Israel has begun a new phase in its war on Hamas as its armed forces move deeper into Gaza amid a continuous bombardment from the air. In a televised press conference on Saturday, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said: “We have unanimously approved the widening of the ground invasion … Our objective is singular: to defeat the murderous enemy. We declared ‘never again’, and we reiterate: ‘never again, now’.”
In Gaza, where communications have been all but impossible in recent days, the reporter Hazem Balousha tells Michael Safi that the intensifying assault is making everywhere in Gaza unsafe. As he speaks, the boom of aerial attacks plays out behind him and at one point he is able to catch a leaflet dropped by the Israeli Defence Forces warning him and others to evacuate the area.
In Jerusalem, the Guardian’s Middle East correspondent, Bethan McKernan, reports on the latest Israeli offensive and how the latest actions are being explained to Israelis and the wider world.
Photograph: Mohammed Saber/EPA
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