Israel presses into Gaza as pro-Palestinian protests spread worldwide

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military’s intensified ground operations in Gaza pushed into a fourth day Monday as part of its so-called “second phase” of its war with the militant group Hamas.

Since the intensified operation began on Friday night, Israeli airstrikes have hit more than 600 Hamas targets, including weapons depots and anti-tank missile launch sites, Israel said. Israeli troops killed dozens of Hamas fighters on Sunday alone, the IDF said. Statements from the Israeli military described several “clashes” between Israeli soldiers and Hamas fighters.

Among Israel’s targets is Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, Israeli military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a Sunday night news conference. Israelis say Sinwar was the chief architect of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that left 1,400 dead.

“We will pursue Yahya Sinwar until we get to him,” Hagari said.

An Israeli soldier was killed overnight when a tank overturned in Gaza, the military said Monday. In total, 312 Israeli soldiers have been killed, most of them on Oct. 7.

About a thousand Palestinians have died in Gaza since Friday, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, bringing the overall death toll there to more than 8,000.

After two nights and a day of internet and phone service outages, Palestinian communications came back on Sunday. Across Gaza and beyond, Palestinians expressed relief as families were able to reach loved ones.

Israel has continued to urge the evacuation of northern Gaza, including hospitals, where beds are completely full with injured people and hallways have crowded each night with Palestinians seeking refuge from airstrikes. At least a third of hospitals in Gaza have been forced to shut down due to a lack of fuel to operate generators, the U.N. says.

At Ah-Ahli Arab Hospital, hospital officials have evacuated displaced people, but staff are still treating patients, said Dr. Fadel Naim, an orthopedic surgeon working there. The hospital was the site of a deadly explosion on Oct. 17 that killed at least 100 people, according to estimates by U.S. intelligence services.

“They are trying to push the people to evacuate the hospital,” Naim told NPR. “They are still warning us.”

About 117 trucks carrying aid have been allowed into Gaza via the territory’s Rafah border with Egypt. Most of those trucks have carried medical supplies, and about half have carried food. None have carried fuel, which Israel has blocked over concerns it could be stolen by Hamas.

Food in Gaza has been difficult to come by. The lack of electricity and fuel for generators has put many food suppliers out of operation. Palestinians living in Gaza have told NPR about fruitless searches for open vendors or waiting in line for hours for a days’ worth of bread for their family.

On Saturday, thousands of people broke into several warehouses operated by UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, to steal wheat flour and other survival supplies.

“This is a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege on Gaza. People are scared, frustrated and desperate,” said Thomas White, UNRWA’s top official for Gaza, in a statement Saturday.

The pace of aid trucks crossing into Gaza is “insufficient” and “geared to fail,” he said.

“Very few trucks, slow processes, strict inspections, supplies that do not match the requirements of UNRWA and the other aid organizations, and mostly the ongoing ban on fuel, are all a recipe for a failed system,” he said.

Israel said Sunday it would resume water supply to central Gaza and authorize the Palestinian Water Authority to make repairs to pipelines damaged in the conflict. The U.N. reported that water supply in southern Gaza had experienced “significant improvement” in recent days as its agencies have delivered small amounts of fuel to desalination plants and pumping stations.

Still, with much of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people crowded into the territory’s southern half, clean water remained challenging to acquire.

“We have been taking extreme measures to reserve whatever water we had left. For instance, showers are something of the past,” said Abood Okal, a Palestinian-American and Massachusetts resident who was visiting family in Gaza when the war began and has since been stranded.

He, his wife and 1-year-old son are sheltering in a home in southern Gaza with about 40 or so other people, he said. Members of the household have been walking to a filtration station every day to fill up a few gallons to bring home for everyone.

Last Thursday, that filtration station ran out of diesel to operate its generators, Okal said Thursday evening. “We are almost out of drinking water today. I think we have just enough to last us through tonight, then tomorrow we’ll be basically out,” he said.

In New York City, London, Madrid, Casablanca, Istanbul, Islamabad and other cities worldwide, tens of thousands of people took part in pro-Palestinian protests this past weekend, calling for a cease-fire.

An airport in Russia’s Muslim-majority region of Dagestan closed Sunday night after pro-Palestinian protesters stormed the airport upon the arrival of a flight from Tel Aviv.

Video posted to social media appeared to show a crowd on the tarmac surrounding the plane, which landed at the Makhachkala airport around 7:15 p.m. local time.

“All Dagestanis empathize with the suffering of victims of the actions of unrighteous people and politicians and pray for peace in Palestine. But what happened at our airport is outrageous and should receive an appropriate assessment from law enforcement agencies,” said Sergey Melikov, head of the Dagestan Republic, in a post on Telegram.

Liz Baker contributed reporting from Tel Aviv and Majd Al-Waheidi contributed reporting from Washington.