Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced on April 4 that it had expanded its ground operations in the northern Gaza Strip, with troops advancing into Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood.
The operations are aimed at expanding Israel’s buffer zone along the Gaza border, the military said in a statement, noting that Israeli troops had killed several terror operatives and destroyed infrastructure, including a command center of the Hamas Movement.
The military, which issued an evacuation order for Shejaiya a day earlier, also claimed that it was enabling Palestinian civilians to leave the area “for their safety.”
Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
Earlier in the day, the Hamas-run health ministry in the Strip reported that dozens were killed in Israeli strikes over the previous 24 hours, including 27 people who died when three missiles hit a former school building in the al-Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City.
One of the recent strikes on northern Gaza killed a senior commander of Hamas’ elite Nukhba force, according to the IDF. The strike was directed by troops of the 401st Armored Brigade. The brigade killed several more fighters and destroyed rocket launchers and other Hamas infrastructure during their operations, the military said.
More than 1,200 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been reportedly killed since the IDF renewed its operations on Gaza on March 18, shattering a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that was brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar last January.
In addition, the humanitarian office of the United Nations said that around 280,000 Palestinians have been displaced within the Strip.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the IDF would carve out a new security corridor to cut off the area of Rafah, which lays along Gaza’s border with Egypt, in order to mount more pressure on Hamas, which continues to hold 59 Israeli hostages.
IDF spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin later said that the military has begun a “new stage” in the operation designed to return the hostages and destroy “Hamas’s military and governing capabilities.”
“In recent days, we have advanced to a new stage in the operation,” the spokesman told reporters during a briefing on April 3. “The plan serves the goals of the war: returning the hostages and destroying Hamas’s military and governing capabilities.”
According to Defrin, the newly expanded campaign had involved more than 60 strikes aimed at degrading Hamas’s capabilities and paving the way for ground troops to move into areas in the north and south of the Strip.
“We have broadened our activities in southern Gaza to surround and cut off the Rafah area,” he added. “Beyond that, we’re maintaining operational ambiguity so we can surprise the enemy and bring about significant achievements.”
The spokesman also revealed that Israel has struck more than 600 targets in Gaza and killed over 250 so-called “terror operatives,” including 12 senior officials in Hamas’s military wing and political bureau, since renewing its operations in the Strip.
“They are all terrorists and participated in the October 7 massacre,” he said of the senior officials.
The IDF has been facing little to no resistance from Hamas and other Palestinian armed factions while advancing in the Strip.
On April 3, a rocket was fired at Israel from central Gaza, setting off sirens in the nearby settlement of Nahal Oz. The IDF later said that the rocket was intercepted by its air defenses. No casualties or material losses were reported by Hebrew media.
The al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, later claimed responsibility for the rocket attack. It also released footage showing two quadcopter drones which were recently downed and captured by its fighters in northern Gaza.
Israel’s decision to further expand its ground operations in Gaza will further complicate ongoing efforts to return to the ceasefire.
Even more escalation is to be expected in coming days, as the IDF has taken no losses since renewing its operations in the Strip.
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