‘Do or die’: Israel declares it has begun the next phase in its battle against Hamas

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Sderot: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his nation’s military has begun a new phase in its battle against Hamas, declaring that Israel is fighting a second war for independence in its bid to crush the terror group while urging his citizens to prepare for a drawn-out conflict.

The fractures in the Middle East continued to expand on Sunday with Israel recalling diplomats from Turkey after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused it of behaving like a “war criminal” and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi labelling the region a “ticking time bomb”.

Destroyed buildings caused by the ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City.Credit: AP

Highlighting the new phase of attacks, the Israeli military released grainy images showing tank columns moving slowly in open areas of Gaza, many apparently near the border. It now appears Israel will conduct a staged escalation on the ground in Gaza, instead of the sudden and overwhelming offensive many had expected.

Israeli airstrikes hit areas around Gaza’s largest hospital, destroying roads leading to the Shifa facility which has sheltered Palestinians fleeing Israeli bombardment but Israel says the hospital sits above underground Hamas bunkers used as military command posts.

The Israeli military said its warplanes had bombed dozens of Hamas tunnels and underground bunkers on Sunday.

The escalation in Israel’s bombardments was evident at Sderot, a city in southern Israel less than two kilometres from the border with Gaza, with far more persistent tank fire and machine gun rounds than in past weeks.

“There are moments in which a nation faces two possibilities: to do or die,” Netanyahu said. “We now face that test and I have no doubt how it will end: We will be the victors. We will do, and we will be the victors.”

Taking questions from reporters for the first time since Hamas’s October 7 massacre, Netanyahu said: “The war inside Gaza will be long and difficult, and we are ready for it.

“This is our second independence war. We will fight to protect our country. We will fight on land, in the sea and in the air. We will destroy the enemy above ground and underground.”

Confirming that Israeli troops were conducting ground operations in Gaza, Netanyahu said: “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.”

Footage released by Israeli Defence Forces shows its tanks during an incursion into the Gaza Strip.Credit: Israeli Defence Forces via AP

Desperate family members of the estimated 200 hostages who were smuggled into Gaza met Netanyahu on Sunday, expressing support for an exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

Hamas’ top leader in Gaza Yehia Sinwar said the group was willing to release all surviving hostages if Israel released all the thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari dismissed the offer as “psychological terror”.

Netanyahu acknowledged that the October 7 attacks, in which more than 1400 people were killed, were a “debacle” for Israel and would need a thorough investigation.

He added that “everyone will have to answer questions, including me”.

Smoke rises from explosions in Northern Gaza seen from Sderot in Israel.Credit: Kate Geraghty

Watching the action on the front lines from atop a childcare centre in Sderot, correctional officer Maor Levi said he had no sympathy for the civilian population in Gaza.

“We shouldn’t even think about them: just go in and finish it off,” he said.

Israelis take cover in an underground car tunnel as a siren warns of incoming rockets.Credit: AP

Returning to the largely evacuated city of Sderot to pray, Bella Gerashenko said she arrived in Israel seeking safety in 2000 after fleeing Russia’s war with Chechnya.

Israeli diplomats returned home from Turkey after Erdogan accused the Israel Defence Forces of committing war crimes and trying to eliminate Palestinians in Gaza.

Originally from Chechnya, Ludmyla Novroski (left) and Bella Gerashenko (right) have remained in Ashqelon, Israel. Credit: Kate Geraghty

Netanyahu responded by saying that Israel has “the most moral army in the world”.

The Palestinian death toll in Gaza rose Saturday to just over 7700 people since the war began, with 377 deaths reported since late Friday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Most of those killed have been women and children, the ministry said.

The World Health Organisation appealed to “the humanity in all those who have the power to do so to end the fighting now” in Gaza.

“There are more wounded every hour, but ambulances cannot reach them in the communications blackout. Morgues are full. More than half of the dead are women and children,” it said.

The Palestine Telecommunications Company confirmed that landline, mobile and internet services in the Gaza Strip were gradually being restored after a blackout hit the enclave.

More coverage of the Hamas-Israel conflict

• Cascading violence: Tremors from the Hamas attacks and Israel’s response have reached far beyond the border. But what would all-out war in the Middle East look like?
• The human cost: Hamas’ massacre in Israel has traumatised – and hardened – survivors. And in Gaza, neighbourhoods have become ghost cities.
• “Hamas metro”: Inside the labyrinthine network of underground tunnels, which the Palestinian militant group has commanded beneath war-ravaged Gaza for 16 years. The covert corridors have long provided essential channels for the movement of weapons and armed combatants.
• What is Hezbollah?: As fears of the conflict expanding beyond Israel and Hamas steadily rise, all eyes are on the militant group and political party that controls southern Lebanon and has been designated internationally as a terrorist group. How did it form and what does Iran have to do with it?

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