Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced on March 20 that its troops advanced in the central part of the Gaza Strip and along the coast of the Palestinian enclave.
In the morning, the IDF warned Palestinians to avoid central Gaza as its troops advanced in the strategic Netzarim Corridor.
The military’s Arabic-language spokesman Col. Avichay Adraee said in a post to the X social network: “over the past day, IDF troops began a targeted operation” in central Gaza, and were “deployed up to the center of the Netzarim Corridor.”
“For your safety, do not travel on the Salah a-Din road between the north of the Gaza Strip and the south and vice versa,” he added.
Traveling from the north of the Strip to its south is only permitted via the coastal road, known as al-Rashid, Adraee warned in his post.
Later in the afternoon, the IDF announced in a statement that it had launched ground operations along the coast of the far north of Gaza, close to the area of Beit Lahiya.
Troops from the 252nd Division pushed into the coastal road area, and are currently deployed there, the military said, adding that two tank battalions of the 188th Armored Brigade are leading the operation.
Ahead of the offensive, the IDF said that it carried out airstrikes on some 40 targets in Beit Lahiya, including tunnels, anti-tank missile launch posts, Hamas operatives and other threats to troops.
Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
Additional strikes hit dozens of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza overnight, according to the IDF. Fighter jets and other Israeli Air Force aircraft hit operatives, buildings used by the groups, weapons and other infrastructure that posed a threat to Israel, the military and the Shin Bet security agency said in a joint statement.
The IDF faced no real resistance while advancing in central and northern Gaza. However, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, targeted Tel Aviv with a barrage of M90 rockets on March 20, in response to what it described in a brief statement as “Zionist massacres against civilians.”
Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv and several of its suburbs in central Israel amid attack. Later, the IDF confirmed that three “long-range rockets” were fired from Gaza. One of the rockets was intercepted by air defenses, while the other two struck open areas, according to a statement by the military.
Israel renewed its military operations in Gaza early on March 18, citing Hamas’s “repeated refusal” to free Israeli hostages. According to the Hamas-run health ministry, the renewed attack on the Strip has so far claimed the lives of more than 400 Palestinians, including women and children.
As Israel escalates its operations in the coming days, Hamas will either have to put on some serious resistance or make major concessions.
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