Israel launches ground offensive in Gaza
The Israeli army has expanded control over the Netzarim corridor, through which Palestinian families could return to the north of the enclave.
BarcelonaThe Israeli army has announced it has launched a ground offensive in the central and southern Gaza Strip. According to a statement from the Israeli Defense Forces, the military operation has expanded Israel's control over the Netzarim Corridor, which divides Gaza into two parts, and aims to create a "partial buffer zone" between the north and south of the enclave. Israeli forces now claim to control up to half of this artery. Furthermore, Israel claims it has prepared a brigade from the south of the country for upcoming operations in Gaza.
Israel He had retired from the Netzarim corridor last month. to allow displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza. Therefore, the Israeli operation is not only a violation of the ceasefire agreed on January 19, but also once again divides the enclave into two parts.
Following the army's statement, Defense Minister Israel Katz sent a message to the "residents of Gaza" via a video shared on social media, threatening them with "total devastation." "The evacuation of the population from the combat zones will soon resume, and what will follow will be much more serious: you will pay the full price. Return to the hostages and eliminate Hamas: the alternative is total devastation," he said.
Hamas called the army's incursion into the Netzarim corridor a "new and dangerous violation" of the ceasefire in a statement.
UN Attack
The ground operation comes the day after Israel broke the ceasefire in a wave of bombings that killed more than 400 Palestinians, and the same day it launched an attack on United Nations facilities. One person was killed and five others were wounded in a bombing attack on a UN building that served as a residence for foreign staff. The six people, all foreign staff, have been taken to a hospital in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. According to the UN, the deceased was a Bulgarian national. Among the wounded, one is in critical condition and the rest are in serious condition.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has stressed that the locations of all UN premises "are known to the parties to the conflict, who are bound by international law to maintain their absolute inviolability." With this attack, the United Nations has lost 280 of its staff members in the Gaza war.
A new front in the West Bank
As the army reoccupies the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has warned that a new front could open in the West Bank, where he visited the armed forces' covert unit on Wednesday. "As we wage a fierce war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, we are aware of the possibility of a larger and more powerful front opening here," he said.
He made these statements after the armed forces announced on Tuesday the expansion of their massive "anti-terrorist" raid in Nablus, in the northern West Bank. Furthermore, since January, Israel has maintained the operation dubbed "Iron Wall" in the refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams, where more than 50 people have died and 35,000 have been displaced, according to UN data.
