Palestinians evacuate the site of Israeli strikes on houses, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, November 6, 2023.
Credit: Reuters Photo
With Israel's military encircling Gaza City, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Turkey on Monday, the final stop in a whirlwind tour of the Middle East that was aimed as much at warning off Iran as it was at finding a way to alleviate the suffering in the Gaza Strip.
Blinken met with Iraq's prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, in Baghdad on Sunday. While there, he warned Iran that while the United States was not seeking a direct conflict, it would defend its troops in Syria and Iraq, who have been attacked at least 40 times since Oct 7 by militias aligned with Iran.
In Baghdad, Blinken also discussed getting more humanitarian aid into Gaza, conversations that he continued Monday in Turkey, where he met with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
Israel showed no signs of letting up in its military campaign to root out Hamas in Gaza. The Israeli military announced Sunday that its forces had fully encircled Gaza City and were carrying out "a significant operation." And for roughly 15 hours, Gaza was once again plunged into the kind of communications blackout that cut it off during Israel's initial invasion 10 days ago.
Israel has described Gaza City, in the north of the enclave, as a center for Hamas' military operations, and its encirclement of the city appeared aimed at cutting it off from the rest of the strip.
"At this hour, we are carrying out a large attack on terrorist infrastructure both below and above ground," Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military's chief spokesperson, said in a late-night briefing Sunday.
"Essentially today there is a northern Gaza and a southern Gaza," he added.
Journalists' reports were limited by the blackout. The BBC said one of its Gaza reporters thought the night had brought "the most intense airstrikes since the beginning of the war." WAFA, the official Palestinian news agency, reported "violent explosions and an unprecedented bombardment by Israeli aircraft and warships," saying the raids targeted the vicinities of several hospitals and had killed and injured dozens of people.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said on social media that the communications blackout cut off access to emergency medical services in Gaza, and that, as during the previous blackouts, it had lost contact with its teams there.