Thousands of soldiers accompanied hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles as Israel's military begin its ground attack into Gaza on Friday night, entering the northern border near the city of Beit Hanoun and facing heavy and difficult fighting, Israeli media reported.
The military is expanding its efforts inside Gaza to dismantle the Hamas terrorist infrastructure, Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for Israel Defense Forces, said Friday night, according to The Jerusalem Post.
"In the last few hours, we have severely increased our attacks in Gaza," Hagari said during a press briefing, noting that attacks were taking place from the air, sea, and land.
The Jerusalem Post posted a video showing commandos from Shayetet 13, Israel's elite navy unit, carrying out a targeted raid by sea in the southern Gaza Strip,, destroying Hamas terrorist infrastructure used by the organization’s naval commando force, the IDF said.
Haaretz reported Gaza residents witnessing Israeli forces entering from the north and i24 News reported that antitank missiles were fired on IDF tanks near the border.
Hagari added that throughout the afternoon and evening, rockets were fired at Israel from Hezbollah in the north, but no injuries were reported, according to The Jerusalem Post. The IDF returned fire and shot and killed terrorists trying to enter the country from the north. Hagari stressed that anyone attempting to infiltrate the country would be eliminated.
The IDF had been threatening a full ground invasion for more than two weeks since Hamas terrorists killed more than 1,400 Israelis on Oct. 7. On Thursday, the IDF sent troops inside Gaza to strike Hamas targets. The troops entered and exited the strip in the same evening. There were no injuries.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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