Israel strengthens its ground invasion of Gaza by increasing the presence of its soldiers, tanks and other vehicles without slowing down the pace of air attacks. The first tanks approach Gaza City, the capital, this Monday through one of the northern suburbs, while the occupation forces have cut off the main road that marks the Strip, according to the Efe and France Presse agencies. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is desperate: the UN warns that bombings are taking place near hospitals where, in addition to many wounded people, many families use them as shelter from Israeli bombs. In Jerusalem, a police officer was stabbed at a gas station in East Jerusalem. The victim is in serious condition and the attacker has been shot dead, as verified by the EL PAÍS correspondent.
The attack on the police officer occurred near what is known as the green line that separates the eastern, Palestinian, part from the western part and near the United States consulate. Immediately afterwards, incidents broke out between ultra-Orthodox Jews, whose neighborhood is dozens of meters away, and Palestinians who were in the area. The attack, amid growing tension and violence over the war, is reminiscent of the Knife Intifada, which took place seven years ago.
Israeli army troops have been inside the Gaza Strip since Friday night, where the death toll now exceeds 8,300, according to Palestinian health sources. In the last few hours, there have been clashes in which “dozens of terrorists” who had taken refuge in buildings and tunnels have died, according to the daily report of the Israeli authorities. The bombings surround important hospitals such as Al-Shifa and Al Quds, both in Gaza City, which, in addition to housing hundreds of patients, serve as refuge for tens of thousands of civilians. At the same time, two other fronts remain open as a result of the Israeli response to the Hamas attack on October 7. In the West Bank, an Israeli raid left four Palestinians dead in Jenin. On the border with Lebanon, the Shiite group Hezbollah claimed on Sunday to have shot down an Israeli drone.
The military ground operation that, according to the Government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, aims to put an end to the political and weapons structure of Hamas, is carried out thanks to the close collaboration between the troops deployed inside Gaza and the aerial means. . This is how, with collaboration from the ground, they managed to shoot down from the air a building in which more than 20 members of the Islamic fundamentalist militia were located, according to the Israeli report issued on Monday morning. EL PAÍS, like the rest of the international media, cannot access Gaza due to the Israeli blockade to independently confirm the information.
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A key urban battle
In the large city that housed more than a million people until the beginning of the current war, a key battle is expected to be fought that could last several weeks, according to several experts. The network of tunnels controlled by Hamas, which governs the Strip, and the more than 200 hostages it holds will be determining aspects in the contest that keeps Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in question.
Hamas is trying to negotiate a five-day ceasefire to be able to face the humanitarian crisis of the 2.3 million inhabitants of the Strip in exchange for releasing the kidnapped civilians, according to official sources from Qatar, which has been negotiating for weeks. between the parties, reports the Reuters agency.
Since the ground invasion began this Friday night, more than 600 targets have been hit, including weapons depots, anti-tank missile launching positions, militant hideouts and other locations used by Hamas, the Israeli statement added. During the early hours of the morning, armed men and an anti-tank missile launching point were detected next to Al-Azhar University where a fighter plane headed, the same source points out.
Israel insists on calls for the population to leave the northern Strip, supposedly to be able to better combat Hamas without killing civilians. The fact is that the bombings take place throughout the enclave, from north to south, where more than 8,300 deaths are distributed, the vast majority civilians. Hundreds of thousands of people continue to live in Gaza City while voices of alarm multiply over the possibility that the ground invasion will multiply the number of fatalities.
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