The Israeli army declares that its men remain on the ground, while Hamas declares that the ground operation has failed.

  Following the expansion of Israeli army air and ground strikes on the Gaza Strip, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) declared that militants in the resistance groups, led by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, are ready to fight "with full force" against the Israeli army.

"The failure of the ground attack launched by the occupation on Gaza bled across three axes," the Hamas organization said in a statement, confirming that the occupation had suffered significant casualties among its ranks in terms of personnel and equipment.

The Palestinian resistance had set ambushes for the occupation soldiers to fall into, she said, emphasizing that they had deployed "Kornet missiles and Yassin missiles to repel the attack, and we expect the enemy to try again."

The movement attested to the fact that the Israeli occupation removed the dead and injured from the battlefield using helicopters.

Telecommunications firms and the Red Crescent Society reported that the Israeli airstrike was the cause of the disruption, which lasted for more than ten hours till early on Saturday.

In an early statement on Saturday, Hamas said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "and his defeated army are unable to achieve any military achievement" and that "the Al-Qassam Brigades and all Palestinian resistance forces are fully prepared to confront the aggression with full force and thwart the incursions."

The Al-Qassam Brigades reported late on Friday that fighting had broken out between their militants and Israeli soldiers in Bureij, in the middle of the Strip, and the town of Beit Hanoun, in northern Gaza.

The Israeli incursion was met with Kornet missiles by the Al-Qassam Brigades, according to information released by Palestinian media in Gaza on Friday night.

"Fierce battles between the Mujahideen and the Zionists near the Gaza Strip border, during which 4 Kornet missiles were fired at occupation tanks and armored vehicles," according to a report from the Al-Aqsa satellite channel.

The Gaza Government Information Office had earlier on Friday stated that the Internet and communications in the Strip were down. Concurrently, Israel declared that it was expanding its ground operations under an unprecedented and fierce bombardment—the worst since the invasion began on October 7.

According to the journalist for Al Jazeera, the occupation authorities have cut off all communication with the Gaza Strip, and Israeli army fighter jets have conducted intense and unprecedented attacks on all areas of the Strip.

Instead, military operations will persist until Hamas is destroyed and the detainees are released, according to Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari, who stated, "We are advancing in the stages of the war and our forces have entered northern Gaza and expanded the scope of their operations."

"Our forces that entered the Gaza Strip during the night are still in their positions," the official continued, adding that they had "killed several Hamas field commanders during the night."

In a statement broadcast on television yesterday evening, Friday, Hagari stated, "The ground forces are expanding their operations tonight in addition to the attacks carried out in the past two days."

He added that the Israeli Air Force is carrying out intensive strikes on tunnels dug by Hamas and other infrastructure.

An Israeli news report stated that army fighter planes bombed 150 underground targets last Friday night in the northern Gaza Strip, stressing that among these targets were Hamas tunnels, underground combat spaces, and additional underground infrastructure.

Sources in the Israeli army said on Friday evening that the forces’ incursion on the border with the Gaza Strip “is not an official ground invasion.”

In a live television broadcast from Gaza on Saturday morning, an Al Jazeera correspondent described the interruption of internet and phone communications as “catastrophic” for relief efforts following a night of intense Israeli bombing.

He added that residents were forced to transport the dead and injured in their cars to the hospital because they were unable to communicate with ambulance services.

After Israel announced the intensification of its operations, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the United States supports a truce from Israeli military activity in Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, fuel, and electricity to civilians there.

Kirby did not comment on the expanded ground operation. But he said that Washington supports Israel's right to defend itself, adding, "We do not draw red lines for Israel."

Kirby also said that if the release of Hamas prisoners requires a temporary, localized truce, the United States supports that.

Today, Saturday, the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip enters its fourth week, as the occupation forces intensify their bombing and attacks, resulting in the death of more than 7,300 martyrs, most of whom are children and women.