Israeli attacks on Gaza becoming more intense as public outcry over civilian fatalities grows

 Israeli attacks on Gaza becoming more intense as public outcry over civilian fatalities grows

Nov. 6, GAZA (Reuters) - The Israeli Defense Forces stated on Monday that they had destroyed 450 Hamas targets in Gaza and taken control of a terrorist facility in the previous 24 hours. However, the health ministry of the Palestinian enclave said that scores of Palestinians had been killed in the airstrikes.

One of the most intensive bombardments from the air, ground, and sea since Israel began its war a month ago in response to Hamas' surprise onslaught on southern Israel, according to a Reuters correspondent in the Gaza Strip, took place overnight.

More than 9,770 Palestinians have died in the conflict, which started on October 7 when Hamas murdered 1,400 people and took over 240 captives, according to health authorities in Gaza, which is under Hamas rule.

Israel was under constant pressure to prevent civilian fatalities in its attack on Gaza, but it refused to accept a truce until the prisoners were freed. Meanwhile, the United States is stepping up its diplomatic efforts in the area to lessen the likelihood that the crisis would worsen.

Hours after hundreds of protesters at a pro-Palestinian demonstration attempted to overrun an air base that houses American soldiers in southern Turkey, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was scheduled to meet with Turkey's Foreign Minister in Ankara.

Blinken met Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, on an unexpected visit to the West Bank on Sunday. Abbas echoed pleas from across the world for an urgent ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out a ceasefire for the time being, despite Blinken restating US worries that it may help Hamas. "There will be no ceasefire without the return of the hostages," Netanyahu said.

WAFA, a Palestinian news agency, claimed "unprecedented bombardment" from Israel, while Paltel, a telecom company, reported yet another interruption of internet and communication services.

According to Gaza's health ministry, Israeli airstrikes claimed the lives of scores of civilians in Gaza City and in Gaza's southern neighborhoods, including Zawaida and Deir Al-Balah.

According to the IDF, "tunnels, terrorists, military compounds, observation posts, and anti-tank missile launch posts" were all targets of their attacks. It added that while gaining control of a terrorist facility that included training facilities for Hamas operatives, subterranean terror tunnels, and observation stations, ground forces killed a number of Hamas militants.

REPORTED: CIA CHIEF VISIT

Among those slain was Jamal Mussa, a prominent Hamas leader who oversaw the organization's special security activities, according to the IDF.

Since it started expanding its ground operations in Gaza on October 27, Israel claims to have killed 31 troops. The Hamas combatants, who think they can withstand Israel's approach in a maze of tunnels underneath the territory, number in the thousands.

CNN was informed late on Sunday by an Israeli military spokesperson that two days in a row, bombardments in northern Gaza were stopped for several hours to provide people a safe route to relocate south of the restricted coastal strip.

Although there was access to humanitarian supplies and water in the southern part of Gaza, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said that Hamas was obstructing convoys by opening fire on them. His story could not be readily verified by Reuters.

According to the New York Times, U.S. CIA Director William Burns was scheduled to visit Israel on Monday to talk with top authorities about the conflict and intelligence. An unidentified U.S. source was reported by the Times as adding that Burns would also stop in other Middle Eastern nations to talk about the Gaza crisis.

When Reuters asked the CIA for comment, the agency did not reply.

According to her office, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will speak with international leaders later on Monday to address the situation and further the administration's efforts to improve the supply of humanitarian supplies to Gaza's civilian population.

According to reports in state media and a post on X by Jordan's monarch, the Jordanian air force air-dropped vital medical assistance to the Jordanian field hospital in Gaza in the beginning Monday.

The Ohio-class nuclear missile submarine has landed in the Middle East, according to U.S. Central Command, which oversees the area. This rare declaration of a nuclear submarine's location was seen by some experts as a warning to Iran.

TORn-Apart Muscle

At the Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza, wherein the health ministry said that Israeli forces had killed at least 47 people in strikes early on Sunday, residents looked for casualties or survivors.

"I spent the whole night attempting to separate the deceased from the debris with the other guys. We received youngsters, mutilated, with ripped flesh," 53-year-old Saeed al-Nejma said.

The IDF stated they were collecting information when asked for comment.

According to the health ministry, 21 Palestinians from a single family were murdered in strikes in a different incident. The IDF chose not to respond.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm these reports.

Insisting on a "immediate ceasefire" from Israel, Abbas said Blinken, "We demand that you have stop them from committing these acts of violence immediately."

According to news agency WAFA, Abbas said that the Palestinians were up against a battle of "genocide and destruction".

Other Israeli-Palestinian conflicts have been exacerbated by the war.

Israeli police said that a 16-year-old Palestinian in East Jerusalem had attacked and injured two policemen before being shot. Medical personnel said that Israeli army fire had killed one Palestinian and injured three others in the occupied West Bank, another area in which Palestinians aspire for independence. Regarding the occurrence, a military spokeswoman has not yet responded.

After three children and their grandmother were murdered by an Israeli attack on a vehicle in the country's south, according to Lebanese officials, tensions with Lebanon escalated.

The military of Israel said that it had struck "terrorist targets of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon" in retaliation for a missile strike on tanks that claimed the life of an Israeli national.

According to Hezbollah, it retaliated by launching missiles toward the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona. The gang said that it would respond "firm and strong" to any assaults on civilians and that it would never allow them.

Reports from Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Ali Sawafta as well as Simon Lewis in Ramallah, Costas Pitas in Los Angeles, and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza; Written in Washington by David Lawder; edited by Lincoln Feast, Simon Cameron-Moore, and William Maclean