RIYADH/GAZA:
Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip Yahya Shinwar said on Saturday the group was ready for an “immediate” prisoner exchange as Israel said its war had “entered a new phase” with a massive bombardment of Gaza.
“We are ready to conclude an immediate prisoner exchange agreement that includes the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons in exchange for all prisoners held by the Palestinian resistance,” Sinwar said in a statement.
The United Nations warned that thousands more civilians could die as Israel said its forces were still operating inside Gaza more than 24 hours after entering the Hamas-run territory.
Israel launched its bombing campaign after Hamas militants stormed the Gaza border on October 7, killing 1,400 people and taking more than 220 hostages, according to Israeli officials.
The health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said Israeli strikes have since killed 7,703 people, mostly civilians, with more than 3,500 of them children.
The conflict is the fifth and deadliest in Gaza since Israel unilaterally withdrew troops and settlers from the Palestinian territory in 2005.
Reading Ground fighting rages in Gaza after Israeli bombardment escalates and communications cut
UN human rights chief Volker Turk warned of “the potentially catastrophic consequences of large-scale ground operations in Gaza”, saying “thousands more civilians” could die.
Heavy strikes against Hamas provided cover for Israeli ground forces to step up operations inside Gaza. “Since early Friday evening, combined combat forces of armor, combat engineers and infantry have been operating on the ground in the northern Gaza Strip,” the army said late Saturday.
“We have entered a new phase in the war,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Saturday. “Last night, the ground in Gaza shook. We attacked above ground and below ground,” he said, referring to the network of tunnels Hamas has built under Gaza.
Hamas’ armed wing said it was ready to release the hostages it had kidnapped if Israel released all the Palestinian prisoners it was holding.
“The price we have to pay for the large number of enemy hostages in our hands is to empty the (Israeli) prisons of all Palestinian prisoners,” said Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida.
“If the enemy wants to close this prisoner file in one fell swoop, we are ready for that. If they want to do it step by step, we are ready for that too,” he added.
Some 229 hostages are being held in the Gaza Strip, many of them foreigners or dual nationals, the Israeli military says.
Earlier this week, the Brigades said “nearly 50” of the hostages had been killed in Israeli airstrikes.
Facing growing anger over the fate of the captives as Israel escalates its war against Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to meet representatives of hostages’ relatives who demanded to know how the government would handle the crisis.
Netanyahu did not commit to any exchange deal, but assured them that Israel would “exhaust every option to bring them home.”
Overnight, hundreds of buildings and homes were completely destroyed and thousands were damaged, Gaza officials said.
Gulf Arab states also warned Israel on Saturday of further ground operations in the Gaza Strip, with Saudi Arabia denouncing the ground incursions as “unjustified” and Oman condemning possible “war crimes”.
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Saudi Arabia “condemns and denounces any ground operations carried out by Israel due to the threat they pose to the lives of Palestinian civilians,” the kingdom’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
He warned of “the danger of continuing these flagrant and unjustified violations of international law against the brotherly Palestinian people”, warning of “serious implications for the stability of the region”.
Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said on X, formerly Twitter, that “an escalation on Israeli soil would have dire consequences for civilians and devastating humanitarian and economic impacts.”
Oman accused Israel of committing “war crimes” in Gaza and warned of any further ground maneuvers.
The escalation in “Israel’s violent war on the Gaza Strip constitutes war crimes and crimes against humanity,” the foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the official Oman News Agency.
Oman also warned of the destabilizing consequences of a large-scale ground invasion, while Qatar said “a ground escalation” would jeopardize “the safety of civilians and hostages in Gaza”.
A statement from Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its “complete rejection of the indiscriminate bombardment of the Gaza Strip and attempts to forcefully displace its people.”
Qatar’s top diplomat said “mediation efforts to free civilian hostages” and to “end the war” were continuing.
The UAE, which established diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020 as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords, “condemned Israel’s ground operations,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. Abu Dhabi called for “an immediate ceasefire to ensure that civilians and political institutions are not targeted”, it added.
“The urgent priority is to end the escalation of military operations and protect civilians.”
Kuwait charged that “any ground invasion of Gaza… will prove that the Israeli occupation is determined to continue committing crimes against the brotherly Palestinian people,” according to a foreign ministry statement.
The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council condemned the military escalation in Gaza as a “violation of international law”, calling for an immediate end to hostilities.
