The Israeli army announced on Sunday that its forces began “in -depth floor operations” in the Gaza Strip of the North and South, advancing its plan to move further in the enclave and grasp more land in an intensified campaign likely to move more civilians.
This new stage of the 19 -month war aims to put pressure on Hamas to release the hostages it holds and destroy the group or force it to go, according to the Israeli government and military officials.
Israeli war aircraft have beaten Gaza in recent days to prepare the way for expansion of ground operations, said the army, adding that the wave of strikes had struck what it described as more than 670 “Hamas terrorist targets”.
So far, the army said, he has killed “dozens” of Hamas agents and has destroyed the military infrastructure used by the group above and below. But many civilians, including children, were killed, according to Palestinian officials and residents of Gaza.
The expansion of military operations occurs while Israel and Hamas are engaged in indirect talks for a cease-fire in Doha, the capital of Qatar.
More than 53,000 gasans have so far been killed in the war, according to health officials in the enclave, whose nonsense does not distinguish between combatants and civilians. The Ministry of Health in Gaza said on Sunday that the preliminary number of those who have been killed since dawn amounted to more than 90.
Suzanne Abu Daqqa, who lives in Abasan, near the southern city of Khan Younis, said that the residents had lived through almost constant bombardments in the past few days, which was shaking her house with terrifying explosions.
But she was even more afraid than an invasion of the renewed soil could again force her to flee her house – where her family still had electricity from solar panels, as well as a modest stock of rice and flour – for stifling tents near the coast.
“Many died for nothing,” said Abu Daqqa. “People want war to end in all means.”
So far, international efforts have failed to end the war that started with the attack by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023. This attack killed around 1,200 people, and the Palestinian attackers brought about 250 hostages to Gaza.
Aaron Boxerman Contributed reports.
