Israel to Use ‘Every Option’ to Free Gaza Hostages; Hamas Says ‘Completely Ready’ to Confront IDF | Updates – News18

A day after its “most intense airstrikes” on Gaza since the start of the conflict, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday said that the operation against Hamas in Gaza “stepped up a level” and the second stage of the war has begun.

Calling it “Israel’s second war of Independence”, Netanyahu said this advanced operation would be focused on destroying Hamas’s capabilities and returning the hostages and the country will use every possible option for that.

Meanwhile, Hamas and its members in Gaza said that they were ready to confront Israeli attacks with “full force” in response to Israel’s widened air and ground attacks on the Palestinian enclave.

Here are the top updates of the day on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war:

• Israeli PM Netanyahu said that IDF stepped up its operation in Gaza as “Israel’s second war of Independence begins.
• Hamas and its fighters said they were ready to face Israel in full force after the Friday night airstrikes.
• Hamas Group on Saturday said it was ready to release Israeli hostages if Israel freed all Palestinians held in its prisons.
• Israel’s military on Saturday reissued a call for Palestinians to evacuate the northern Gaza Strip ahead of Israeli ground operation and move towards the South.
• Israeli air strikes destroyed hundreds of buildings in the Gaza Strip overnight, the civil defence service in the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory said on Saturday.
•  Israel Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said that he has ordered the return of the envoys as Israel is reassessing diplomatic ties with Turkey due to leader’s ‘increasingly harsh’ remarks.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday spoke to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and discussed the situation in Gaza as well as the “grave security and humanitarian consequences of the ongoing conflict.”
• India abstained in a UN General Assembly vote on a resolution that called for an immediate humanitarian truce in the Israel-Hamas conflict.
• The IDF and ISA, in a joint statement, revealed additional evidence of Hamas’ use of the Shifa Hospital for terrorist activity on Saturday.
• The Israeli Forces on Saturday said they killed the Head of Hamas’ Aerial Array, Asem Abu Rakaba.
• IDF used a remotely manned aircraft missile to attack a terrorist squad trying to launch anti-tank missiles from Lebanese territory toward Israel.
• The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said more than 7,700 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s retaliatory bombardments.
• Nearly 29,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon amid deadly exchanges between Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters and the Israeli army, a United Nations agency said.
• Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched in central London on Saturday to demand the British government call for a ceasefire in Gaza.