Israeli forces conducted a limited ground raid into Gaza, the military said on Thursday, ahead of their upcoming invasion.

The incursion, which included sending infantry forces and tanks into the northern part of the Gaza Strip, appears to be the most significant ground invasion into the enclave since war broke out earlier this month following the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a video that showed tanks and armored vehicles moving on a road and going through a gap in a fence, presumably along the border.

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Israeli forces are expected to begin a full-scale military incursion into Gaza, while the limited raid was conducted to improve the conditions they'll face when the incursion begins in full. The urban landscape of Gaza, the dense population, Hamas's web of tunnels, and its desire to embed itself within the civilian population all contribute to the difficulty Israeli forces will face in the invasion.

"IDF forces from Division 162 carried out a limited raid tonight," IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said. "The raid is part of our preparations for the next stages of combat. Through this, we deal with threats, eliminate terrorists, dismantle charges, and neutralize ambushes - in order to enable the next stages. The raid lasted several hours, and the forces left at the end. There were no casualties to our forces."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "We are preparing for a ground incursion," during a televised address on Wednesday night.

“We are raining down hellfire on Hamas,” he added, noting that they have “already eliminated thousands of terrorists — and this is only the beginning.”

Israel has launched thousands of airstrikes since the Oct. 7 terror attacks, pulverizing much of Gaza's infrastructure and leading to the deaths of thousands of civilians. The IDF urged 1.1 million civilians in northern Gaza to move south but has also launched strikes in the southern part of the country. The Hamas-controlled Palestinian health ministry has claimed that Israeli strikes have killed more than 6,400 people and injured 17,000, but those numbers cannot be independently verified, and they have already been found to have exaggerated the death toll in one strike that they blamed on Israel but was actually from a separate terrorist organization in Gaza.

Israel's strikes have also led to what experts believe could become a humanitarian catastrophe.

Comparatively, Hamas has fired more than 7,000 rockets from Gaza into Israel, targeting civilian communities, according to the IDF. The vast majority are intercepted by Israel's sophisticated multi-layered air defense systems. About 500-600 of those rockets landed within Gaza after mishaps that have also resulted in the deaths of Gaza civilians.

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Israeli leaders have said their goal is to destroy Hamas, the Iranian-supported terrorist organization that has been the de facto government in Gaza since Israel withdrew in 2005, following their election to power shortly after.

Israel and Hamas have engaged in short but deadly wars over the last nearly two decades, but Israeli officials have declared that Hamas's reign is no longer an option after thousands of militants poured into southern Israel and killed roughly 1,400 people, the vast majority of whom were civilians.