ground operation.

Netanyahu says the Gaza war has entered a new stage and will be ‘long and difficult’

Israel has expanded its in Gaza, sending in tanks and infantry backed by massive strikes from the air and sea. (Oct. 28)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the nation Saturday night that the military has opened a “second stage” in the war against Hamas by sending ground forces into Gaza and expanding attacks from the ground, air and sea.

Casting the war as a fight for his country’s very survival, he warned that the assault would only intensify ahead of a broad ground invasion into the territory.

“There are moments in which a nation faces two possibilities: to do or die,” Netanyahu said. “Now we have to pass this test, and I have no doubts about how it will end. We will win. We will do this and come out victors.”

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The bombardment, described by people in Gaza as the bloodiest battle of the war, disrupted most communications in the region late Friday and left the besieged region's 2.3 million people largely cut off from the world. Communications for many Gaza residents were restored early Sunday morning, according to on-the-ground checks with NetBlocks.org, a group that protects telecommunications company Internet access.

Israel-Hamas War: Expanding Coverage

This image taken from video shows multiple explosions above the Gaza skyline in southern Israel on Saturday, October 28, 2023. (AP Photo)

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A photo hangs on a refrigerator riddled with bullet holes in a house at Kibbutz Kissufim in southern Israel, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. The Kibbutz was overrun by Hamas militants from the nearby Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, when they killed and captured many Israelis. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

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FILE - Israeli police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023. Just three weeks into the deadliest war between Israel and Hamas, it already is clear that the bloodshed has shaken the region for years to come and flipped long-standing Israeli assumptions upside down. Israelis' sense of personal security was shattered, and the international community's traditional approach of urging Israel to withdraw from occupied land in exchange for peace appears out of the question. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, File)

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Highlighting the ongoing attacks, the Israeli military released grainy images showing tank columns moving slowly in open areas of Gaza, many apparently near the border, and said warplanes bombed dozens of Hamas tunnels and underground bunkers. The underground sites are a key target in Israel’s campaign to crush the territory’s ruling group after its bloody incursion into Israel three weeks ago.

The escalation ratcheted up domestic pressure on Israel’s government to secure the release of dozens of hostages seized in the Oct. 7 rampage by Hamas, when militants stormed from Gaza into nearby Israeli towns and gunned down civilians and soldiers. The unprecedented attack during a major Jewish holiday initiated a war between Israel and Hamas that could spread into a broader Mideast conflict.

Desperate family members met with Netanyahu on Saturday and expressed support for an exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, a swap floated by the top Hamas leader in Gaza.

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Netanyahu told the nationally televised news conference that Israel is determined to bring back all the hostages, and maintained that the expanding ground operation “will help us in this mission.” He said he couldn’t reveal everything that is being done due to the sensitivity and secrecy of the efforts.

“This is the second stage of the war, whose objectives are clear: to destroy the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and bring the hostages home,” he said in his first time taking questions from journalists since the war began.

He didn’t address calls for a cease-fire, but in a speech peppered with references to centuries of Jewish history and military conflicts, made clear his view that Israel’s future depends on its success against “enemy” forces.

“Our heroic soldiers have one supreme goal: to destroy the murderous enemy and ensure our existence in our land. We have always said, ‘Never again,’” he said. “‘Never again’ is now.”

Netanyahu also acknowledged that the Oct. 7 “debacle,” in which more than 1,400 people were killed, would need a thorough investigation, adding that “everyone will have to answer questions, including me.”

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FILE - Mourners pray by the bodies of Salem Abu Quta family members, a Hamas fighter, during a funeral after they were killed in an Israeli strike on their house in Rafah refugee camp, southern Gaza Strip, Sunday, Oct. 8, 2023. As the fifth Israel-Hamas war rages, growing more deadly and devastating, international and local monitoring groups in besieged Gaza have been unable to keep up. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali, File)

What is Gaza’s Ministry of Health and how does it calculate the war’s death toll? Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Monday, Oct. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

These numbers show the staggering toll of the Israel-Hamas war

The Israeli military said it was gradually expanding its ground operations inside Gaza, while stopping short of calling it an all-out invasion.

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