Israeli troops have advanced into the Gaza Strip with tanks in a short advance. However, this apparently does not mean the start of a ground offensive. There was also renewed mutual shelling on the border with Lebanon.
Israeli military ground troops are said to have briefly entered the Gaza Strip with armored vehicles. This was announced by an army spokesman. This information cannot be independently verified.
According to the military spokesman, the targets of the night attack in the north of the Gaza Strip were infrastructure used by the militant Islamist Hamas and launch pads for anti-tank missiles. “Terrorists” themselves were also attacked. After the brief advance, the Israeli ground troops left the Gaza Strip again.
The Israeli army said the advance was part of preparations “for the next phases of the fight.” Soldiers have already made several limited forays into the Gaza Strip in the past two and a half weeks.
Conflict parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by the Palestinian and Israeli conflict parties cannot be directly verified by an independent body.
The start of a possible ground offensive remains open
It remains unclear whether these attacks indicate the imminent start of a ground offensive by Israel in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had repeatedly announced that such an offensive would begin soon. Israel has already massed tens of thousands of soldiers on the border with the Gaza Strip.
But also according to information from ARD correspondent Björn Dake, reporting from Tel Aviv, is still unclear “when a ground offensive will begin and what it will look like.” There are certainly concerns in Israel about the possible high losses in the ranks of its own military if the troops were to attack on the ground in the Gaza Strip. Hence these “individual command operations” in which, according to Dake, tanks had already been repeatedly used. “Perhaps this will initially be the ground offensive that we will experience in the next few days.”
Renewed shelling on the border with Lebanon
In addition to small advances on the ground, Israel is continuing its air attacks on the Gaza Strip. Hamas is said to have fired on targets in Israel again from there on Wednesday evening. There were air alarms again in both Tel Aviv and the port city of Haifa.
Mutual shelling also broke out again on the border between Israel and Lebanon. Israeli fighter jets “attacked a number of Hezbollah military targets in Lebanon,” the Israeli military said. The attacks were directed “against terrorist infrastructure, including a military site and observation posts.” The Shiite Hezbollah militia had previously announced that it had carried out at least three attacks on the border areas in Israel from Lebanon.