Israel Begins Ground Operation In Gaza

Israeli forces have carried out their biggest Gaza ground attack overnight in their 20-day-old war with Hamas as anger grew in the Arab world over Israel’s relentless bombardment of the besieged Palestinian territory.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday said Israeli troops were still preparing for a full ground invasion, while the United States (US) and other countries urged Israel to delay, fearing it could ignite hostilities on other Middle East fronts.

The United Nations agency providing aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza said it may soon have to shut down operations if no fuel reaches the Hamas-ruled territory amid a desperate need for shelter, water, food and medical services.

Israel has bombarded the densely populated Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israeli communities.

Israel said Hamas killed some 1,400 people including children, and took more than 200 hostages, some of them infants and older adults.

Gaza’s health ministry said yesterday that 7,028 Palestinians had been killed in the retaliatory air strikes, including 2,913 children.

The US State Department said Washington knows that a significant number of people have died in Gaza but does not have independent confirmation of numbers, and it does not trust figures released by Hamas.

The Israeli military has also said Hamas figures cannot be trusted, but has not provided its own assessment. Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra rejected statements questioning the figures.

The ministry yesterday published a document which it said contains the names of all the victims who have been identified and their ID numbers.

Israeli army radio said the military had overnight staged its biggest incursion into northern Gaza in the current war. Armoured vehicles crossed the fortified border and blew up buildings, a military video showed.

“Tanks and infantry struck numerous terrorist cells, infrastructure and anti-tank missile launch posts,” it said.

Palestinians said Israeli air strikes pounded the territory again overnight and people in central Gaza reported intensive tank shelling all night.

With no sign of a let-up in Gaza, the foreign ministers of Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates condemned what they called the targeting of civilians and violations of international law.