An Iranian-backed Iraqi militia said Sunday that it launched drone strikes on a base housing U.S. forces in eastern Syria.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which has claimed responsibility for a series of strikes on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria over the past two weeks, claimed responsibility on Sunday for the latest attack. The group has said the attacks are in retaliation for U.S. support for Israel.

Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes early Sunday near Gaza's largest hospital, which is packed with patients and tens of thousands of Palestinians seeking shelter, residents said. Israel has said Gaza's militant Hamas rulers have a command post under the hospital, without providing much evidence.

The strikes came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a "second stage" in Israel's war on Hamas, three weeks after Hamas launched a massive incursion into Israel Oct. 7. Tanks and infantry pushed into Gaza over the weekend in what officials described as a widening ground offensive as Israel pounded the territory from air, land and sea.

Israel on Saturday expanded its ground operation in Gaza, sending in tanks and infantry backed by massive strikes from the air and sea. Israel's defense minister said that "the ground shook in Gaza" and that the war against the territory's Hamas rulers had entered a new stage.

The bombardment, described by Gaza residents as the most intense of the war, also knocked out most communications in Gaza. This largely cut off the besieged enclave's 2.3 million people from the world, while enabling the Israeli military to control the narrative in the new stage of fighting.

The spokesman for the military wing of Hamas said Saturday that the group is ready to swap dozens of hostages it is holding for all the Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The spokesman, using the nom de guerre Abu Obeida, said in a televised speech that such a deal also could be conducted in stages, but that Israelis “should know the price that they have to pay.”

Hamas has proclaimed Israel’s overnight ground incursion to be a failure.

Hamas said in a statement Saturday that its military arm, Qassam Brigades, used anti-tank Kornet rockets and mortar shelling to repel the attack and claimed its fighters inflicted casualties among Israeli troops.

US and Israeli officials have told U.S. TV network ABC News that Friday's ground incursion into Gaza was not a large-scale offensive.

Iran's foreign minister has warned that Lebanese and Palestinian militants had their "finger on the trigger" in anticipation of an Israeli ground offensive in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian however insisted that Tehran-backed militants would decide on their own to take action if Israel continued its war on Hamas.

The Israeli military released grainy images Saturday of tank columns moving slowly in open areas of Gaza and said warplanes bombed 150 Hamas tunnels and underground bunkers, signaling a further escalation in its campaign to crush the territory's ruling militant group after its bloody incursion in southern Israel three weeks ago.

Hamas meanwhile said it foiled a three-pronged ground attack and inflicted heavy casualties and damage on the advancing Israelis forces. Israel meanwhile said that its forces that entered into Gaza overnight were still in their positions inside the Strip.

The U.N. General Assembly approved a nonbinding resolution calling for a "humanitarian truce" in Gaza leading to a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers, the first United Nations response to the war.

The 193-member world body adopted the resolution by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions after rejecting a Canadian amendment backed by the United States. It would have unequivocally condemned what it called the Oct. 7 "terrorist attacks" by Hamas and demanded the immediate release of hostages taken by Hamas, which is not mentioned in the Arab-drafted resolution.

Internet and phone services collapsed in the Gaza Strip under intensified bombardment Friday night, largely cutting off its 2.3 million people from the outside world and each other, as Israel’s military said it was “expanding” its ground operations in the besieged territory as of tonight.

Frequent explosions from airstrikes lit up the sky over Gaza City after nightfall Friday, when the black-out in internet, cellular and landline services hit. The Red Crescent said it lost all contact with its operations room and medical teams. It said it feared people would no longer be able to contact ambulance services. Other aid groups said they were unable to reach staff on the ground.