SOPA Images / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett
Israeli army bombings in the Gaza Strip on October 7th.
MIDDLE EAST – Dozens of victims already. The Israeli army announced on Saturday evening, October 21, that it now intends to “intensify” its bombing campaign on Gaza in preparation for the next phase of its offensive on Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory.
“From today we will increase the attacks (…),” said General Daniel Hagari, spokesman for the Israeli army. “We will enter the next phases of the war in conditions that are optimal for us,” he added during a live televised news conference.
General Hagari also confirmed the presence of at least 210 hostages in Gaza, most of them Israelis.
The Hamas government said that at least 55 people were killed on the night from Saturday to Sunday after the announcement of an intensification of Israeli bombings.
Earlier Saturday, several Israeli army officials visited troops on the front lines and emphasized the forces’ preparation for a possible ground intervention in the Gaza Strip. “We will invade Gaza, we will do it for operational reasons, to destroy Hamas and terrorist infrastructure, and we will do it in a professional manner,” Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said at a troop review.
At least 4,385 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Gaza Strip in incessant bombings carried out by the Israeli army in retaliation for the deadly Hamas attack, according to the Health Ministry.
More than 1,400 people have been killed by Hamas men on Israeli territory since October 7th. Most civilians were mowed down by bullets, burned alive or died as a result of mutilations on the first day of the attack by fighters from the Palestinian Islamist movement in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
The Israeli army has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers along the borders of this cramped area, home to 2.4 million Palestinians. A ground operation is likely to be dangerous in this overcrowded city, littered with death traps and tunnels and facing veteran Hamas fighters still holding more than 200 Israeli or foreign hostages.
“Gaza is complex, Gaza is densely populated, the enemy is preparing many things there, but we are also preparing for him,” General Halevi warned. “And we will remember the photos and images and the deaths from two weeks ago.”
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