At the gates of Gaza you can breathe the zeal and dust of the warriors. Hundreds of troop transport vehicles, tanks, trucks and other military infrastructure are waiting at various points in the Gaza Strip for the order to launch the ground invasion. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Friday unveiled a three-phase plan to overthrow Hamas, the Islamic fundamentalist militia that rules Gaza and carried out the bloody attack on Israeli soil on the 7th. This strategy does not envisage that the security forces of the Jewish state should remain permanently in the Gaza Strip after the conclusion of the ground operation. “Of course we want to go in,” confirms Zib, a 25-year-old soldier from the city of Yaffa near Tel Aviv. The young man stands under the barrel of one of the tanks decorated with the national flag as he talks to a group of companions and they drink a few soft drinks.
They are located around Kibbutz Beeri, just three kilometers from Gaza, where one of these detachments is stationed. This community was one of the sites of the massacre in which, according to Israel, around 1,400 people were murdered. Hundreds of uniformed men these days perform maintenance on battle tanks or kill time with their cell phones, waiting for the highest authorities in the country to launch them like a battering ram against the enemy. The clouds of very fine sand that the tanks kick up as they move give the place a certain epic Hollywood movie patina.
“No, it’s not about revenge,” soldier Zib clarifies when asked if he will think about what happened in Beeri when it is their turn to attack. “We’ve been here for two weeks,” explains another 24-year-old uniformed man who prefers not to give his name. “We will do what we are told. “We follow the instructions,” he says dryly, without being able to provide further details or make any further statements. The soldiers’ superiors, almost all of them very young, prevented them from speaking to the EL PAÍS reporter three times. “Are the rules. “You can’t talk,” one of these commanders replied when asked why he interrupted the questions.
Israeli troops patrol Kibbutz Beeri, one of the communities attacked by Hamas on the 7th. Luis de Vega
The defense minister said on Friday that Israel is currently in the first phase of the plan. It was, he said, “a military campaign that included bombing and later maneuvers.” [terrestres], with the aim of neutralizing terrorists and destroying Hamas’ infrastructure.” The second “will require lower-intensity operations aimed at eliminating pockets of resistance,” Gallant said. That means keeping troops on the ground to end the uprising, which has 200 hostages spread across the Gaza Strip, their lives hanging in the balance in the midst of war. This Friday, following Qatari mediation and for “humanitarian” reasons, Hamas released two American nationals, a mother and her daughter.
The final phase would consist of Israel’s “withdrawal” from Gaza and “the creation of a new security reality for the citizens of Israel,” the minister added, without specifying to whom authority in the area would be transferred once the government of Gaza was beheaded. Islamic fundamentalist militia.
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The electric fence surrounding Kibbutz Beeri, three kilometers from the Gaza Strip, is a site of constant coming and going of Israeli military vehicles and tanks. The planes that have been punishing the residents of the Gaza Strip with bombs for two weeks are buzzing like flies in the air, where 4,137 people have died as of Friday, according to the Health Ministry. Meanwhile, in the background, a column of smoke rises above the Gaza Strip near Gaza City.
Hundreds of thousands of residents remain in this city despite Israel ordering them to move to the southern half of the Gaza Strip, where the border with Egypt is. There, the Rafah border crossing is waiting to be opened this weekend, United States President Joe Biden said on Friday. This is the point through which humanitarian aid must enter the Gaza Strip to address the humanitarian crisis that is shaking a population of more than two million people living under a permanent blockade that has been “complete” for a week. According to the United Nations, more than a million people have been forced to leave their homes due to Israeli bombings. Among the targets reached in recent hours is the Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyry, which was used as a refuge by Gaza citizens.
Meanwhile, in the municipality of Beeri, where 100 residents of a population of 1,000 were murdered, the search for bodies and human remains continues almost two weeks after the bloodbath. Press access to this restricted military area requires official approval. The Hamas attack on the 7th also brought 200 hostages to Gaza and left between 100 and 200 missing, according to Israeli authorities on Thursday. The place has now become a barracks, where soldiers are also stationed, waiting to advance as soon as the order to invade is given.
Israeli troops stationed near the Gaza Strip near Kibbutz Beeri, one of the communities attacked by Hamas on the 7th. Luis de Vega
“It is always possible that the body of one of our own or a terrorist will turn up,” explains Amir Golan, 73, a member of the Zaka organization, which is responsible for recovering the bodies of Israelis. Golan helps a young man climb to the first floor of one of the virtually destroyed Beeri houses. “Dead people can be anywhere,” he adds, pointing to the piles of rubble and rubble.
On the roads that run parallel to the Mediterranean coast and run from northern Israel towards Gaza, convoys of trucks can be seen carrying tanks, armored personnel carriers, generators, ammunition, excavators, etc. The maximum of the country’s officials have traveled there in the last few hours to encourage the troops. Some of those soldiers, they acknowledged Friday, had been taking positions for hours after the Hamas attack, hoping to advance toward the Gaza border. “Now you see Gaza from a distance, soon you will see it from the inside,” Minister Gallant told them on Thursday. “Are you aiming for victory, are you ready?” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech and suggested that the land invasion would not last long.
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