Israeli forces continue to push into Gaza on five major fronts after a ground offensive was ordered on Thursday night.
The troops – armoured units, combat engineers and infantry soldiers – have already taken control of large areas of mainly agricultural land inside the Gaza Strip and there have been a number of clashes with militant gunmen.
The offensive was preceded by very heavy artillery shelling and as the troops advance, bombing from the air and sea continues apace. Tens of thousands of residents of northern Gaza fled their homes yesterday and headed towards Gaza city.
More than 270 residents of Gaza have been killed with more than 2,000 wounded during Operation Protective Edge, now in its twelfth day.
Ground offensive
One Israeli soldier was killed, probably from friendly fire, and a number wounded during the initial advance. Israel claimed to have killed more than 20 militants and captured 13 since the start of the ground offensive. Eight militant tunnels have been discovered and the Israeli forces are blowing them up one by one.
Despite the fighting in Gaza, militants managed to fire rockets into Israel throughout yesterday.
Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Israel is ready to “significantly widen” the ground operation and he has ordered troops to be ready for the next phase. An additional 18,000 army reservists are being drafted.
An Israeli military source said Israel’s ground offensive took Hamas and the Islamic Jihad by surprise and so far there has been no significant opposition.
Mr Netanyahu said he ordered the ground assault after Israel had agreed to the Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire but Hamas refused.
The aim of the operation he said was to damage militant tunnels from Gaza to Israel-tunnels that could not be destroyed from the air.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri warned that Israel will pay a heavy price for the invasion. “Gaza will be the graveyard of the occupation soldiers, and these are not slogans. Time will reveal Netanyahu’s cowardice. He will pay the price.”
Tunnels
The Israeli leadership had been contemplating a ground invasion for more than a week. It appears that two factors tipped the balance on Thursday night; the Hamas rejection of a ceasefire and the pre-dawn infiltration into southern Israel by 13 militants via an offensive tunnel dug under the border.
Israel says Hamas has a dozen or so of these under-border tunnels under various stages of construction and was unprepared to leave such strategic assets intact ahead of a ceasefire. Troops are also operating against rocket-launching sites and are conducting searches in mosques and other locations where Israeli intelligence says projectiles are stored.
US secretary of state John Kerry told Mr Netanyahu that Washington strongly supports Israel’s right to defend itself against threats posed by the Gaza tunnels dug into Israel. Although Egypt is continuing its efforts to forge a truce, significant differences remain between Cairo and Hamas representatives, who, from the beginning preferred Turkey and Qatar as mediators. It is also clear Israel will be reluctant to agree to a ceasefire until the ground offensive has run its course.
Israel yesterday cut its diplomatic representation in Turkey to a minimum after violent protests in front of Israel’s missions in Ankara and Istanbul.
