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JERUSALEM – Israeli troops, accompanied by tanks and armored technical vehicles, carried out raids in the Gaza Strip and clashed with Hamas militants, killing one Israeli soldier and wounding three, the military said Monday.
Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters that tank and infantry troops were fighting around the Gaza Strip with the mission of “killing terrorist cells in preparation for the next phases of the war.”
The raids came as Israeli air, sea and ground forces launched massive attacks across the Gaza Strip overnight, from Jabalya in the north, where Israel had more than warned 1 million Palestinians must be evacuated to Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, areas that the Israeli military said would be considered safe zones.
The IDF said Monday that it had fired on 320 targets in the enclave in the past 24 hours, including tunnels and so-called command centers of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said on Monday that 5,087 people have been killed in the enclave since the war began, including 2,055 children and 1,119 women. The Hamas-controlled ministry added that 436 people were killed in the past 24 hours, almost all of them in the south, where the Israeli military has urged civilians to seek shelter.
The figures could not be independently confirmed and the ministry does not break down the number of deaths between civilians and militants.
The nighttime raids in Gaza were not the start of a major ground offensive but appeared to be small, targeted incursions with a limited number of soldiers.
At an operational briefing at the Israeli Air Force Command and Control Center on Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told the gathering that the ground campaign in Gaza “may take one, two or three months, but in the end there will be no more Hamas.” “
The White House said President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed Sunday there would be a “sustained flow” of critical aid, the same day a second convoy of trucks entered the Gaza Strip from Egypt through the Rafah border crossing .
A third aid shipment, consisting of 20 trucks, arrived in Gaza on Monday.
Gaza has received some food and medicine – what emergency officials say is a drop in the bucket of need – but no fuel that the densely populated area needs to power its generators to pump water and generate electricity.
Gaza’s health ministry said Monday that hospitals and clinics across the strip are collapsing and running out of basic supplies. The agency said 10 hospitals and 29 health centers had to be evacuated, some due to a lack of fuel, adding that Israeli strikes killed 54 health care workers and injured 90 others.
Israel has blocked fuel from entering the strip and said it would allow Palestinian militants to fire more rockets or carry out other attacks.
The weekend raids were not the first time that Israeli soldiers entered the Gaza Strip. This came in the week following Hamas’ brutal attacks on local communities on October 7th.
The IDF did not say how many raids have taken place in recent days – but the actions proved deadly: one Israeli soldier was killed and three others were injured.
Hagari, the IDF spokesman, said soldiers were searching for missing Israelis and clearing an area when they were attacked.
“An anti-tank missile was fired at a tank and a technical vehicle in a local attack in the Gaza Strip near Kissufim today,” he said.
“During the night there were raids by tank and infantry troops. These raids are raids that kill terrorist squads preparing for the next phase of the war. “These are raids that go deep, to the line of contact,” Hagari said. “These raids also locate and search whatever information we can about missing people and hostages.”
Hamas’ armed wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, issued a statement Sunday night confirming that “its fighters clashed with the invading force, destroying two bulldozers and a tank and forcing them out.” [Israeli troops] withdraw.”
In Gaza, Israeli airstrikes have left buildings in ruins. According to the Hamas government press office, Monday’s wave of attacks “directly” hit more than 18 houses and residential buildings.
A strike on Monday morning hit a residential building in Jabalya, killing 17 people and wounding dozens more, Gaza’s health ministry said.
At least 11 members of Khail Abu Yahia’s family were among the dead, including six children, he told The Washington Post by telephone from central Gaza.
The others killed were neighbors of his relatives, he said, but the number of victims was expected to rise because some bodies were badly disfigured.
“The children were supposed to be in school with exams, but like every other child in Gaza, they were sitting at home,” he said. “Then suddenly Israel bombed his house without warning.”
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the attacks on Jabalya, just outside Gaza City.
Abu Yahia said some of the killed family members left for the south but returned to the north after heavy bombardment there.
“If they were still in Khan Younis, they would have been killed too,” he said. “People are being attacked in places that were said to be safe.”
Israeli officials have reiterated calls for Palestinians to evacuate the north. An IDF spokesman warned that Israel will “step up our attacks” and “increase attacks starting today” to “minimize the threats to our forces in the next phases of the war.”
After more than two weeks of war, the people of Gaza have no safe place to turn as desperation and anger grow. Many Israelis want Hamas and its forces to be destroyed once and for all.
Abu Yahia warned that the rising deaths “will always be the strength to continue this long path of struggle without giving up.”
After a brief pause, sirens sounded on Monday in the Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Beersheba, as well as in communities bordering the Gaza Strip, announcing incoming rockets from Gaza.
The IDF said it thwarted two drones launched from Gaza that entered Israeli airspace.
Claire Parker in Cairo contributed to this report.