The Israeli army began operating on a large scale in the Gaza Strip, apparently the beginning of its ground invasion against the coastal enclave, which was under attack for 22 days.
Using aircraft, ships and artillery, the Defense Forces (IDF) last night launched the largest and most intense bombardment against the area since October 7th.
“We are using fire like never seen before in the Gaza Strip,” an unidentified Israeli colonel told the Ynet news portal.
For his part, Brigadier Gilad Keinan, head of the Air Operations Group, said that about 100 fighter jets were involved in the raid carried out a few hours ago.
Media from both sides of the border agreed this morning that the massive bombings were continuing 12 hours after they began.
The infantry, combat troops and tanks still remain in the territory after the previous day’s raid, the electronic newspaper The Times of Israel reported.
As of yesterday afternoon, there was very little information available about the situation in Gaza following the collapse of communications and the internet due to the bombs.
In a related context, the Palestinian Red Crescent announced that communication with the company’s operations center in the Gaza Strip had been completely interrupted.
Specifically, the Palestinian Telecommunications Company confirmed the complete suspension of its services there.
The heavy bombing of the last hour led to the destruction of all remaining international routes connecting Gaza with the outside world, the company denounced.
In the midst of this panorama, it was learned that during the night there were fierce battles between the militants of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and IDF troops in the areas of Beit Hanoun and al-Bureij.
Several Arabic television channels showed images of explosions and long columns of smoke in several populated areas in the north of the coastal enclave, which is home to 2.3 million Palestinians.
The sources reported that they began to rely on satellites to transmit the images and communicate with their correspondents.
(With information from PL)