undefined – Ansa
More than a blitz and not yet the announced invasion. The Israeli army entered the Gaza Strip with tanks and troops yesterday evening, preceded by bombings of unprecedented intensity. The raids also hit the Jabalia refugee camp and caused an internet outage. “A massive attempt by Israel to penetrate the Strip is underway” Hamas denounced on social media. And this morning Israeli forces are still in Gaza. Clashes are reported in Bureji and other locations. The army reports that the air force hit around 150 underground targets, including tunnels, and killed several terrorists including the head of the Hamas air force, Issam Abu Rukbeh. It was he who planned the assault launched by Hamas on 7 October, directing the militiamen who entered the southern areas of Israel with hang gliders, and coordinating the drone attacks.
It remains to be seen whether the night’s operation, still ongoing, will translate into a real ground offensive or whether the army will withdraw after completing the mission, as happened with the blitzes conducted up until yesterday.
In the meantime, the United States is mobilizing its forces in the area to dissuade the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, which launches rockets and drones from Lebanon into northern Israel (yesterday they also ended up in Syria), and Tehran itself.
On X the video of the tanks in Gaza
Video activity of the IDF Ground Forces in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/FWt0pFO53q
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 28, 2023
Iran opens the war of the skies
And Iran itself is lengthening its shadow over the conflict. «Soon the criminals, the Zionists and their known supporters will be brought to their knees before the determination, firmness and resilience of the people of Palestine due to their war crimes in the Gaza Strip» the spokesperson of the ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Kanani. They’re not just words.
Iran was apparently behind the attack that slightly injured six people in Egypt near the Israeli border the other night, in the towns of Taba and Nuweiba. According to Tel Aviv, the threat came “from the Red Sea area”. Two kamikaze drones, most likely from a ship or from Yemen, hit a hospital annex and a residential building. An Egyptian official told local media on condition of anonymity that Cairo reserves the right to respond once it is clear who launched the rocket. For the Israeli army there is no doubt about the “clear involvement of Iran”.
A Palestinian boy among the rubble of a collapsed building after an Israeli attack on Gaza – Ansa
The newspaper Ynet he writes that the target was the port of Eilat. The military radio recalled the words of the Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, last May: the Pasdaran (the Guardians of the Iranian Revolution) transformed commercial ships into missile and drone launch platforms, creating real «floating terrorist bases ». A week ago the Yemeni Houthi rebels, financed by the Tehran regime as an anti-Riyadh, launched missiles towards Israel, shot down by the United States and Saudi Arabia.
The Pasdaran are also active in turbulent Syria through the al-Quds Force, whose positions were hit the other night by American F16 fighters after repeated attacks on US soldiers stationed in Syria and Iraq.
On the ground, clashes continue in the West Bank, where yesterday 3 Palestinians were killed and 12 injured in Jenin, and rockets are being launched from the Strip. One hit a building in Tel Aviv, causing at least 3 injuries.
«The Hamas command under the Gaza hospital»
While the population of Gaza is exhausted, the spokesman for the Israeli armed forces Daniel Hagari yesterday denounced that “Hamas manages the war from hospitals and uses civilians as human shields”. The central command of the terrorist group would be under and inside the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, the largest in the Strip with 1,500 beds. Tel Aviv claims to have precise information on the presence of tunnels that lead to the underground base without passing through the hospital. Hagari said the information is based on a variety of sources assembled by the military services and Shin Bet (Internal Security) and has already been passed on to allies. “We have raised a red flag to the world: using hospitals as terrorist infrastructures and the inhabitants of Gaza as human shields is a war crime.” For the spokesperson “there is fuel in the hospitals and Hamas is using it to power its infrastructure”. For Hamas they are “lies”.
The death toll: 1 Palestinian in 300
Gaza health authorities, controlled by Hamas, report that the raids have killed 7,326 Palestinians, including 3,038 children. According to the WHO, a thousand would still be buried under the rubble. Caution is a must with the numbers provided by Hamas. However, the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) reflects on a fact: 53 members of its staff were killed and the ratio between this number and the total of its staff is in line with the “official” number of victims and the population of the Strip. “We have more or less the same percentage,” said the head of the UN agency, Philippe Lazzarini. If so, it would mean one Palestinian killed for every 300 inhabitants.
The post first appeared on www.avvenire.it