10/28/23
By Hal Turner
IDF's first major operation: Israeli ground forces enter North and Central Gaza - Fierce fighting with Hamas - 150 targets hit
Heavy fighting is taking place between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters in central and northern Gaza. Israelis and Palestinians are reportedly fighting in the area near Beit Hanoun and east of Maghazi in central Gaza.
Gunfire, tanks, artillery and airstrikes are heard. According to reports, Israeli troops remain in Gaza until now, 11 hours since thousands of Israeli soldiers as well as hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles crossed the border fence last night in Northern Gaza.
It appears that the Israeli attack took place in three areas in northern Gaza.
Fighting between the IDF and Hamas fighters north of Al-Bureij and possibly near Beit Hanoun continues according to local reports
There are clashes in the Bureij/Juhr al-Dik and Beit Lahiya areas.
Israel's military announced that it hit 150 underground targets in the northern Gaza Strip overnight Friday into Saturday.
"Overnight, Israeli military warplanes struck 150 underground targets in the northern Gaza Strip, including tunnels used by terrorists, underground combat facilities and other underground infrastructure."
"Several Hamas terrorists were killed," the Israeli military said in a statement released after a night of heavy Israeli shelling in the Palestinian enclave.
At the same time, they announced that they killed the head of the Hamas air force in the Gaza Strip.
According to the statement, Atsam Abu Rafa was one of the planners of the October 7 attack, leading forces that infiltrated the Gaza Strip by parachuting and directing drone attacks that hit IDF positions. Abu Rafa was reportedly killed in the airstrike, pictured in the following video…(at source)
The shelling of Gaza continues
Last night's bombardment by Israeli forces from land, sea and air...was "the worst since the beginning of the war, in three weeks" and put a new phase in the war between the Israeli army and Hamas...
According to them, the shelling was continuous in the eastern part of the Strip, mainly in the northern area from Jabaliya to Beit Lahia and Beit Lahoun but also east of Deir al-Ballah, in the center of the Gaza Strip and in Khan Younis in south...
There has been no official death toll from the health ministry so far, but medical sources in the area told an AFP reporter they feared the death toll would be very high, after the Israeli army's shelling escalated last night.
Sporadic explosions could be heard in the morning as the strikes from aircraft, artillery and sea continued. However, the intensity of the strikes has decreased compared to the night, noted a correspondent inside the Gaza Strip.
"Thick smoke and haze covered much of the Palestinian enclave," said another journalist, in Ashkelon, in southern Israel, about ten kilometers away.
The long hours of shelling, the non-stop blows, made the windows and the ground shake in Ashkelon during the night...
Smoke and the smell of burning objects had reached the southern Israeli cities of Ashkelon and Sderot by sunrise as fighter jets continued to fly low and explosions were heard from Gaza.
Hamas announced last night that fighting was ongoing between members of its military arm and Israeli army units in the Gaza Strip.
"We are facing Israeli ground incursions in Beit Hanoun (north-east), Beit Lahiya (north-west) and al-Burayj (central). Fierce fighting is underway," the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades summarized.
An Israeli army spokesman told AFP on Friday night that Israeli forces were operating "inside the Gaza Strip, as they did" the day before. Israeli army units entered the small Palestinian enclave before withdrawing.
The fighting followed the Israeli military's announcement that it had "in a very significant way" intensified its strikes in the Gaza Strip and that it would "expand" its ground operations.
Israeli shelling, as recorded by cameras and cameras, yesterday reached a level not seen in three weeks...
Telecommunications and internet access were cut off in Gaza, according to the authorities of Hamas, which has ruled the enclave since 2007. AFP journalists found they could only communicate in areas where there was a signal from Israeli telecoms antennas. .
Hamas yesterday called on the international community to "act now to stop the Israeli bombardment", while at the same time saying it was "ready" to repel a ground invasion. Also, the Palestinian Islamist movement reported that a "barrage of rockets" was launched against targets in Israel.
Last night, the sky in the Gaza Strip was orange-red, as if it had caught fire from the explosions. (excerpts)
Numerous photos and videos at source:
https://warnews247.gr/chersaies-dynameis-tou-israil-bikan-se-voreia-kai-kentriki-gaza-sfodres-maches-me-ti-chamas-o-idf-eplixe-150-ypogeious-stochous/
