Israel carried out “targeted operations” with tanks in the north of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday evening, the Israeli army said on Thursday.
“During the night, the army carried out a targeted operation with tanks in the north of the Gaza Strip, as part of preparations for the next phases of the battle,” a statement from the military spokesman said.
The soldiers “leave the area” at the end of the operation, he added.
On October 7, The Islamist movement Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel with the launch of thousands of rockets and the raid of armed militiamen, taking two hundred hostages.
In response, Israel declared war on Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007 and is classified as terrorist by the European Union and the United States. siege of the territory by cutting off water, fuel and electricity supplies.
The conflict has already caused thousands of deaths and injuries in both areas, among military personnel and civilians.
The Israeli army and Hamas reaffirm promises of victory in the war
This Thursday, Israel and the Islamist group Hamas reaffirmed promises of victory in the war they have been waging for about three weeks and which has left thousands dead on both sides.
The Israeli military said the operations against the Gaza Strip aim to eradicate Hamas and that “once the war is over, there will no longer be a military threat” from the Palestinian enclave.
A military spokesman, Jonathan Conricus, said in an Israeli army social media post that Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip “cannot live” with the Hamas threat nearby.
“If we do not eradicate Hamas, this danger will remain and we will have to deal with it again in the future,” he argued, quoted by the Spanish agency Europa Press.
The spokesperson said the Israeli forces will “deal thoroughly and appropriately with Hamas.”
“At the end of the war (…) we will not see scenes of defenseless Israeli civilians being killed, burned, raped and mutilated by terrorists,” he said.
“Those who do not understand the evil we face do not understand why we do what we do,” he admitted, despite criticism that Israel is punishing the Palestinian people for the Hamas attack.
He also said that “at some point” the Israeli military will make the decision to “proceed to the next phase of operations,” in an apparent reference to a large-scale ground offensive.
Hamas commandos have also kidnapped two hundred Israelis and foreigners who they are holding hostage in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave with more than two million inhabitants that they have controlled since 2007.
Israel responded to the attack with a declaration of war on Hamas and the siege and continued bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which the Islamist group said had caused more than 6,500 deaths.
On the Hamas side, the “number two” of the movement’s political wing, Saleh al-Arouri, promised that Israel will suffer “an unprecedented defeat” if it invades the Gaza Strip.
“If the enemy enters by land, there will be a new and glorious page for our people, and it will be an unprecedented defeat for the occupation. [Israel] in the history of the conflict,” he told a channel of the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah.
Al-Arouri said that “Hezbollah is working together at all military and political levels” in what he described as “a heroic epic of resistance in Lebanon,” another flashpoint of the conflict with Israel.
“This fight is your fight [do Hezbollah]we have a common goal and a common destiny, (…) we are constantly communicating and coordinating in this struggle,” he stated.
Al-Arouri also referred to Hamas hostages in the Gaza Strip, stating that foreigners are guests of the group but that Israelis “will be exchanged” for Palestinian prisoners.
Source: DN
