JERUSALEM. Israeli troops entered Gaza tonight for a ground attack on Hamas positions targeted in recent days by heavy air strikes after the rain of rockets towards the Jewish state. “I said we were going to make Hamas pay a very high price. We do this and we will continue to do so with great intensity. The last word has not been said, and this operation will continue for as long as necessary, “wrote Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu in a message posted on Twitter after the army’s announcement of the start of ground operations, accompanied by new raids.
Military spokesman Jonathan Conricus specified that the soldiers entered from the north of the Strip, without however giving details on the amount of forces engaged in the Palestinian enclave. However, Israeli forces have ordered anyone on Israeli territory within 4 kilometers of the border to enter a shelter and remain there “until further notice”.
Faced with yet another escalation of the conflict, the UN Security Council has been convened for Sunday. Throughout yesterday, Israel had continued to amass troops on the border with the Strip and to recall other reservists, foreshadowing the imminence of a ground operation, evoked several times by the same army.
The war with Hamas – as raids and rocket firing continue on Tel Aviv and near Israeli airports – thus slips into a direct confrontation on the ground after being aggravated yesterday evening by another drama: an entire family, including four children and pregnant mother, was killed in a heavy Israeli bombing in the Sheikh Zayed area in northern Gaza, which resulted in at least 11 dead and 50 injured, according to the reconstruction of the Palestinian agency Wafa.
Appeals so far useless to de-escalation
On the fifth day of conflict, the chances of an imminent ceasefire appear slimmed down. The international community, despite the calls for de-escalation and some timid attempts at mediation, seems to be watching helplessly. And the serious situation that Israel is facing internally, with the incessant violence between Jews and Arabs, did not serve as a deterrent for the ground operation: a second unexpected front and a harbinger of devastating developments. So far, about 1,600 rockets, including new concepts, have rained on Israel from the Strip, accompanied by the novelty of explosive drones. Rockets that targeted the south and central areas of the country. The Jewish air force responded with hundreds of attacks, mainly against the Hamas and Jihad chain of command and intelligence and against anti-tank missile launchers. In particular, a Hamas service structure was centered with “dozens of operational terrorists” inside. A building, the military explained, which served as the main command for its surveillance network.
The toll of the ever-growing conflict
The toll, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, has risen to over 100 dead (including 27 children), with over 500 injured. Hamas, the experts pointed out, is showing a growing and innovative ability to fire, using among other things – as revealed Abu Obeida, spokesman for the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the organization – the new rockets called “Ayash250”, which would have a range of 250 kilometers. These were the ones that were launched towards Ramon International Airport, north of Eilat, and quite far from the Strip. Threat that has led the major European and American airlines to suspend flights to Ben Gurion airport at least until Saturday. But what worries the Israeli leadership is also – or perhaps above all – the violence that for days, starting with the clashes in Jerusalem, has been inflaming mixed cities with a real manhunt between Jews and Arabs and attempted lynchings by both sides. set off. Defense Minister Benny Gantz then ordered “a massive reinforcement” of the police force in an attempt to cool “attacks on Jewish and Arab civilians.” “We are in a state of emergency,” said Gantz, who has ordered the reinforcement of 10 border police battalions. “No soldier – he specified however – will be involved in these activities, since they are not part of the army mission”.
A policy not shared by Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu who instead from Lod – a citizen spark of violence – announced that to quell the unrest Israel could “resort to administrative arrests (ie not validated by a judge, ed) also resorting to soldiers, as is also the case in other countries ». The fact is that the unrest continues to spread from south to north: from Bat Yam to Haifa, from Tiberias to the Negev on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, up to Acco (St. John of Acre), where the fire was set in recent days to one of the most famous restaurants in the city, “Uri Buri”, owned by a Jew. The same was true of Arab shops and properties. A spiral difficult to contain.
The reactions of international politics
Finally, on the political front, an anti-Netanyahu unity government seems to be moving away. Yamina Naftali leader Bennett tonight ruled out being part of an executive with Yair Lapid. Indeed, according to some media, Bennett will resume talks with Netanyahu’s Likud. The decision seems to be linked precisely to the unrest between Arabs and Jews: the alternative government to Netanyahu was credited with the possibility that it could be supported from outside by Arab parties.
The international community continues to launch appeals, which have so far fallen on deaf ears. US President Joe Biden heard Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, recognizing “Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself, protecting civilians”, but “encouraging to restore calm”. He later said that from Israel “there was no overreaction”. An appeal for calm also from the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, who condemned the “indiscriminate launch of rockets” towards Israel, but asked the latter to “exercise restraint”. While Emmanuel Macron, speaking with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, asked to “use all his influence to restore calm as soon as possible”.