Shots in Gaza as Israel says that her troops are mobilizing

The Israeli army said on Saturday that it had started to mobilize its forces in preparation to advance further in Gaza, grasp more land and move more civilians, adding that it already leads intense air strikes before the planned offensive.

Israeli fighter planes bombed Gaza overnight between Friday and Saturday. The Gaza hospitals reported that more than 140 people were killed on Friday only, according to the Ministry of Health in the territory, which added that certain victims were still considered trapped under the rubble of air strikes.

But there was no sign on Saturday of a new invasion of large -scale ground, despite weeks of threats by Israeli leaders. Israeli and Hamas negotiators were still involved in indirect ceasefire talks in Qatar while mediators were trying to avoid threatened Israeli climbing.

An Israeli military official, who asked for anonymity to discuss operational details, said that some ground troops had started to move forward in Gaza, but refused to say when, where or how far.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has promised to considerably extend the campaign on the ground of Israel to Gaza in order to force Hamas to surrender, fix his arms and release the remaining hostages. But 19 months after the start of the war in Gaza, Israel failed to defeat Hamas or release all captives.

With the threat of major Israeli offensive assembly, mediators, including Qatar and Trump administration, were trying to tighten an agreement for a new truce in Gaza which would include the exchange of the remaining hostages for the Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.