Israel on Friday confirmed its troops carried out their first ground raids in the Gaza Strip against Hamas targets, as the Israeli military prepares for what looks to be a much larger incursion after it warned more than 1 million Gaza residents to flee the northern section of the strip immediately.
Israeli Defense Forces officials said in social media posts that the raids took place over the past day. It’s not clear if Israel suffered any casualties in the operations or how much fighting took place in Gaza.
“During the last day, the IDF forces carried out local raids in the territory of the Gaza Strip to complete the effort to cleanse the area of terrorists and weapons. In these operations, an effort was also made to locate missing people,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, an IDF spokesperson, said in a social media post.
IDF officials said in other social media posts that its soldiers “collected evidence that will aid in locating hostages,” a reference to the roughly 150 people that Hamas is believed to be holding prisoner. At least some of those captives are U.S. citizens, the Biden administration has confirmed.
Reuters reported Friday that Israeli tanks and infantry units were employed during the ground raids in Gaza. The raid may be the first salvo in a much larger operation. Israel has been amassing troops and equipment along its border with Gaza in the days since last weekend’s surprise Hamas attack, which killed more than 1,300 Israelis and at least 27 Americans.
Until Friday, Israel’s military response has mostly come in the form of air strikes against alleged Hamas targets across the densely packed Gaza Strip, home to more than 2 million people. The strip is politically controlled by Hamas, which is financially propped up and supported by Iran.
Ahead of a full-scale ground operation, Israel warned residents to leave the northern section of Gaza by midnight Saturday.
The United Nations, multiple other nations and leading humanitarian groups have blasted that evacuation warning. They have said such an evacuation simply isn’t feasible. And even if it were, they say, the humanitarian consequences of moving so many people in such a short period of time, in such an already impoverished area, would be devastating.
“The noose around the civilian population in Gaza is tightening. How are 1.1 million people supposed to move across a densely populated warzone in less than 24 hours?” Martin Griffiths, the U.N.’s emergency relief coordinator, said in a social media post Friday. “I shudder to think what the humanitarian consequences of the evacuation order would be.”
But Israel maintains it wants to give fair warning to innocent civilians.
“The IDF will protect the people of Israel. Hamas indiscriminately slaughtered innocent Israeli civilians. Now Hamas is hiding behind the people in Gaza,” the IDF said in a social media post Friday. “That’s why we’re asking them to move. Because the IDF will protect the people of Israel.”
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.