Israeli bombing turns Gaza into ‘ball of fire’ as blackout adds to misery

NT Correspondent

Tel Aviv/Gaza City: Battles raged in Gaza on Saturday as Israel's army said it expanded ground operations after intensifying its bombardment of the besieged Palestinian enclave three weeks after the Hamas carried out a raid in Israel.

The Spokesperson of the Health Ministry in Gaza, Ashraf al-Qudra said that the heavy Israeli bombardment had turned Gaza into a “ball of fire”, with at least 377 more Palestinians losing their lives in designated safe areas on Friday night.

Completely disconnected from the outside world, Palestinians are still living the horror of constant bombardments and Israel’s military on Saturday reissued an evacuation call for the northern Gaza Strip before an impending Israeli operation.

The Israeli army carried out massive air raids with medical and civil defence personnel saying recuse efforts were hindered by a communication blackout.

The entire communication system of the Gaza Strip has been destroyed, allowing only speculation currently about the sheer amount of damage that has been caused by the bombardment of the northern part of the enclave and Gaza City.

Saudi warns Israel against ground operations in Gaza

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry on Saturday issued a statement condemning Israeli ground operations that threaten the lives of Palestinian civilians.

Saudi Arabia warned Israel “of the danger of continuing to carry out these blatant and unjustified violations of international law against our brotherly Palestinians.”

“This seriously affects the region’s stability and regional and international peace and security,” reads the statement published in Arabic.

Elon Musk ridicules US claims Iran being warmonger

SpaceX founder Elon Musk, through his social media platform X, has derided allegations of Iran being a warmonger.

He ridiculed the American authorities' assertion by posting an image of several US military bases surrounding Iran's borders on his platform.

In a sarcastic tone, he commented that one should observe how Iranians conveniently placed their country near US military bases.