The al-Qasam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, stated this Friday night that they are facing a “ground assault” of Israeli troops in the north of the Strip, where “intense fighting” is taking place.
“We face a ground assault in Beit Hanoun and Bureij (north of the enclave) and intense fighting is taking place in the area“Hamas’ military wing said in a statement.
Witnesses in northern Gaza told EFE by telephone that, when the heavy attacks began, the few people left on the streets began to scream and run in search of shelter.
The statement from the Islamist brigades comes after the Army announced hours earlier that it was going to expand its ground operations within the Gaza Strip, after two nights of carrying out small-scale localized incursions in parallel to intense air bombardments.
“As a continuation of the offensive activity that we have carried out in recent days, the ground forces will expand their activity tonight“, indicated the Army spokesman, Daniel Hagari; while the Strip was plunged into a total communications blackout that makes it very difficult to know what is happening inside.
The Palestinian telecommunications company Paltel announced this Friday the “full cut” of communications, telephone and internet services in the Gaza Strip, due to the intense bombings on the enclave.
Shortly after, Israel launched a new round of intense artillery attacks and aerial bombardments, and according to Palestinian media, tanks also entered, which opened speculation about the announced large-scale ground operation.
However, an Israeli military spokesman indicated that this incursion is not the large-scale operation that Israeli political and military authorities have been announcing for weeks.
“The Israel Defense Forces work intensively in all dimensions to achieve the objectives of the war”said Hagari as the conflagration marks 20 days in the Gaza Strip, where intense and indiscriminate Israeli bombing has claimed the lives of more than 7,300 Gazans.
More than 1,400 people have died in Israel, including more than a thousand civilians murdered in the brutal attack perpetrated by the armed wing of Hamas on October 7 that triggered the current war, the worst that has pitted Israeli troops against the Islamist militias in Gaza.
Source: Gestion
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