Israel strikes near Gaza’s largest hospital destroying roads around it

Israel strikes near Gaza’s largest hospital destroying roads around it

Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes early Sunday near Gaza's largest hospital, which is packed with patients and tens of thousands of Palestinians seeking shelter, residents said. Israel has said Gaza's militant Hamas rulers have a command post under the hospital, without providing much evidence.

The strikes came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a "second stage" in Israel's war on Hamas, three weeks after Hamas launched a massive incursion into Israel Oct. 7. Tanks and infantry pushed into Gaza over the weekend in what officials described as a widening ground offensive as Israel pounded the territory from air, land and sea.

The bombardment — described by Gaza residents as the most intense of the war — knocked out most communications in the territory late Friday, largely cutting off the besieged enclave's 2.3 million people from the world. Communications were restored to many people in Gaza early Sunday, according to local telecoms companies, Internet-access advocacy group NetBlocks.org and confirmation on the ground.

In a sign of growing chaos in Gaza, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said thousands of people broke into its Gaza aid warehouses to take food and other "basic survival items" like hygiene products. Thomas White, the agency's