Israel is stepping up its ground invasion of Gaza by increasing the presence of its soldiers, tanks and other vehicles without slowing the pace of airstrikes. According to the Efe and France Presse agencies, the first tanks are approaching this Monday through one of the northern suburbs of the capital, Gaza City, while the occupying forces have cut off the main road that marks the strip. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is desperate: The United Nations warns of bomb attacks near hospitals, which are used by many families as a refuge from Israeli bombs, as well as many injured people. In Jerusalem, a police officer was stabbed to death at a gas station in East Jerusalem. The victim is in serious condition and the attacker was shot, one of the special envoys of EL PAÍS confirmed.
Israeli security personnel secure the crime scene after the incident in Jerusalem October 30, 2023.RONEN ZVULUN (Portal)
The attack on the police officer occurred near the so-called Green Line, which separates the eastern Palestinian part from the western part, and near the US Consulate. Immediately afterwards, incidents broke out between ultra-Orthodox Jews, whose neighborhood is dozens of meters away, and Palestinians who were in the area. The attack, amid rising tensions and violence related to the war, is reminiscent of the knife intifada seven years ago.
Israeli army troops have remained in the Gaza Strip since Friday evening. Clashes have broken out in recent hours, leaving “dozens of terrorists” who had taken refuge in buildings and tunnels dead, according to a daily bulletin from Israeli authorities. The bombings affected key hospitals such as Al-Shifa and Al Quds, both in Gaza City, which not only house hundreds of patients but also serve as a refuge for tens of thousands of civilians. At the same time, two other fronts remain open due to the Israeli response to the Hamas attack on October 7th. In the West Bank, four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli attack in Jenin. On the border with Lebanon, the Shiite group Hezbollah claims to have shot down an Israeli drone.
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The military ground operation, which, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, aims to end Hamas’ political and weapons structure, is being carried out thanks to close cooperation between the troops stationed in the Gaza Strip and the air force. Working together from the ground, they managed to shoot down a building from the air in which more than 20 members of the Islamist fundamentalist militia were located, according to the Israeli report published on Monday morning. EL PAÍS, like the rest of the international media, does not have access to the Gaza Strip to independently confirm information due to the Israeli blockade.
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An important urban battle
According to several experts, a decisive battle that could last several weeks is expected in the large city, which was home to more than a million people before the current war began. The tunnel network controlled by Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, and the more than 200 hostages it holds will be crucial aspects in the contest that calls into question the role of Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to official sources from Qatar, which has been negotiating for weeks, Hamas is trying to negotiate a five-day ceasefire to address the humanitarian crisis of the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip in return for the release of the kidnapped civilian parties, reports the Portal agency .
Since the ground invasion began this Friday evening, more than 600 targets have been hit, including weapons depots, anti-tank missile launch sites, militant hideouts and other locations used by Hamas, the Israeli statement added. In the early hours of the morning, gunmen and an anti-tank missile launch site were spotted next to Al-Azhar University, where a fighter jet was flying, the same source said.
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