Israel announced that the war with Hamas had entered a “new phase,” with its infantry maintaining operations in Gaza instead of withdrawing after the raid.
“The ground in Gaza is shaking. We attack both ground and underground targets. The units have received very clear orders: continue to fight until further instructions,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on October 28, after Israel deployed infantry to attack locally in the northern Gaza Strip the night before and had not yet withdrawn its troops.
Mr. Gallant affirmed that the army is ready to protect the Israeli people “on all fronts,” including the northern and central border areas of the country.
After a meeting on the same day with top Israeli security officials, including the two intelligence agencies Mossad and Shin Bet, Mr. Gallant determined that the war with Hamas had four main goals at the same time: military rescuing children news, civil and humanitarian assistance.
Israel organized two local raids in midweek, targeting Hamas bases in the northern and central Gaza Strip, but both quickly withdrew to the other side of the border after a few hours. On October 27, Israel announced that it would expand its ground operations but did not confirm that this was a full-scale attack.
Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, confirmed that infantry entered the northern Gaza Strip overnight with a coordinated combat formation including infantry, armor, engineers and artillery. He said the units suffered no casualties and continued to stand and fight in the Gaza Strip on October 28.
The Israeli army did not reveal the specific target of this attack and whether they intended to control the field for a long time or not. This force declared that it considered the entire city of Gaza a “battlefield”, and warned that all residential areas in northern Gaza were no longer safe and called on civilians to evacuate immediately.
Mr. Hagari continued to call on civilians in the northern Gaza Strip to move south, past the Wadi Gaza canal area in the central region. Israel announced that it would transfer food, clean water and medicine to a safe area in the Gaza Strip but did not announce a specific plan.
The IDF is gathering more than 300,000 soldiers with tanks, armored vehicles and heavy combat vehicles near the Gaza Strip, preparing for a large-scale campaign against the area. The IDF has repeatedly stated that the ground offensive campaign can help them achieve their goal of “eliminating Hamas” despite the risk of heavy casualties.
Hamas, the force controlling the Gaza Strip, on October 7 suddenly attacked Israel, causing the country to respond. Fighting between the two sides has left more than 9,100 people dead and more than 25,000 injured as of October 28.
