Israel said on Saturday morning its troops, sent in on Friday night, were still on the ground. The country had earlier made only brief sorties into Gaza during three weeks of bombardment to root out Hamas militants who killed more than 1,000 Israelis on Oct. 7. "The forces are still in the field and continuing the war" Israel," Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a news briefing on Saturday morning. Gaza was under an almost complete blackout, with internet and phone services cut for more than 12 hours by Saturday morning. "In addition to the attacks carried out in the last few days, ground forces are expanding their operations tonight," he said.

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Persons: GazaTedros, Israel, Daniel Hagari, Khan Younis, Mohammed Salem, Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Hagari, James Mackenzie, Nidal, Michelle Nichols, Rami Ayyub, David Brunnstrom, Grant McCool, Raju Gopalakrishnan, William Mallard, Philippa Fletcher Organizations: WHO, Palestinian Red Crescent Society, Hamas, REUTERS, World Health Organisation, Twitter, Palestinian, Thomson Locations: Gaza Israel, Gaza, JERUSALEM, Israel, Palestinian