Israel expands operations in Gaza to dismantle Hamas, free hostages

The Israeli Defense Forces IDF intensified their military operations in Gaza launching strikes and mobilising additional troopsThe IDF said that the latest strikes are part of preparations to expand the operations with key goals including the dismantling of Hamas and the safe return of hostagesSharing a post on X the IDF wrote The IDF has begun conducting extensive strikes and mobilising troops to achieve operational control in the areas of Gaza over the past day This is part of preparations to expand operations and fulfill the objectives of the war including the release of hostages and the dismantling of the Hamas terrorist organisationThe post added IDF troops will continue to operate in order to protect Israeli civilians and achieve the objectives of the war The IDF has begun conducting extensive strikes and mobilizing troops to achieve operational control in the areas of Gaza over the past day This is part of preparations to expand operations and fulfill the objectives of the war mdash including the release of hostages and thehellipmdash Israel Defense Forces IDF May 16 2025Earlier the IDF carried out targeted airstrikes on Houthicontrolled infrastructure in Yemens Hudaydah and Salif ports claiming the facilities were being used to transfer weaponsThe IDF struck and dismantled terrorist infrastructure sites belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime in the Hudaydah and Salif Ports in Yemen These ports are used to transfer weapons and are a further example of the Houthis systematic and cynical exploitation of civilian infrastructure in order to advance terrorist activities the IDF said in a post on XIt added The strikes were conducted after numerous advanced warnings issued by the IDF to the population in the area in order to mitigate the risk of harm to civilian population in the areas of these sites Any hostile activity in these ports will continue to be prevented The IDF struck and dismantled terrorist infrastructure sites belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime in the Hudaydah and Salif Ports in YemenThese ports are used to transfer weapons and are a further example of the Houthis systematic and cynical exploitation of civilianhellip pictwittercomPGJAB0YenLmdash Israel Defense Forces IDF May 16 2025Meanwhile amid the ongoing IsraelHamas conflict US President Donald Trump stressed the importance of addressing the humanitarian situation in Gaza where many are facing severe food shortages and said that a lot of people are starving in the regionWhile speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One Trump said A lot of good things are going to happen over the next month We have to help out the Palestinians A lot of people are starving in Gaza so we have to look at both sides But we are going to do a good jobThe World Food Programme WFP in a release on Monday had said that the populations across the Gaza Strip are at risk of famine as fighting surged again border crossings are still closed and food is dangerously scarceIt further said that hunger and malnutrition intensified sharply since all aid was blocked from entering on March 2According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification IPC snapshot released on May 12 470000 people in Gaza are facing catastrophic hunger IPC Phase 5 and the entire population is experiencing acute food insecurityThe report warned of a sharp rise in acute malnutrition projecting that 71000 children and more than 17000 mothers will urgently require treatment At the beginning of 2025 agencies estimated 60000 children would need treatmentUN World Food Programmes Executive Director Cindy McCain had said Families in Gaza are starving while the food they need is sitting at the border We cant get it to them because of the renewed conflict and the total ban on humanitarian aid imposed in early March Its imperative that the international community acts urgently to get aid flowing into Gaza again If we wait until after a famine is confirmed it will already be too late for many peopleThe vast majority of children in Gaza are facing extreme food deprivation as confirmed by 17 UN agencies and NGOs in the IPC report Coupled with the severely limited access to health services and critical shortages of clean water and sanitation rapid increases in acute malnutrition are expected in North Gaza Gaza and Rafah governoratesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeveratOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params