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The Israeli army has stepped up its bombing campaign in the southern Gaza Strip on the second day after the ceasefire expired. The military said Saturday morning that warplanes bombed more than 50 targets in the area around the town of Chan Yunis overnight. Terrorists and Islamist Hamas infrastructure were also attacked with tanks and targeted airstrikes in the Beit Lahia area, the report said.

Heavy fighting in Khan Yunis

Israeli naval units also attacked Hamas military targets in the port of Khan Yunis and in Deir al-Balah overnight with precision munitions. The infrastructure and equipment of Hamas’s naval forces were hit. For weeks, Israel had previously urged residents of the northern Gaza Strip to flee to the southern part for their safety.

The Israeli army on Friday published a map for the civilian population that divides the area into numbered zones – “in preparation for the next phase of the war.” This should enable residents to “orient themselves, understand the instructions and, if necessary, get to safety from certain locations”. However, the heavy attacks by the Israeli army on Saturday have led to renewed concerns about civilian casualties.

Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken clearly called on the Israeli leadership to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip. The numerous civilian deaths and displacement on the scale seen in northern Gaza must not be repeated in the south, he warned after a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Also attacks in northern Gaza

According to reports, Israeli forces fired again at targets on the ground and from the air in northern Gaza. On Saturday, it was said that a terrorist cell that had ambushed Israeli forces was bombed.

In addition, a fighter jet shot at a mosque that served as a command center for Islamic Jihad. More than 400 ‘terrorist targets’ were attacked throughout the coastal area last day, the Israeli army also announced. All information could not initially be independently verified.

Hamas said it fired rockets into central Israel for the first time after the end of the week-long break in fighting. According to Israeli figures, approximately 10,000 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel since the start of the Gaza war.

Israel’s army fights ‘as long as necessary’

According to a spokesperson, the Israeli army has not set a time limit on the Gaza war. “We are determined to fight Hamas for as long as necessary,” Israeli army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said on Saturday evening. He added: “We have no other choice.” Conricus once again reiterated his country’s war aim to completely destroy the terrorist organization so that it no longer poses a threat to Israel in the future.

The spokesperson was responding to reports that Blinken had said during his recent three-week talks in Israel that Israel should continue the war as it had done before. Israeli media reported that Blinken was unsure whether Israel would have the international support to continue fighting with the same intensity as before the ceasefire.

Israel says it is also under fire from its northern neighbor Lebanon. The Israeli army announced on Saturday morning that its own artillery had responded by attacking the area from which the projectiles were fired into Israel. A fighter plane hit the target in Lebanon. There was no information about possible victims. Only the day before there had been renewed fighting at the border between the countries. (sda/dpa)