Illustrative image (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced on March 19 that it had launched “pinpoint” ground operations in the central and southern Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the military said its operations were aimed at expanding the security zone near the border and creating a partial buffer between northern and southern Gaza. Troops of the 252nd Division entered the Netzarim Corridor area, a route that splits Gaza into north and south, capturing around half of it, up to the Salah a-Din road.
At the same time, the IDF said it deployed the Golani Brigade to the southern part of the Gaza border, readying it for action in the Strip.
Separately, the IDF and Shin Bet security agency announce that two more top Hamas officials were killed in strikes that targeted Gaza over the past day.
The dead include Yasser Mohammed Harb Musa, a member of Hamas’s political bureau who headed the defense portfolio and ministry of development.
“As part of his role, Musa handled the advancement and guidance of terror attacks against the State of Israel,” the IDF and Shin Bet said in a joint statement, adding that he was considered close to slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
The second Hamas official the IDF said it killed was Mohammed Jamasi, the chief of the group’s so-called emergency committee.
“Over the years, Jamasi held key positions in the political bureau and the leadership of the movement and as part of his role in the war, he coordinated a significant portion of the Hamas regime’s government activity in the Gaza Strip, including the guidance of terror attacks against the State of Israel,” the statement added.
Israel renewed its military operations in Gaza early on March 18, citing Hamas’s “repeated refusal” to free Israeli hostages. The Hamas-run health ministry has said over 400 people have been killed since then, including women and children.
Also on March 19, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that Hamas’s continued rule in the enclave would lead to its “total destruction and ruin.”
“Gaza residents, this is a final warning. The first Sinwar ruined Gaza and the second Sinwar will completely obliterate it,” the defense minister said, referring to the slain leader of the group, Yahya Sinwar, and to his brother, Mohammed Sinwar, a senior Hamas military commander who is thought to have succeeded him.
“The Air Force strikes against Hamas terrorists were just the first step. Things will become much more difficult, and you will pay the full price,” he added.
Katz also warned that if the hostages are not released and Hamas is not removed from Gaza, “Israel will operate with strength you have not yet seen.”
“Take the US president’s advice. Return the hostages and remove Hamas, and other options will open up for you, including leaving for other places in the world for those who desire,” he said, noting that “the alternative is total destruction and ruin.”
Israel’s new ground operations in Gaza will complicate the talks with Hamas. However, it could give the group the chance to inflict losses on the IDF.
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stupid..! if you’re going to war don’t stop finish the job and make peace ☮️. all israel has done is rearm the enemy..!
idf just split gayza in two
there must be a hell of a gas/oil field off the coast of gaza. what with that and the proposed canal the americans are really hoping to stick it to china using their proxy israel. people kid themselves that israelis are running the show. its always been the wasps in the us. people forget it was christian evangelism that supported the resettlement of palestine with jewish europeans before zionism started or chose palestine as a “homeland”.
the stronger one wins.
that s always been the case.
the losers keep whining and plotting their next move…
these thing will never change.
and the strong one wins again.
mushloms lost. jewies won.
fin.
there is no pale-stain
lol
lol
lol
why is france,eu and britain not stopping israel if their are so sincerely concern about wars.