The Israeli army began signaling the forthcoming extension of its ground operation to the south of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, November 15 – although it has also said that the government has not yet made the decision to start this next phase of the war. The air force, like in the early days of the conflict in the north of Gaza, dropped leaflets urging the villagers of Bani Suheila to seek shelter away from their town on the outskirts of the main southern city, Khan Yunis – Bani Suheila borders a road leading straight to the Israeli border.

That same night, the army shelled a building in this village, where some of the approximately 400,000 displaced people who fled the north of the Gaza Strip have sought refuge, sleeping in private homes, gas stations with empty pumps and in the streets. Eleven members of one family were killed and dozens injured, including children, according to the Associated Press. On Saturday, the director of Khan Yunis's Nasser hospital said 26 people had died in another strike on three buildings in this poor, partially rural city with poor infrastructure.

Since Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, the army has been regularly shelling Khan Yunis while calling on the 1 million civilians of Gaza City to take refuge in this narrow agricultural outskirt. Warning leaflets were dropped into the north in the early days of the war, well before the bulk of Israeli infantry troops moved in at the end of October.

On November 15, Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant reiterated that the ground operation would include the north and south of the Strip, and that the IDF "will strike Hamas wherever it is." Negotiations for the release of dozens of Israeli hostages held by Hamas are continuing, notably through Qatar, and could impose a ceasefire that Israel promises will be short-lived.

"The important thing is to expand our area of control. This means the areas in which they [Hamas] cannot carry out major attacks, and in which we have managed to break down their defensive system (...) In northern Gaza, we are approaching this goal. But now we need to expand this area," said former national security advisor Yaakov Amidror.

"When are we going to continue our operations to the south?" he continued. "Apparently, when they saw we were coming, the Hamas officials, the commanders, fled, instead of fighting (...) Many of them are in the South, we can't let them escape and we'll have to continue military operations there. I don't know when the decision will be made, because it's all very much linked to the hostages, but it's going to happen."

You have 35% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.