ISRAEL has launched an “unprecedented bombardment” on Hamas and confirmed they are “expanding operations” on the ground tonight.
The strip, which has apparently been cut off from all communication, is reportedly being blitzed relentlessly by air.
Gaza faces bombardment from land, air and sea as Israeli forces appear to be launching the full scale attack this evening
Al Jazeera footage appears to show the attacks on Gaza from one of the few journalists able to broadcast from inside the strip
Twitter/idfonlineFootage appeared to show streams of tanks, drones, and jets wiping out Hamas targets last night in Israel’s second night raid[/caption]
Netanyahu‘s air and ground forces are ramping up their resources on the ground, Israel’s chief military spokesperson said this evening.
“In addition to the attacks carried out in the last few days, ground forces are expanding their operations tonight,” Daniel Hagari said.
An IDF spokesman also said: “We are ready to defend in all arenas to protect Israel’s security interests and committed to the national mission of returning all the abductees.”
Tank fire and “unusual, intense and sustained” military activity has been heard for several hours, according to CNN.
Footage shared by Al Jazeera on Twitter appears to show the renewed attacks on Gaza as a journalist cowers from the blast live on air.
And UK defence sources did not deny when asked by The Sun that an Israeli ground strike could be imminent.
Israeli Naval Vessels are reportedly also Shelling the Northern Gaza Strip.
Hamas has claimed that Israel “cut communications and most of the internet” across the Gaza Strip.
And they accused of trying to “massacre [Gaza] with bloody retaliatory strikes from the air, land and sea”.
Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallants today said they expected to launch its invasion of Gaza soon, destroying Hamas’ underground web of tunnels.
Al Jazeera reporter Tareq Abu Azzoum claimed the strip had been completely cut off from communication with the rest of the world.
They said: “We don’t know anything about what’s happening in other districts in the territory. We don’t know how many victims there are.
“We only hear the bombing everywhere, but we don’t know anything about the victims, about the situation on the ground,” according to the Times of Gaza.
“Please, if you can hear us, send that message to the world that we are now isolated in Gaza. We don’t have any phone signals. We do not have any internet connections.”
Defence forces have spent almost two weeks at the border, waiting for the green light to wipe out Hamas in what is likely to be a difficult and bloody conflict.
It comes after Israel launched its second “targeted” nighttime raid into besieged Gaza as it prepared for the full-scale ground invasion.
Columns of tanks backed by fighter jets, helicopters and drones smashed through border defences, wiping out Hamas terror targets and infrastructure, the IDF claimed.
And on Wednesday night Israeli tanks stormed into northern Gaza in a well-publicised move, but the reality is the army has been doing smaller raids on a nightly basis that have not been widely spoken about.
Troops have been carrying out what is known in the business as “shaping operations”, in which they prepare for war — taking out enemy communications and ammunition dumps.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to “extract the full price from those murders”, following Hamas’ brutal invasion on October 7.
Officials are also desperately trying to free some 200 Israeli hostages being held by Hamas inside Gaza.
It’s feared many of the captives are being held in Hamas’ mysterious 311-mile maze of underground tunnels that freed hostage Yocheved Lifshitz described as a “spider web”.
EPATanks and troops have reportedly started pouring into the war torn territory to destroy the terrorist group[/caption]