While the bombings fall incessantly in the Gaza Strip and the humanitarian situation worsens by the moment, the world holds its breath before Israel's announced ground offensive. The Government of Benjamin Netanyahu assured this Wednesday that sooner or later it would enter the Palestinian enclave with the aim of “eradicating” Hamas, the Islamist organization that governs Gaza.. In a televised message, the president acknowledged that the operation was being delayed and voices from the High Command of the Israeli Army confirmed that it was due to “strategic issues.”. However, a few hours later, several battle tanks crossed the fence in what they called a first “selective raid.”. The invasion could be getting closer.
During the early morning operation this Thursday, both the Givati infantry brigade and the Israeli 162nd Armored Division entered Gaza territory in an incursion “of a few hours” that will serve as a prelude to the “next stages of the combat,” this said. Thursday Israeli Army spokesman Daniel Hagari. “Overnight the Israel Defense Forces carried out a targeted raid using tanks in the northern Gaza Strip, as part of preparations for the next stages of combat,” he said.
In the video published by Israel, you can see how several tanks break the border fence, shoot and explosions occur near buildings.. In the operation, which according to Hagari went within a kilometer of the border and concluded without any wounded soldier, “numerous terrorists, infrastructure and anti-tank missile launching points were located and attacked,” explained the military spokesman, who acknowledged that his forces “operated to prepare the battlefield” and then “left the area.”
Within the framework of the daily bombings, Israel has claimed to have killed the “number two” of the Hamas Intelligence Directorate, Shadi Barud, who was considered the intellectual co-author of the attacks on October 7.. According to Tel Aviv, its fighter jets have attacked “more than 250 targets”, including “operational command centers, tunnels and rocket launchers located in the heart of civilian areas”, from where the Army alleged that the militias fired throughout the war. In this sense, the Jewish State has also acknowledged having killed a senior Hamas official who was leading the rocket launching operations from the town of Khan Yunis, located in the south of the Strip.
The Palestinian militias in Gaza launch rockets from the Strip daily, although many of them do not reach their destination as they are repelled by the Iron Dome, the Israeli defense system.. This Thursday, for the first time since the beginning of the conflict, they headed towards the city of Eilat, in southern Israel.. In addition, Hamas has confirmed that 50 hostages have died “due to Israeli bombings”. Information that has not been verified by any other organization.
“There is no safe place in Gaza”
Since Israel declared war against Hamas in response to the attacks that left more than 1,400 Israelis dead and 224 kidnapped, airstrikes have killed more than 7,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Hamas itself.. Among those killed in the Strip there are at least 2,913 children and 397 elderly. In addition, the Islamist organization recognizes that there are at least 1,650 people missing under the rubble, of which 940 are minors.
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA), which does not govern the enclave due to its dispute with Hamas, recognizes that some 200,000 homes were partially or totally destroyed by Israeli bombings on Gaza.. That is, 25% of the populated area has become rubble.
The data coming out of the enclave is difficult to verify, since Israel does not allow international journalists to enter Gaza. In just two and a half weeks of conflict, 23 local journalists have died due to bombings in both Gaza and southern Lebanon (where there are also bombings between the Lebanese militia Hezbollah and Israel).
The Israeli prime minister reiterated this Wednesday that all Gazan civilians had to leave the north of the Strip, as he did at the beginning of the conflict.. However, international organizations insist that there are no security conditions for this and Amnesty International affirms that this policy of forced displacement could be a war crime.. Likewise, in the south of the enclave, where the population is asked to take refuge, Israeli bombings continue to occur daily.
The United Nations stated this Thursday that “there is no safe place in Gaza” in the face of Israeli bombings. “For people who cannot move, because they have nowhere to go or because they cannot move, advance warnings (from Israel) make no difference,” said the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Lynn Hastings. “When evacuation routes are bombed, when people in the north and south are trapped by hostilities, when goods essential for survival are in short supply and when there are no guarantees of return, people face impossible choices,” he said.
The humanitarian crisis is worsening due to the total cutoff of water, food, medicine, electricity and fuel by Israel. The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed this Thursday the entry of another humanitarian aid convoy from Egypt. A total of 74 trucks with humanitarian assistance have crossed the Rafah crossing, although, for the moment, no fuel supply has yet been provided.