Israeli tanks in overnight Gaza raid ahead of ‘next stage’

Jerusalem, Undefined – AFP

Israel said Thursday that a column of tanks and infantry had launched an overnight raid into Gaza, striking “numerous” targets before retreating to home soil.

The military announced the incursion into the north of the Palestinian territory hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared preparations for a ground war were underway.

The Israeli forces described the operation as a “targeted raid”.

It said the operation was “preparation for the next stages of combat” adding that “the soldiers have since exited the area and returned to Israeli territory”.

Black-and-white video footage posted by the military showed a column of armoured vehicles and bulldozers winding toward what appeared to be a border fence and breaking through it.

AFP verified the location as south of the Israeli city of Ashkelon but could not verify when the footage was recorded.

Another video appeared to show an airstrike and later buildings being struck with munitions, sending debris flying high into the air, along with a thick plume of smoke.

Just hours earlier Netanyahu had delivered a nationally televised address to Israelis, telling them “we are in the midst of a campaign for our existence”.

Netanyahu, in the face of ever-louder international calls to temper the ferocious bombing campaign, vowed to press ahead with plans for a ground war.

He pledged to “eliminate Hamas” and “bring our captives home” but stressed that “I will not detail when, how or how many” forces would take part.

The ground raid into Gaza was not the first of its kind, a spokesman for the military told AFP. But it was likely to raise tensions in an already anxious region.

US President Joe Biden is among the foreign leaders stepping up public calls for Israel to “protect innocent civilians” and to follow the “laws of war” as it pursues Hamas targets.

Biden on Wednesday said he had privately suggested Israel should get hostages out if possible before any ground invasion.

– ‘It’s a massacre’ –

Gaza’s health ministry on Wednesday said the death toll had surged by about 700 in a day to above 6,500, including many children.

Entire neighbourhoods have been razed, surgeons in hospitals overwhelmed with wounded carry out procedures without anaesthetic, and ice cream trucks have become makeshift morgues.

“They’re not waging war on Hamas, they’re waging war on children,” charged one resident, Abu Ali Zaarab, after his family home was bombed in the southern town of Rafah. “It’s a massacre.”

About 1.4 million people — more than half of Gaza’s population — have been displaced, according to the United Nations.

Israel has cut off Gaza’s normal supply corridors for water, food and other necessities, and fewer than 70 relief trucks have entered the impoverished territory since the war began.

None contained fuel, which Israel fears Hamas will use for rockets and explosives.

Aid agencies have warned that more people will die if medical equipment, water desalination plants and ambulances stop operating because of a lack of fuel.

Once the generators stop, hospitals will “turn into morgues”, the Red Cross has warned. Hospitals are also struggling with a shortage of medicines and equipment.

“We performed a number of surgeries without anaesthetic,” said Ahmad Abdul Hadi, an orthopaedic surgeon working at Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis.

“It’s tough and painful, but with the lack of resources, what can we do?”