Issued on: 29/10/2023 – 01:36

2 min

• Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a news conference, “the war in the (Gaza) Strip will be long and difficult and we are prepared for it,” after meeting families of hostages held in Gaza since surprise Hamas attacks on southern Israel on October 7.

• Israeli warplanes struck 150 tunnels and underground bunkers in northern Gaza overnight into Saturday, the military said. Hamas’s extensive underground installations, many of them located under Gaza City in the territory’s north, are seen as key targets of the offensive. A military statement said the sites hit included “terror tunnels, underground combat spaces and additional underground infrastructure”.
• The Israeli military reiterated its call for Gaza residents to evacuate to the Palestinian territory’s south ahead of an “impending IDF operation”. The Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant also announced Saturday that the ongoing operation in Gaza would continue “until further notice”.
• Gaza has been under an almost complete communications blackout, with internet and phone services cut for more than 12 hours by Saturday morning. Telecoms firms and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society have said that Israeli bombardments are responsible. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on Saturday that the blackout is “making it impossible for ambulances to reach the injured”, and that WHO was not able to contact its staff and health facilities.
• The UN General Assembly approved a nonbinding resolution on Friday calling for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza leading to a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers. The 193-member world body adopted the resolution by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions. 
• The health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza has said more than 7,700 people have been killed since the eruption of war with Israel following the October 7 Hamas attack that killed at least 1,400 Israelis. FRANCE 24 has not been able to independently verify the number of casualties.

If the live blog does not immediately appear, please refresh the page.

Key developments of Saturday, October 28:

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that fighting inside the Gaza Strip would be “long and difficult”, as Israeli ground forces operate in the Palestinian territory for more than 24 hours.

Israel expanded its ground operations and cut the Palestinian territory off from communications three weeks after Hamas launched the deadliest single attack in Israel’s history.

Read our blog to see how the day’s events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)