War in the Middle East
Israeli army expands ground operations throughout Gaza Strip
An Israeli soldier looks out of an armored military vehicle
© Ilia Yefimovich / DPA
Since the end of October, Israel’s army has been attacking the terrorist organization with ground troops in the north of the coastal region following the brutal Hamas massacre. Now she is expanding the stakes.
A good five weeks after the start of the Israeli ground offensive in the north of the In the Gaza Strip, the military is expanding its ground operations to the entire Palestinian territory. The soldiers took action against targets of the Islamist Hamas, said army spokesman Daniel Hagari on Sunday evening. Following instructions from the Israeli military, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled from the contested north of the sealed-off coastal area to the south – where there is now likely to be increased fighting on the ground.
The army had fought hard and thoroughly in the northern Gaza Strip and was now doing the same in the southern Gaza Strip, Israel’s Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi had said shortly before – without explicitly speaking of a ground offensive. Israeli ground troops have been deployed in the north since the end of October.
Israel’s ground troops in the southern Gaza Strip
Eyewitnesses reported to the German Press Agency on Sunday that Israeli ground troops had advanced into an area east of the city of Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip. The reports could not initially be independently verified.
According to its own statements, the military has also carried out massive air strikes in the south since the end of the ceasefire lasting several days on Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said that ground operations were the only way to destroy the Islamist Hamas.
War in the Middle East
According to the Hamas health authority, more than 15,500 people have been killed and thousands injured in the Gaza Strip. The information could not initially be independently verified. According to the UN, around 80 percent of the approximately 2.2 million inhabitants in the densely populated area are now internally displaced.
The current Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, which terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups carried out near the border on October 7th. More than 1,200 people were killed in Israel.