BREAKING NEWS: Israel has launched an invasion into Gaza with a ground operation underway following days of airstrikes

The casualties on both sides could quickly escalate, this is the worst outcome for the civilian population of #Gaza.

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23: 19 - LONDON (Bywire News) - MORE AS WE GET IT. THIS IS A LIVE SITUATION AND PAGE. REFRESH FOR UPDATES! 

 

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00:25 - According to Israeli media (Amichai Stein is a correspondent for KAN, Israel’s public broadcaster), an IDF spokesperson told his colleague that ground troops did not enter the Gaza strip:

 

00:24 - GUARDIAN - Again, there is still confusion over whether this escalation signals the launch of a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza by Israel.

Journalist Anshel Pfeffer, who reports for Haaretz and the Economist, tweeted:

Some kind of Israeli ground offensive has began in the last hour in the Gaza Strip. It’s unclear at present what scale of forces, whether it’s the four brigades that were in staging-areas or a smaller force.

No confirmed details yet but this doesn’t like a large-scale incursion in to Gaza quite yet but something smaller.

Conflicting reports from different sources right now over whether the “ground attack” is actual boots on the ground or just ground forces (tanks, artillery) firing in to the Gaza Strip. We should know soon enough

 

THE POST - 00:10- Israeli troops have crossed into the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said early Friday, as artillery, tanks and war planes joined in a withering assault on the Palestinian enclave, and the Israeli military readied at least three brigades of troops for action, raising the prospect of an all-out ground invasion.

Just after midnight, the Israeli military announced that air and ground forces had joined in an attack on Gaza, but a military spokeswoman did not detail the number or type of troops that had crossed the border.

 

 

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GUARDIAN; 23:56 -

This week’s violence between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers has killed 103 Palestinians, including 27 children, and wounded 530 people in the impoverished territory. Israeli airstrikes have pounded apartments, blown up cars and toppled buildings, the Associated Press reports.

And Gaza’s hospitals were already struggling:

“Before the military attacks, we had major shortages and could barely manage with the second (virus) wave,” said Gaza Health Ministry official Abdelatif al-Hajj by phone as bombs thundered in the background. “Now casualties are coming from all directions, really critical casualties. I fear a total collapse.”

Gutted by years of conflict, the impoverished health care system in the territory of more than 2 million people has always been vulnerable. Bitter division between Hamas and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority and a nearly 14-year blockade imposed by Israel with Egypt’s help also has strangled the infrastructure. There are shortages of equipment and supplies such as blood bags, surgical lamps, anaesthesia and antibiotics.

Personal protection gear, breathing machines and oxygen tanks remain even scarcer.
Last month, Gaza’s daily coronavirus cases and deaths hit record highs, fuelled by the spread of a variant that first appeared in Britain, relaxation of movement restrictions during Ramadan, and deepening public apathy and intransigence.

 

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On Thursday, the US Defence Department flew about 120 personnel out of Israel as a precaution in light of the ongoing violence there, AP reported, citing Pentagon press secretary John Kirby, who said the American personnel departed on Thursday on a US Air Force C-17 transport plane.

They had been in Israel to plan for a future bilateral exercise. Kirby said the conference was scheduled to end this week but the exit was accelerated by a few days.

 

23:56: DISTRESSING VIDEO FROM GAZA - LIKELY AIR ATTACK - UNCONFIRMED - 

 

23:51 - #GAZA VIDEO: 

 

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(22:13 GMT)
Israeli forces attack northern Gaza, hundreds driven from their homes
Al Jazeera correspondent Safwat al-Kahlout, reporting from Gaza, described a sudden and huge wave of Israeli attacks from the air, artillery and tanks concentrated in the north of the Gaza Strip.

“We could hear lots of explosions,” al-Kahlout said.

Following the Israeli strikes, there were calls for ambulances for people who were injured. Ambulance services had difficulty reaching the area because roads linking to the north were damaged by the Israeli bombardment, al-Kahlout said.

Hundreds of families were driven from their homes and forced to take shelter from the bombing, he said.

 

 

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted in Hebrew a few minutes later: I said that we would charge a very heavy price from Hamas. We do it and we will continue to do it with great intensity. The last word was not said and this operation will continue as long as necessary. We give one hundred percent backing to the police, the Border Police and the rest of the security forces to restore law and order to the cities of Israel - we will not tolerate anarchy.

 

This is just in from the Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent, Oliver Holmes:

"Israel appears to have launched its most intense attack on Gaza so far. Hazem Balousha, a journalist in Gaza city, said residents heard intense bombardments and attacks to the north of the strip since just after midnight. “It lasted half an hour,” he said. “Very loud; buildings were shaking. My building was really shaking.”"

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