This is how Israel’s largest land incursion into Gaza since the outbreak of the conflict has taken place

2023-10-26 20:39:08

Updated: Oct 26, 2023 | 20:39
26 oct 2023 | 20:37

Israel has carried out the largest land incursion of the conflict to date, according to Tel Aviv, since the Hamas attack against Israeli territory on October 7 that left 1,400 dead and more than 200 hostages. Israeli forces entered the Gaza Strip at dawn, by land in the north and by sea in the south.

With dozens of tanks, bulldozers and more armed vehicles, they have devastated Hamas barracks and armories, and have ended the lives of many of the militants. Some actions are part of “the preparation” and are only a “rehearsal” for the invasion of the enclave, controlled by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

The Army speaks of a “raid” and avoids referring to this operation as a “raid.” “It was more or less a brigade-level raid: infantry with some D9s in the parameter,” said one of the spokespersons for the Israeli Defense Forces, Richard Hecht, referring to a type of armored excavators they use.

The situation is even more tense waiting for that announced major ground incursion into Gaza in retaliation for the October 7 attacks.

But in the meantime, Israel continues to bomb the Strip daily, with more than 7,000 Palestinians killed since the start of the war. There are razed neighborhoods, at least 200,000 homes have been reduced to rubble, which represents 25% of the entire inhabited area of ​​Gaza.

The armed wing of Hamas claims that some 50 Israeli hostages have also died in the Gaza Strip, victims of these Israeli bombings.

Israelis arm themselves

It also happens that Israeli civilians are arming themselves and the shooting ranges are a coming and going of people who want to learn how to use them. Terror has triggered up to 150,000 applications to carry weapons since that day, when there were only 42 last year.

Gun shops are working around the clock, even opening on the Jewish holy day, Shabbat. “We are absolutely inundated. The phones don’t stop ringing. It’s great, people are protecting themselves,” explains a gun shop worker.

At the shooting ranges they have had to triple the shifts to be able to cope with the avalanche of applicants, because to obtain the license in Israel it is mandatory to carry out these shooting practices.

However, the Ministry of National Security has given licenses a wide berth and has even seen massive distributions of pistols to civilians in the highest risk areas.

Proponents of maintaining gun control in Israel believe that this excessive availability of firearms increases the risk of accidental shootings, murders and suicides.