A Merkava IV tank. FILE PHOTO: Rafael Advanced Defense Systems
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced on October 29 that it had increased the number of troops on the ground as part of its expanded operation in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli troops are also operating deeper in Gaza than they have since the start of the war, according to the IDF, which released footage showing main battle tanks advancing and firing at targets in an unspecified part of the Strip.
In a video message, IDF Spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari called on Gazan civilians in the northern part of the Strip to move south urgently, warning that troops are “moving to the next phase” of the war with the Hamas Movement and “expanding its operations.”
“Civilians in northern Gaza, in Gaza City should temporarily move south of Wadi Gaza to a safer area, where they can receive water, food, and medicine,” Hagari said.
He added that tomorrow [on October 30], “humanitarian efforts to Gaza, led by Egypt and the United States, will be expanding,” without further elaborating.
The IDF attempts to expand ground operations were met with fierce resistance. An Israeli officer was seriously hurt by a mortar impact and separately a soldier was moderately hurt during a gun battle with Hamas, both in northern Gaza overnight.
In addition, Hamas’ military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, released footage showing an attack on an Israeli Panther armored personnel carrier to the east of the Shejaiya neighborhood in Gaza city with a Russian-made Kornet anti-tank guided missile.
Al-Mayadeen TV also reported a failed Israeli advance attempt to the east of Rafah city in southern Gaza. According to the Lebanese news channel, an IDF force was ambushed by Palestinian fighters and was forced to withdraw after heavy clashes that lasted for more than 31 hours.
It’s worth noting that the IDF escalated strikes on Gaza the past day, hitting some 450 targets of Hamas. The targets included command centers, observation posts and missile launch positions, according to the IDF.
The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip said that more than 8,000 have been killed in the Palestinian enclave since the start of the war with Israel on October 7 when Palestinian fighters killed 1,400 Israelis and took 230 people as hostage.
“The death toll linked to the Israeli aggression is past 8,000, half of whom are children,” the ministry told AFP. The last toll, issued early October 28, was 7,703 dead.
While the IDF is expanding its ground operations in Gaza, the scale of these operations remains small. According to The New York Times, Israel’s apparent decision to hold off on a full-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip and instead conduct more limited ground incursions, at least initially, aligns with suggestions that the United States Defense Secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III, made to his Israeli counterparts in recent days.
