03/12/2023 8:56 pm (current 03/12/2023 9:00 pm)
Israeli attacks on Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip ©APA/AFP
A good five weeks after the start of the ground offensive in the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli military is expanding its ground operations to the entire Palestinian territory. The soldiers acted against targets of the Islamist group Hamas, army spokesman Daniel Hagari said on Sunday night. Local media had previously reported that Israel’s armed forces had advanced ground troops into the southern Gaza Strip. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the north fled there.
Following instructions from the Israeli military, they withdrew from the contested north of the isolated coastal area to the south, where there is now likely to be an increase in fighting on the ground. The army had fought hard and exhaustively in the north of the Gaza Strip and was now doing the same in the south of the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Chief of Staff, Herzi Halevi, had said shortly before – without explicitly talking about a ground offensive. Israeli ground troops have been deployed north since the end of October.
The military has now begun operations on the ground in the south, several Israeli media outlets reported on Sunday, citing the army. Eyewitnesses had previously reported to the German Press Agency that Israeli ground troops had advanced into an area east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. The reports could not initially be independently verified.
Israeli ground troops have been deployed in the northern Gaza Strip for weeks. According to its own statements, the military has carried out massive airstrikes in the south since the end of the multi-day ceasefire on Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said that ground operations were the only way to destroy Islamic Hamas.
According to the Hamas health authority, more than 15,500 people were killed and thousands injured in the Gaza Strip. The information could not initially be independently verified. According to the UN, around 80% of the approximately 2.2 million inhabitants of this densely populated area are now internally displaced.
The current war in Gaza was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, perpetrated by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups near the border on October 7. More than 1,200 people were killed in Israel.