2023-10-26 13:24:00
The Israeli army carried out a “targeted operation” with tanks and infantry at night in the Gaza Strip, in preparation for a ground incursion into this Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas, a military statement said.
During the night, the army carried out “a selective tank operation in the northern Gaza Strip, as part of preparations for the next phases of combat,” the military spokesman’s statement said.
“The soldiers left the area at the end of the activity,” the source added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday night that, along with the intense bombing of Gaza, “we are preparing a ground offensive.”
Black and white video footage uploaded by the military showed a column of armored vehicles and bulldozers breaking through what appears to be a border fence.
AFP verified the location as south of the Israeli city of Ashkelon but could not determine when the video was recorded.
Another video appears to show an aerial bombardment and buildings being attacked with munitions, with shrapnel flying through the air alongside a plume of smoke.
Hours earlier, Netanyahu broadcast a live message to Israeli residents still hurt by the bloody Hamas attack on October 7, in which he declared that “we are in a campaign for our existence.”
That day, Hamas fighters entered Israel and killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took 222 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. Among the Israeli dead were more than 300 soldiers.
Ground offensive
Israel responded with an intense bombardment that has left more than 6,500 Gazans dead, including 2,704 children, according to figures released by the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in the territory.
Faced with growing international calls to temper his ferocious bombing campaign, Netanyahu announced that he will continue with plans for a ground war.
Boasting about “raining hellfire on Hamas” and killing “thousands of terrorists,” Netanyahu assured that his war cabinet and the army will decide the timing of the “ground offensive.”
He promised to “eliminate Hamas” and “bring the hostages home,” but clarified that “I cannot say when, how or how many [efectivos]”will participate in the offensive.
US President Joe Biden is among the leaders who have called on Israel to “protect innocent civilians” in its campaign against Hamas.
Likewise, French President Emmanuel Macron warned on Wednesday in Cairo that “a massive intervention that endangers the lives of the civilian population (…) is a mistake.”
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said Wednesday that the death toll in the enclave rose to 6,500.
Biden expressed doubts about Hamas’ numbers, and while questions remain about the numbers, there is no doubt about the magnitude of the suffering.
Entire neighborhoods have been devastated, doctors in hospitals are overwhelmed with wounded people and must perform interventions without anesthesia.
“It is not a war against Hamas, it is a war against children,” lashed Abu Ali, a Gaza resident, after his house was bombed in Rafah. “It’s a massacre.”
Nearly 1.4 million people, more than half of the territory’s population, have been displaced, according to the UN.
The agency noted that 12 of the 35 hospitals in the enclave have closed due to damage or lack of fuel.
“No place is safe in Gaza” from Israeli bombing, said Lynn Hastings, UN humanitarian affairs coordinator for the Palestinian territories, on Thursday.
Israel cut off supply lines for water, food and other necessities, and fewer than 70 trucks with aid have entered the territory since the start of the war.
Israel has prevented the entry of fuel for fear that Hamas will use it for rockets and explosives.
Relief agencies warn that more people will die without fuel because medical equipment, water desalination plants and ambulances will not be able to be used.
Hospitals require fuel for their electrical generators. Without them, the Red Cross warned, hospitals “will become morgues.”
The war also raised fears of a regional conflagration if other enemies of Israel intervene.
Late Wednesday night, the Lebanon-based Hezbollah movement launched a surface-to-air missile at an Israeli drone, which the Israeli military said was intercepted and “hit the source of the launch.”
Hamas, Hezbollah and the Syrian government are supported by Iran, which rejects the existence of the State of Israel.
Jordanian King Abdullah II warned that the current violence could “lead to a regional explosion.”
Violence also grew in the occupied West Bank, where about 100 Palestinians have been killed, according to health authorities.
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