangerous, and there is death coming at us from every direction," Elena Helles told AFP via text message, saying her family were trapped in her sister's house in Shujaiya.

Others fled the area following an Israeli evacuation order on Thursday, AFPTV footage showed.

The civil defence agency said Israeli military operations across Gaza killed at least 30 people on Friday.

A single strike on Khan Yunis killed at least 25 people, a medical source at the southern city's Nasser Hospital told AFP.

"My grandfather's house was bombed... without warning," said Ahmed al-Aqqad, whose family owned the building.

More bodies may be buried "under the rubble, but we cannot get them out due to the lack of necessary equipment", he said.

"We call on the entire world to stand together to stop the bloodshed," said relative Diaa al-Aqqad.

- 'Couldn't find our children' -

Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday that the military would bolster its presence inside Gaza to fight militants and "destroy... terrorist infrastructure", with unspecified "large areas" to be "incorporated into Israeli security zones".

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the army was dividing Gaza and "seizing territory" to force Hamas to free the remaining Israeli hostages taken captive during the October 2023 attack that sparked the war.

Out of 251 people abducted during the Hamas attack on Israel, 58 remain hostage in Gaza including 34 the military says are dead.

The Israeli military said Thursday it had struck more than 600 "terror targets" across the Gaza Strip in its renewed offensive since March 18.

One Israeli strike on Thursday hit a school used as a shelter for displaced Palestinians in the Gaza City area, the civil defence agency said, reporting at least 31 killed including children.

"They bombed us with missiles and everything went dark... We couldn't find our children," sobbed Raghda al-Sharafa, who was among the displaced civilians sheltering at the Dar al-Arqam School compound in the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood, in northeast Gaza City.

The Israeli military said it had struck a "Hamas command and control centre in the area of Gaza City", without specifying its location.

The Jordanian foreign ministry condemned the bombardment, accusing Israel of "systematic targeting of civilians and displacement centres, in blatant violation of international law".

Doctors Without Borders said on Friday that its staff member Hussam Al Loulou, 58, was killed along with family members in an air strike earlier this week in central Gaza, one of hundreds of aid workers killed during the war.

"We strongly condemn his killing and call yet again for the immediate restoration of the ceasefire and protection of civilians," the medical charity said.

- Lebanon strike -

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said 1,249 people have been killed since Israel resumed intense bombing last month, bringing the overall death toll since the war began to 50,609.

The October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

In Lebanon, Hamas's military wing said its commander Hassan Farhat was killed in an Israeli strike that hit "inside his apartment" in Sidon.

The group said his son Hamza, who was also a member of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, and daughter Jenan were killed too.

The Israeli military, confirming it had killed Hassan Farhat, accused him of orchestrating attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians including deadly rocket fire on the town of Safed last year.

Lebanon condemned a "flagrant attack" on its sovereignty.

The US deputy special envoy for the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus -- whose country has helped oversee a November truce between Israel and Lebanese Hamas ally Hezbollah -- landed in Beirut on Friday for meetings with top officials, Lebanon's official National News Agency said.

Ortagus has drawn Hezbollah's ire by declaring in February the Iran-backed group's "reign of terror" over. She has also called for "a political resolution" to Israel-Lebanon border disputes.

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T.Ueda--JT