Gaza strikes: Israeli hostage families for govt explanation

JERUSALEM, Oct 28 (AFP/BBC/AP): Families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas militants in Gaza on Saturday demanded an immediate government explanation about the fate of the captives after the army intensified strikes on the Palestinian territory.
The main group representing some 229 people believed abducted in the October 7 attacks by Hamas sought an immediate meeting with ministers.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement that relatives were angry over the "absolute uncertainty regarding the fate of the hostages held (in Gaza), who were also subject to the heavy bombings".
"None of the war cabinet bothered to meet with the families to explain one thing-whether the ground operation endangers the well being of the 229 hostages in Gaza," the group said.
"The families are worried about the fate of their loved ones and are waiting for an explanation. Every minute feels like eternity."
During the night, Israel pounded the Hamas-run Gaza Strip with air and artillery strikes which the army said struck 150 "underground" targets across the territory.
Israel angrily dismisses UN
truce resolution on Gaza
Israel has angrily dismissed a UN resolution urging a "humanitarian truce" in Gaza, vowing that it will continue to defend itself. The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly called for an immediate humanitarian truce between Israel and Hamas.
Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan said the UN no longer held "even one ounce of legitimacy or relevance". The US voted against the resolution but has called for a "humanitarian pause" in Israeli military operations in Gaza.
Israel's military on Friday said it was expanding its operations, as its strikes intensified across the Gaza region. Spokesman Daniel Hagari said forces had "increased the attacks in Gaza. The air force widely attacks underground targets and terrorist infrastructure, very significantly".
He again told Gaza residents to move further south. Israel has been bombing Gaza since the 7 October Hamas attacks that killed 1,400 people in Israel and saw 229 people taken hostage by Hamas.
Israeli warplanes bomb
Hamas tunnels in Gaza
Israeli warplanes bombed Hamas tunnels and underground bunkers in the northern Gaza Strip, the military said Saturday, signaling a further escalation in its campaign to crush the territory's ruling militant group after its bloody incursion in southern Israel three weeks ago.
Fighter jets hit dozens of underground targets, the military said. As part of the stepped-up bombardment, Israel also knocked out communications and created a near-blackout of information, largely cutting off the 2.3 million people in besieged Gaza from contact with the outside world.
The Israeli military said Friday it was expanding ground operations in the territory, another sign that it was moving closer to an all-out invasion of Gaza. Military officials have said a key target would be Hamas' extensive network of tunnels and underground bunkers, much of it located under Gaza City in the north of the territory.
Explosions from continuous airstrikes lit up the sky over Gaza City for hours after nightfall Friday.
Nearly 29,000 displaced in Lebanon
amid skirmishes on Israel border
Nearly 29,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon amid deadly exchanges between Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters and the Israeli army, a United Nations agency said Friday.
A total of 28,965 people have been displaced, mainly in the country's south, the International Organization for Migration said in an update, adding that the figure had risen by 37 percent since October 23.
Some have found refuge with family members elsewhere in the country, while those who can afford it have been able to rent apartments on a short-term basis.
But with Lebanon in the grips of an economic crisis that has plunged most of the population into poverty, some are living in makeshift shelters in the south's larger towns.
In Lebanon, at least 58 people have been killed in the cross-border exchanges of fire, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also including at least four civilians, one of them Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah.
On October 7, Hamas gunmen poured from the Gaza Strip into Israel, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 229 more, according to Israeli officials.
In retaliatory Israeli air and artillery strikes, at least 7,326 people have been killed in Gaza, including more than 3,000 children, according to figures released by the health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory.
The death toll in Gaza is the highest there since Israel withdrew from the Palestinian territory in 2005.