CAIRO/GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel opened a direct crossing for aid into Gaza for the first time on Sunday in its more than two-month-old war on Hamas while also stepping up attacks on the Palestinian enclave, saying military pressure was the only way its hostages would be freed.
The Israeli attacks took place amid fierce fighting the length of the coastal strip, according to residents and militants, with communications down for a fourth day, making it hard to reach the wounded.
"The communication blackout in #Gaza is the longest since the start of the Israeli escalation," the Palestinian Red Crescent said on X, adding that its teams were also hampered by shelling. Telecommunications were gradually being restored in central and southern areas, telecoms companies said later.
Hopes for peace had been raised on Saturday when a source said Israel's spy chief had spoken on Friday with the prime minister of Qatar, which mediated hostage releases in return for a week-long ceasefire and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners.
In a further positive sign, the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza opened for aid trucks on Sunday for the first time since the outbreak of war, officials said, in a move to double the amount of food and medicine reaching Gazans.
But Israel cast doubt on whether the aid would be distributed, accusing aid officials of not distributing aid that had crossed from Egypt, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to "fight to the end". Aid agencies say aid distribution has been disrupted by the violence.
Hamas said it would not discuss freeing any more of those captured when its fighters raided southern Israel on Oct. 7 while Israel continues its attacks.
DEADLY STRIKES
Israeli missile strikes on a house belonging to the Shehab family killed 24 people and wounded dozens of others in Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, Hamas Aqsa radio said, quoting the director of the health ministry.
The son of Dawoud Shehab, spokesman of Hamas-ally Islamic Jihad, was among the dead, an official from the group told Reuters.
A medic said dozens people had been killed or wounded in the Shebab family home and others nearby that were also hit.
"We believe the number of dead people under the rubble is huge but there is no way to remove the rubble and recover them because of the intensity of Israeli fire," he said by telephone, using an e-sim that can connect to outside networks and declining to give a name fearing Israeli reprisal.
In Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, medics said 12 Palestinians had been killed and dozens were wounded, while in Rafah in the south, they said an Israeli air strike left at least four people dead.
Israel said it had operated against "terrorist" targets.
Around 19,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health officials, and thousands buried in the rubble of Israeli air strikes since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities, and captured 240 hostages in their surprise raid.
ISRAELI LOSSES
Israel's military said on Sunday that 121 soldiers had been killed since the ground campaign began on Oct. 27, when tanks and infantry began to push into Gaza's cities and refugee camps.
Netanyahu read out a letter at his weekly cabinet meeting which he said was written by relatives of dead soldiers.
"You have a mandate to fight. You do not have a mandate to stop in the middle," he quoted them as saying, responding: "We will fight to the end."