Israel says ground forces are operating across the Gaza Strip as the offensive builds

The Israeli military said on Sunday that its ground forces were conducting operations against Hamas across the Gaza Strip. This was the most vital sign that a planned ground onslaught in the highly populated south of the territory had begun. Israeli bombardment has resulted in the deaths and injuries of hundreds of Palestinians.

The terrorist organization Hamas in Palestine claimed that its members engaged in combat with Israeli soldiers about two kilometers (one mile) away from the southern city of Khan Younis. Residents reported hearing tank fire and believed that a new Israeli ground offensive was developing. Many of the residents had relocated to the area to escape past strikes that occurred during the war between Israel and the Palestinians.

At an earlier time, the Israeli military issued orders to evacuate some neighborhoods within and close to the city. Still, they did not announce any fresh ground attack in the southern region.

Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces, informed reporters in Tel Aviv that the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is continuing to expand its ground operation against Hamas centers throughout the entire Gaza Strip. “The forces are coming face-to-face with terrorists and killing them.”

ATTACKS ON THE SHIPPING
Attacks on vessels in the southern part of the Red Sea on Sunday stoked fears that the war may extend further.

Three commercial ships were assaulted by the Houthi movement, which is affiliated with Iran and operates in the international seas of the Red Sea, according to the United States Department of Defense. Additionally, a United States destroyer that was patrolling in the region shot down three drones as it reacted to distress calls.

An Israeli military spokeswoman stated that the two ships had no relation to Israel, even though a representative for the Houthi group claimed that their navy had assaulted two Israeli ships in the Red Sea on Sunday using an armed drone and a missile.

In a separate operation, the United States carried out an attack in Iraq in the name of self-defense against an “imminent threat” that was on a drone staging strike. For a moment, it was unclear whether the occurrences were connected.

A STRIKE AT A REFUGEE CAMP
One of the locations that was alleged to have been struck by air strikes was the Jabalia refugee camp, which is located in the northern part of Gaza and is administered by Hamas. According to a representative for the Gazan Ministry of Health, an Israeli air attack resulted in the deaths of many individuals.

The footage that Reuters received showed a little child coated in gray dust and sitting and crying amid crumbling cement and rubble from fallen houses.

He shouted out in a harsh voice, “My father was laid to death as a martyr.” A young woman, dressed in a pink sweatshirt and covered in dust, stood between the heaps of debris.

Residents have said that bombings from war aircraft and artillery were also centered on Khan Younis and Rafah, which is another city located in the southern region of Gaza. Hospitals also had difficulty keeping up with the influx of injured individuals.

According to Eylon Levy, a spokeswoman for the Israeli government, the Israeli military carried out more than 400 strikes over the weekend, including major aerial raids in the Khan Younis area. Additionally, the military was responsible for the deaths of Hamas terrorists and the destruction of their infrastructure in Beit Lahiya, which is located in the northern region.

There was no quick reaction after the reports of particular attacks were made public.

Following the conclusion of a seven-day break in the combat between Israeli troops and Hamas terrorists, which had allowed for the exchange of 105 hostages held by Hamas, the majority of whom were Israelis, for 240 Palestinian inmates, the hostilities resumed on Friday.

Despite requests from the United States, Israel’s closest friend, urging Israel to restrict injuries to Palestinian civilians in the new phase of its attack, which is centered on the south, the most recent bloodshed still took place.

According to Gaza’s health ministry, more than 15,523 individuals have been murdered in nearly two months of combat that broke out after a Hamas cross-border attack on southern Israel on October 7. The raid resulted in the deaths of over 1,200 Israelis and the kidnapping of approximately 240 more. According to Israel, Hamas is still holding 136 people as prisoners.

Israel has made a solemn threat to eradicate Hamas. The Iranian-backed outfit has taken an oath to carry out the destruction of Israel. The first attack by Hamas and the subsequent fighting constitute the deadliest event in the lengthy confrontation between Israel and the Palestinians, which has been going on for decades.

An official from Hamas located in Lebanon named Osama Hamdan has accused Israel of following a deliberate plan to encourage Gazan civilians to travel south to catch and murder them en route.

“It has become clear that the occupation’s claim… of the existence of safe areas in the south of the Gaza Strip, and its constant call for citizens to go there, was a premeditated plan and trap to commit more massacres against unarmed civilians and displaced people in the south,” he stated to reporters without providing proof. “There are no safe areas.”

Jonathan Conricus, a spokeswoman for the Israeli military, told CNN that Israeli forces were targeting Hamas command and control centers, weapons storage, and logistical facilities and that they were also requesting that Palestinians evacuate to a specific humanitarian zone in southern Gaza near Khan Younis.

“It isn’t perfect but it is the best, currently available solution that we have,” according to Conricus.

Fearful about the ground offensive
In the early hours of Sunday, people of Gaza expressed their concern that an Israeli ground attack on the southern regions was about to take place. The route that connected Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah in the middle region of Gaza had been blocked off by tanks, which essentially divided the Gaza Strip into three halves.

In and around Khan Younis, the Israeli military issued orders to the Palestinian population, encouraging them to vacate many locations. To the west of Khan Younis and the south toward Rafah, located on the border with Egypt, a map was displayed highlighting the shelters they should travel to.

Many locals began to evacuate, but they reported that the places they had been instructed to go to were suddenly under assault.

Nabil Al-Ghandour, interviewed by Reuters, stated that his family would be leaving for Rafah later that day. It would be their seventh attempt to find shelter since the conflict began.

“There are no safe areas that we can see,” he stated. But we move because there is nothing else we can do. We have children, and there is shelling going on throughout the night.

In the latter hours of Sunday, an official from the Gazan Ministry of Health stated that an air hit on a residence in Rafah resulted in the deaths of seven persons. An instant response from the Israeli military was not received in response to a request for comment.

On Sunday, the Israeli military announced that its combat aircraft and helicopters had successfully delivered strikes against Hamas targets, which included underground shafts, command centers, and weapons storage sites. According to the report, naval troops on the coast attacked Hamas vessels.

The military did not provide any information on the complete count of air strikes that were carried out.

On a different front, Israeli forces and Hezbollah terrorists exchanged fire across the border between Israel and Lebanon. Israel said that three of its soldiers were injured when an anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon damaged a vehicle in the Beit Hillel region in northern Israel. According to Reuters, the accounts could not be independently verified.