Preparations for the IDF's ground offensive appear to be accelerating. On Friday morning, the Israeli army announced that its infantry had carried out "a targeted raid in the central sector of the Gaza Strip" overnight, 24 hours after an initial ground incursion into the north of the enclave. In this second incursion, the IDF said it had also bombed Hamas sites "throughout the Gaza Strip."
OPERATIONAL UPDATE:
IDF ground troops, fighter jets and drones hit Hamas Anti-tank
🔴 missile launch sites Hamas
🔴 terror command
🔴 centers Troops left the area and no injuries were reported. pic.twitter.com/9Co6fwfS22
— IDF (@Tsahal_IDF) October 27, 2023
During this ground operation, the ground forces were supported by "fighter jets and drones". "Dozens of terrorist targets belonging to Hamas" were struck "in the Sajaia neighborhood and throughout the Strip," army spokesman Daniel Hagari said on the social network X. Rocket launch pads, Hamas command centers, and men from the Palestinian Islamist movement were neutralized, according to the statement.
As on the previous day, the Israeli soldiers then left the Palestinian territory without suffering any injuries, the army concluded.
תיעוד של מפקד פיקוד הדרום, אלוף ירון פינקלמן, ומפקד חיל האוויר, אלוף תומר בר, במרכז האש של פיקוד הדרום: pic.twitter.com/gW6G33Mvb7
— דובר צה״ל דניאל הגרי – Daniel Hagari (@IDFSpokesperson) October 27, 2023
An imminent ground offensive?
Since the October 7 attacks by Hamas on its territory, the Israeli army has been relentlessly shelling the Palestinian territory, where it regularly carries out incursions in anticipation of a probable ground offensive repeatedly promised by political and military leaders. On Wednesday night, it announced that it had carried out a targeted raid with tanks in the northern Gaza Strip "in order to prepare for the next phase of the fighting." It is also a way of "sounding out to test Hamas' defenses," Pierre Servent, our newspaper's defense consultant, wrote in our columns on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed preparations for a ground offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. "When, how, how much, and the considerations we take into account, I can't go into detail," he added.
More than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed in the Hamas attack on Israel, according to Israel. Some 220 people are being held hostage after being forcibly taken to the Gaza Strip. Hamas' health ministry said the retaliatory bombing killed more than 7,000 people, the vast majority of them civilians, including more than 2,900 children.