(CNN) — Israel said Monday its ground offensive will “intensify” after troops appeared to advance more than two miles into Gaza, according to a CNN analysis. Meanwhile, aid groups say civil order is breaking down in the enclave, as airstrikes compound a devastating humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s blockade on basic necessities including food and fuel.
Over the weekend, Israel said it had entered a “second stage” of its war against militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, following weeks of aerial strikes on the isolated territory. Israel is prepared for a “long and difficult” war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday, as it seeks to root out and “destroy” Hamas after it killed more than 1,400 people in the attack on Israel earlier this month.
Israel’s bombardment has left at least 7,960 people dead, mostly civilians, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah. Nearly three-quarters – 73% – of those killed are from vulnerable populations, including children, women and elderly individuals, the ministry said Sunday. Amnesty International said it has documented “unlawful Israeli attacks” that “must be investigated as war crimes,” as Israel argues it is targeting Hamas.
In the weeks since the siege on Gaza began, less than one normal day’s worth of aid has been allowed to reached its residents.
During Israeli ground operations in Gaza, an Israeli soldier who was among the more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas in its October 7 attack was released, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. A 23-year-old German-Israeli woman who was abducted from a music festival and taken to Gaza has been found dead, Israel’s foreign ministry said earlier Monday.
Israel’s expanded operations sparked new warnings from leaders about the risk of broader regional conflict, as well as heightened calls from the United Nations for a humanitarian ceasefire to deliver desperately needed aid into Gaza.
Here’s the latest:
Offensive will intensify, IDF says
Israel sent more ground forces into Gaza overnight, army spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Monday.
“Additional forces have entered the strip. Our activity there is only set to intensify,” he said, adding that dozens of Hamas gunmen had been killed in recent fighting.
Video footage has also emerged of an Israeli tank apparently opening fire on a passenger vehicle as it performed a U-turn on the main road running through Gaza.
The footage, filmed by Palestinian freelance journalist Yousif Al Saifi and geolocated by CNN, shows the tank close to the Netzarim junction, a key crossroads to the south of Gaza city about three kilometers (1.8 miles) from the strip’s eastern boundary.
“The tank was standing there and targeting anyone who came close to it,” Al Saifi said, describing the incident on his Telegram account. “A car and a bus were both targeted in that area; there was also a bulldozer beside the tank.”
It is not known who was driving the vehicle, nor their condition after the incident.
In response to the video, a spokesman for the IDF told CNN that Hamas uses civilian equipment inside Gaza, acknowledging he didn’t know who was inside that particular car.
“How can you tell there aren’t terrorists inside that car? Hamas has no jeeps or tanks, they use civilian equipment for their military purposes,” IDF spokesman Maj. Nir Dinar told CNN.
“I don’t know who was in that vehicle so I assume the media can’t tell for sure as well,” he added.
It comes after Israeli troops appeared to have advanced more than two miles into Gaza over the weekend, according to a CNN analysis of video showing soldiers putting an Israeli flag on a rooftop in Gaza.
The video, taken Saturday and published by an Israeli media outlet, is one of the first glimpses into where Israeli ground forces have been since expanding ground operations in Gaza overnight Friday.
On Sunday, the IDF said it exchanged fire with Hamas and struck military structures, “some of which contained Hamas terrorists.”
A CNN team in the Israeli city of Sderot, near the Gaza Strip perimeter, heard machine gun fire at regular intervals Sunday coming from the northern part of the enclave, while the IDF continued to fire artillery rounds and mortars from outside the border further south.
IDF tanks and armored personnel vehicles were also seen approaching the border while helicopters, drones and fighter jets flew overhead.
Hostage released
A female Israeli soldier who was kidnapped by Hamas, PVT Ori Megidish, was released in IDF ground raids, the Israeli military said Monday.
The IDF added “the soldier was medically checked, is doing well, and has met with her family.”
Earlier, a 23-year-old German-Israeli woman, Shani Louk who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival by Hamas militants was found dead, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said earlier Monday.
Louk was attending the festival in southern Israel on October 7 when Hamas breached the border between Gaza and Israel.
Hamas has also released a second short hostage video showing three women who are believed to be captive held by the militant group. Relatives of the hostages have named the women as Elena Trupanov, Daniel Aloni and Ramon Kirsht. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office also confirmed their names in a brief statement.
The footage shows them seated in plastic chairs facing the camera, while the woman in the middle addresses Netanyahu directly with increasing fury. She speaks fluently and does not appear to be reading from a script, but because the women are hostages, the statement could have been made under duress.
“You promised to release us all,” she says, suggesting she is aware of hostage negotiations, which fell through.
She finishes with a demand to “free us all,” screaming: “Now! Now! Now!”
The women do not show visible signs of physical mistreatment, but CNN is unable to verify anything about their circumstances or well-being.
The Israeli government has been under public pressure to ensure the safety of what Israel has said are 239 known hostages in Gaza, with senior officials portraying the intensifying campaign as part of a strategy to secure their release.
Families of hostages held in Gaza say they told Netanyahu on Sunday they would only accept an “everyone in return for everyone” deal, which would secure the immediate release of all hostages.
An “everyone for everyone” deal would involve the release of Hamas’ hostages in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians currently held in Israeli prisons, which the nongovernmental organization Palestinian Prisoners Club estimates to be 6,630 people.
‘Impossible’ hospital evacuation
Israeli airstrikes have “caused extensive damage to hospital departments and exposed residents and patients to suffocation” at the Al-Quds Hospital, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Sunday.
The medical organization accused Israel of “deliberately” launching airstrikes “directly next to” the facility in order to force an evacuation of the hospital, the second-largest in Gaza City.
The facility is treating hundreds of patients, while some 12,000 internally displaced civilians are also sheltering there, the agency said.
The organization said it received new warnings on Sunday from Israel to immediately evacuate the hospital ahead of possible bombardment, which the World Health Organization has said would be “impossible” to do without endangering patients’ lives.
The hospital is located north of Wadi Gaza, the line Israel has urged people in Gaza to flee south of as it continues to strike what it says are Hamas targets in the north.
Aid groups have criticized the evacuation order, pointing to the challenges for civilians of moving within Gaza while it is under attack. Even those who have been able to follow that evacuation order have not found safety, CNN reported Sunday.
‘More desperate by the hour’
Shortages of water, food and fuel continue to drive desperation in the territory, which suffered a communications blackout from Friday evening into Sunday morning.
Services began to gradually be restored Sunday, after what a senior US official said was American pressure on Israel.
The United Nations warned Sunday there are signs “civil order is starting to break down” in Gaza, reporting that thousands of desperate Palestinians are taking basic items like flour and hygiene supplies from warehouses.
At a news conference, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the situation in Gaza was “growing more desperate by the hour,” and reiterated his calls for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the “delivery of sustained humanitarian relief.”
UN officials earlier said the levels of aid coming through were not nearly enough to meet needs in Gaza.
US President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi Sunday about the need for the continued flow of aid into Gaza and stressed the importance of protecting civilian lives.
Since October 7, the death toll in Gaza has risen to 7,960, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah announced on Sunday, drawing the data from sources in the Hamas-controlled enclave.
Relief group Save the Children said the 3,000 children reported killed in Gaza over the past three weeks has surpassed the annual number of children killed in armed conflict globally in each of the past four years.
The widespread destruction and spiraling death toll has sparked huge anger and protests in the Middle East and beyond.
In the latest incident, an angry crowd in Russia’s mostly Muslim region of Dagestan stormed an airport where a flight from Israel arrived on Sunday, forcing authorities to close the facility and divert flights.
UN vote, regional tensions
Iran, which has long backed Hamas, issued new threats over the weekend that the current conflict risked widening.
Israel has “crossed the red lines” in Gaza, which “may force everyone to take action,” Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said Sunday. US security adviser Jake Sullivan also said there was an “elevated risk” of a spillover conflict in the Middle East.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia over the weekend each issued warnings of the potential for destabilization of regional security following Israel’s expanded operations.
Meanwhile, calls have continued for an humanitarian pause.
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Monday, where the United Arab Emirates will seek a resolution on a “humanitarian pause” in the fighting, sources tell CNN.
That follows a resolution passed by an overwhelming majority of UN member states Friday calling for a “sustained humanitarian truce.”
Earlier this month, the United States vetoed a draft resolution at the UNSC which called for a humanitarian pause but did not condemn Hamas for its terror attack.
