Reuters
Israeli ground forces operated within the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, attacking multiple Hamas targets before withdrawing, the military said in a statement on what Israel’s Army Radio described as the biggest incursion of the current war.
Video of the overnight action issued by the military showed armoured vehicles proceeding through a sandy border zone. A bulldozer is seen levelling part of a raised bank, tanks fire shells, and explosions are seen near or amid a row of damaged buildings.
The military statement posted online said the incursion was carried out “in preparation for the next stages of combat”, a possible reference to the large-scale invasion that Israeli leaders have threatened as part of the war to destroy Hamas.
“The soldiers have since exited the area and returned to Israeli territory,” the military statement added.
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Israel began localised ground incursions on Sunday as the war, triggered by an Oct 7 cross-border rampage by Hamas gunmen, entered its third week. Israel’s Army Radio described Thursday’s incursion as the biggest yet.
At a press conference Thursday, Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said 12 hospitals had been rendered non-operational since Israel’s bombing campaign began, and 101 medical personnel had been killed.
He accused Israeli forces of deliberately causing a complete collapse of the healthcare system by obstructing the entry of fuel and essential medical supplies into Gaza. Israel says Hamas diverts fuel transfer into Gaza for military purposes.
On Wednesday, Al Jazeera said its bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Al-Dahdouh, lost his wife, son, daughter and grandson in what it said was an Israeli airstrike. The blast hit a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip where the family was taking shelter after being displaced, according to Al Jazeera. In total, 12 members of the Al-Dahdouh family were killed in the blast, including nine children, a statement from the family said Thursday.
The IDF told newsmen it did carry out an airstrike in the area where Al-Dahdouh’s relatives were killed, saying it had “targeted Hamas terrorist infrastructure in the area.”
“Strikes on military targets are subject to relevant provisions of international law, including the taking of feasible precautions to mitigate civilian casualties,” it added.
But harrowing photos show Al-Dahdouh seeing the bodies of his wife and children in the morgue. In one image he can be seen holding the body of his daughter, who is wrapped in a white shroud.
