The Israeli military said on Saturday that it had begun mobilizing its forces in preparation to advance farther into Gaza, seize more land and displace more civilians, adding that it was already conducting intense airstrikes ahead of the planned offensive.
But there were no signs by Saturday morning of any wide-scale new ground invasion, despite weeks of threats by Israeli leaders. An Israeli military official, who requested anonymity to discuss operational details, said that some ground troops had begun to advance in Gaza, but declined to say when, where or how far.
Israeli fighter jets intensely bombarded Gaza overnight between Friday and Saturday. Over the past few days, Israel has conducted increasingly deadly airstrikes across the territory, killing more than 90 people on Friday alone, according to the Gazan health ministry.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has vowed to drastically expand Israel’s ground campaign in Gaza in an effort to force the Palestinian militant group Hamas to surrender, lay down its weapons, and free the remaining hostages. But 19 months after the war in Gaza began, Israel has failed to either defeat Hamas or free all of the captives.
The latest Israeli attacks prompted some Palestinian civilians in the central city of Deir al-Balah to flee from the eastern edge of the city heading west, both on foot and in carts.
Hani al-Dibs, a displaced Palestinian sheltering in the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya, said he had spent the night amid constant bombardments that felt “like an earthquake.” Mr. al-Dibs fled south from a house where he had been sheltering on Friday as rumors spread of an impending Israeli ground offensive.
The escalation of Israeli air attacks came as mediators, including the Trump administration, sought to broker a new truce for Gaza to halt the war that began with the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. That attack killed about 1,200 people, and the Palestinian assailants took about 250 hostages back to Gaza.
The Israeli military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 53,000 people, according to Palestinian health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. In January, both sides agreed to a cease-fire that lasted for about two months before Israel ended the truce in mid-March and renewed its attacks on the territory.
The United Nations has warned that Gaza’s roughly two million Palestinians face a growing risk of famine after an Israeli blockade on all humanitarian aid that began in early March. For more than two months, Israel has barred food, medicine and other desperately needed supplies from entering the territory in an effort, it said, to pressure Hamas to compromise and release the hostages.
On Friday, President Trump, wrapping up a four-day visit to Gulf Arab nations, said “a lot of people are starving” in Gaza and the United States wanted to help alleviate the suffering. Mr. Trump skipped Israel during his regional tour, the first major foreign trip of his second term.
Israeli forces have increasingly hemmed in Gazans, forcing them into smaller and smaller sections of the territory.
Hamas is refusing to release the remaining 58 hostages unless Israel agrees to a permanent end to the war and a withdrawal of its forces from Gaza. About 20 of the captives are believed to still be alive, while Israeli authorities say the rest are presumed dead.
While Israel has killed many Hamas leaders, the group has recruited new fighters who have continued the bitter war of attrition.
On Tuesday, Israel bombed around a hospital near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis in an attempt to kill Muhammad Sinwar, one of the most powerful Hamas leaders remaining in Gaza. Neither Israel nor Hamas have publicly commented on whether he survived the strike.
Ronen Bergman contributed reporting.
Aaron Boxerman is a Times reporter covering Israel and Gaza. He is based in Jerusalem.
Patrick Kingsley is The Times’s Jerusalem bureau chief, leading coverage of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.
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