Israel intensifies bombing and ground operations, sending Gaza into internet blackout

Amna Nawaz:

Israeli ground forces are making larger incursions into Gaza and officials are again warning of a wider invasion.

Geoff Bennett:

At the same time, Israel's punishing air campaign on Gaza is not letting up, while negotiations over the fates of more than 200 hostages held by Hamas have apparently faltered.

Leila Molana-Allen again starts our coverage tonight from just outside Gaza.

Leila Molana-Allen:

Nearly three weeks after the October 7 Hamas terror attacks, an Israeli official announced that the payback begins tonight.

Just behind me is the northeastern corner of the Gaza Strip after a day of some of the heaviest airstrikes on Gaza that we have seen. Now we're hearing constant outgoing artillery fire, Jeeps full of soldiers driving by, as the IDF says tonight that they are expanding their ground operations in Gaza.

An adviser to the prime minister, Mark Regev, said Hamas would feel Israel's wrath tonight, this after punishing airstrikes since the attacks. Earlier, Israel's elite naval unit pounded Gaza from the water. Ground forces conducted a preliminary raid, but it remained unclear if this was the full invasion forecast for days.

In Gaza, a telecommunications company said the bombardment has cut off phone and Internet service. An airstrike in Gaza earlier today blew the roof off a mosque while Palestinians gathered for Friday prayers. Then they mourned a 14-year-old killed in the blast.

Mohammed Abu Daqqa, Displaced From East of Khan Yunis (through interpreter): We have been invaded through ground and air. Is this a life? This is not a life.

Leila Molana-Allen:

Israelis defended their targeting, citing evidence they say shows Hamas hides resources behind humanitarian centers.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, Spokesperson, Israeli Defense Forces:

There is fuel in hospitals in Gaza, and Hamas is using it for its terror infrastructures.

Leila Molana-Allen:

The United Nations passed a resolution today calling for a humanitarian truce between Israel and Hamas, raising the political pressure for a cease-fire.

The White House said 10 aid trucks entered Gaza today, but U.N. aid workers on the ground called for more help.

Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East: These fuel trucks are nothing more than the crumbs that will not make a difference for the two million people in the street.

Leila Molana-Allen:

As the region boils, yesterday, the Iranian foreign minister cautioned against any further American involvement.

Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Iranian Foreign Minister (through interpreter):

We do not welcome the expansion of the war in the region. But, by war, if the genocide in Gaza continues, they will not be spared from this fire.

Leila Molana-Allen:

That is a threat Iran is apparently acting on. American troops in the region have weathered multiple attacks from militant groups they say are backed by Iran. American fighter jets in Eastern Syria attacked two Iran-linked sites in retaliation.

And Pentagon officials said troops brought down a drone near a U.S. base in Iraq this morning. Amid unrest in the region, the U.S. hopes to deter further attacks.

But, tonight, as Israel sends more ground troops into Gaza, it's all eyes on the attacks on that front line — Amna.

Amna Nawaz:

Leila, you spent good time on that area just outside of Gaza tonight and most of today. Tell us a little bit more about what you saw.

Leila Molana-Allen:

I did.

And about 7:

30 this evening, we started getting reports that inside Gaza, there was no longer any phone signals, there was no Internet signal. That, of course, is an indicator that something is about to happen, and then, just after that, reports from the Israeli military that they were extending their ground operations there.

We were down on that border there, a huge amount of artillery fire there, constant airstrikes, after a day full of airstrikes, many more Jeeps rolling into that area. We could see the flashes of artillery there, jets flying overhead, helicopters, drones everywhere. It was full military action.

Now, it's difficult right now to know whether this is the invasion they have been talking about or simply an extension. They haven't been clear on that. The IDF has confirmed that there are tonight troops and tanks inside Gaza. That's all they will say.

And we have had reports that in the Beit Hanoun area on the northeastern border of Gaza, just inside Gaza, that tanks were seen there and troops as well.

Amna Nawaz:

And our foreign affairs and defense correspondent, Nick Schifrin joins me here in studio.

Nick, good to see you.

So, Leila is reporting troops and tanks inside Gaza. What are your Washington sources telling you about what this means?

Nick Schifrin:

Well, as Leila said, it's not clear, at least publicly clear, what the Israelis are doing, whether this is the full-scale invasion, the goals of which are to uproot Hamas physically and politically, or if this is just more what the U.S. military calls shaping operations, being incursions ahead of a large invasion.

Amna, I will say, there are certainly people here who believe this is the start of the invasion. And there are U.S. hopes that, if this is the invasion, the Israelis have decided to do it a little bit differently than what we have seen in the past, a little bit more measured, a little bit more slow-rolled, even though these images do not suggest any kind of measurement or slow roll.

The idea there is that, strategically, if there is less of a gigantic invasion announced publicly and that we could see literally rolling over Gaza, strategically, that doesn't preclude progress in the other areas that the U.S. and Israel are trying to make, most notably, hostages, as Leila was talking about.

Also, it doesn't erupt the region, as U.S. officials have been concerned about. Leila reported those 20 attacks already on U.S. troops by Iranian-backed militias. The U.S. has been very concerned a large invasion would actually yield even more attacks than that.

And, also, the other step the U.S. is hoping to take, getting some American citizens, 600 American citizens, out of Gaza. Tactically, what does that look like? The U.S. has been advising Israel to use less, for example, artillery and tanks, some of the big weapons, and more smaller special forces teams, mortars to try and eliminate or at least reduce civilian casualties as much as possible.

And that key factor here, Amna, hostages, there's a lot of domestic pressure, as you know, as you covered from families, Israeli families, on the Israeli government to prove that they're doing everything possible that they can to get those hostages out.

And the fear was that a giant invasion would stop any of that progress. There was progress, I'm told, officials — by officials this morning. The Israelis are looking for a large release. It's not clear how close or far they are, but there's some fear that any kind of large invasion would, again, preclude some of that momentum.

But, again, we just don't know, as Leila's been reporting, exactly what this is.

Amna Nawaz:

The hostages are a key part of it, more than 200, they believe, still held in Gaza.

Leila, finally, just in the context of what you have been seeing and reporting on in these last three weeks, how are you seeing this moment? What could this mean?

Leila Molana-Allen:

Well, the IDF has said from the beginning that they are going in, but this will be a phased operation.

A couple possibilities here, firstly, that they are trying out the ground here, one of those shaping operations, to see what happens, and they don't want to say yet whether this is the full invasion. The second one, of course, is the possibility they haven't been in at this scale to Gaza before, and what they want to find out is what's going to happen.

So, if they go in, some military experts saying, if they suddenly sustain lots of casualties, it won't be a huge embarrassment if they say this was just another try going in, this isn't the full invasion.

Of course, what this means for Gazans is utter horror. Just before comms went out, one Gazan activist tweeted: "They're turning the lights out. There's no more signal. They are going to murder us in the dark."

Now, the Defense Ministry was putting out lines today about these Hamas tunnels that they think are Al Shifa Hospital, the biggest hospital in Gaza. There are tens of thousands of people sheltering there. If they are going to go after that hospital, that could be a humanitarian disaster, Gazans terrified tonight.

Amna Nawaz:

That is Leila Molana-Allen reporting from Tel Aviv, Nick Schifrin from here in our studio.

Thank you to you both.