This is what Israel’s Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi says when he said on Sunday evening that the invasion has started.
Chief of the General Staff Halevi said that the offensive in the south will follow the same pattern as the offensive in northern Gaza.
He said that the offensive has been launched just north of Khan Younis.
The aim is for the effort to be extended to every area in Gaza where Hamas has a presence.
So far, there have been no reports on how the matches are going on the ground.
Tormod Heier, professor at the Norwegian Defense Academy, says that an invasion of the south will be even worse for civilians than in the north.
– It will be worse than in northern Gaza. Partly because the population is more vulnerable to attack since they have already been exposed to almost two months of bombing. And partly because the Hamas soldiers follow a population that is squeezed together in an even smaller area, says Heier.
Heavy airstrikes
After the week-long ceasefire ended on Friday, Israel has carried out intense airstrikes for three days, reports say BBC.
Residents of Khan Younis in southern Gaza say the attacks are the heaviest they have experienced during the nearly two-month war.
According to the health authorities in Gaza, over 500 people have been killed since Israel resumed the bombing. Since the war began, over 15,500 people have been killed in Gaza.
Israel attacked buildings in Khan Younis with planes on Saturday.
– Major infrastructure destruction
Chief Landmakt at the War School, Sigbjørn Halsne, says that it is difficult to say how a ground invasion of southern Gaza will take the form.
– They say the invasion must follow the same pattern as in the north. Then it will involve combined banking units combined with airstrikes. And a very methodical advance that goes into district by district, he says.
Halse believes that the Israeli forces will seek to isolate area after area. As in the north, quite large infrastructure destruction will follow, he says.
Halsne says that Israel is conducting an operation with three objectives.
– One is to free the hostages. The second is to destroy Hamas in military capacity. And the third is to destroy Hamas’ ability to rule Gaza, i.e. their political infrastructure.
The sky above Khan Younis was illuminated by Israeli light bombs on Sunday evening.
Photo: Reuters
Closer to people in the south
In addition to the many people living in the south, southern Gaza is also full of people who have fled the fighting in the north.
Halsne says that it can be assumed to make the operations even more dangerous for civilians.
Israel has said that residents of the south should go to special zones, but it will be even more difficult after parts of the area are now being invaded.
– Then we can also have the same problems around hospitals that we saw in the north, says Halsne.
James Elder from Unicef describes the Nasser Medical Hospital in Khan Younis as a “war zone”.
2023-12-03 20:59:05
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