After more than two weeks of deadly bombings, Israeli troops and tanks began their long-anticipated ground assault last night storming into northern Gaza for several hours, reportedly attacking multiple Hamas locations to “prepare the battlefield” for a broader invasion, reported AP.
According to the Health Ministry in Gaza, 750 individuals were murdered in the previous 24 hours, up from 704 the day before, as a result of 250 Israeli airstrikes over Gaza, hitting tunnel shafts, rocket launchers, and other so-called “terrorist facilities.”
An Israeli attack on Wednesday killed the wife, son, daughter, and grandson of Al-Jazeera journalist Wael Dahdouh in Gaza. Dahdouh and other mourners attended the funerals on Thursday, dressed in the blue flak jackets used by Palestinian journalists.
The Israeli military claims it exclusively targets militants and accuses Hamas of operating among civilians in densely populated Gaza.
A retired general and a member of Israel’s war Cabinet Benny Gantz said, “The campaign will soon ramp up with greater force.”
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 7,000 Palestinians have been killed so far in the conflict, including the disputed toll from an explosion at a hospital. That is more than three times the number of Palestinians killed in the six-week-long Gaza war in 2014. The ministry’s toll includes over 2,700 children and over 1,500 women.
According to the Israeli government, 1,400 individuals in Israel have been killed, the vast majority of whom were civilians murdered during the initial Hamas onslaught. Hamas is holding at least 224 hostages in Gaza taken during its initial assault.
After significant international pressure, Israel has in the last several days allowed more than 60 trucks carrying humanitarian aid and fuel supplies into Gaza from Egypt. Charity workers have said this paltry amount is insufficient and just a tenth of what was being brought in before the war.
After more than two weeks of Israel’s siege and total bockade of Gaza, the U.N. has issued a warning that the Gaza Strip is close to running out of fuel, which means that the organization will have to “drastically scale back” assistance efforts there.
Israel continues to block the delivery of fuel required to operate hospital generators, claiming that Hamas will intercept it.