Israel’s military says it has mounted more limited raids into Gaza to attack Hamas and find information about where hostages are being held, but Israel is not yet holding any territory in Gaza.
Israeli bombing of Gaza continues, with Hamas officials saying dozens of people were killed overnight and that several residencial neighborhoods have been completely flattened–houses, mosques, hospitals, schools, and all.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees says the situation in southern Gaza is so bad that some civilians are returning north after being told to flee south by Israel
This morning the BBC and news agencies have learned more about raids that Israeli soldiers have been carrying out within Gaza over the past 24 hours.
On Sunday:
- Israel says its forces went west of the Gaza Strip fence on Sunday to clear the area of terrorists and weapons, and try and find hostages
- According to the IDF, missiles were fired at them by Hamas – and one IDF soldier was killed and three others injured
- The armed wing of Hamas say it happened east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza – the city where Palestinians had been told to go for their own safety – and Israeli soldiers crossed the fence “for several metres”
- Hamas’s armed wing says they “engaged with the infiltrating force” and claim they destroyed two bulldozers and a tank. They say Israeli soldiers left their vehicles and fled east of the fence on foot
On Monday:
- IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari says Israel carried out more raids into Gaza overnight
- Hagari said: “During the night there were raids by tank and infantry forces. These raids are raids that kill squads of terrorists who are preparing for the next stage in the war. These are raids that go deep, to the contact line. These raids also locate and search for anything we can get in terms of intelligence on the missing and the hostages”
But – it’s not the first time that Israeli troops have crossed into Gaza.
In the first week of this conflict, Israel said soldiers and tanks had entered the Strip in order to carry out raids to fight Hamas and try to find missing Israelis.
Also away from Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces says it has arrested around 800 wanted Palestinians in the West Bank – including over 500 affiliated with Hamas – since the attack on Israel on 7 October.
The IDF says 64 people were detained overnight, including 37 members of Hamas.
Another 20 trucks have been allowed to bring aid from Egypt to Gaza, but in normal times without war, 100 trucks enter into Gaza every day. So many people in Gaza are arguing that this is not enough.
Israel has conducted more than two weeks of strikes on Gaza in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas militants that killed 1,400 people.
The United Nations says about 1.4 million people have fled their homes and that there are critical shortages of water, food, fuel and medicine in Gaza.
Sources: BBC, VOA. news agencies.
