Military expert Colonel Hatem Karim Al-Falahi said that the new Israeli incursion into the city of Khan Yunis (southern Gaza Strip) comes in the context of searching for resistance leaders or detained Israeli prisoners.
Al-Falahi’s comment to Al-Jazeera came after the Israeli occupation army began a ground incursion with air and artillery cover in the Al-Manara area, south of Khan Yunis.
The military expert believes that the sudden entry of the occupation army into this area was due to “security purposes related to detained prisoners,” and he cited aerial and artillery bombardment and a rush of military vehicles as evidence.
He indicated that the area witnessed Israeli ground incursions on more than one occasion, reaching the Hamad residential towers.
The military expert refers to the incursions that took place in December 2023, in addition to two other incursions last July and August.
In the northern Gaza Strip, Al-Falahi said that the forced displacement operations, the besiegement of hospitals, the use of explosive barrels, and the destruction of everything that leads to the survival of the population represent the actual implementation of the Israeli “generals’ plan,” especially in the Jabalia camp.
Military experts say that Israel is moving forward with implementing the “generals’ plan,” which stipulates besieging residents in the northern Gaza Strip and displacing them in order to impose a “closed military zone.”
On the northern front, the military expert explained that the Israeli army opened new axes in its ground incursion into southern Lebanon, relying on the 164th and 36th Divisions.
Al-Falahi stated that the Israeli army is trying to expand into the Aitaroun area “in order to prevent this area and others from interfering in the encirclement operations taking place on the town of Aita al-Shaab.”
He warned of another Israeli ground development in the Khiam – Kafr Kila area, where it is being subjected to air and artillery bombardment, in light of the efforts to separate the Bekaa from the area south of the Litani River and control that important area.
The Litani River extends 170 kilometers from its source in the east to its mouth in the west, and is about 30 kilometers from the Lebanese-Israeli border.
Al-Falahi said that the Israeli bombing of the southern suburb of Beirut and other civilian areas is linked to the losses incurred by the occupation army in the ground operation, and in order to force the Lebanese side to accept the terms of the settlement and end the war.
On Thursday evening, the Israeli army revealed that 57 officers and soldiers had been killed on the Lebanon front since the outbreak of the confrontation, a day after Hezbollah announced that it had caused 70 Israeli deaths and more than 600 wounded among the ranks of occupation officers and soldiers.
The party indicated in a statement that 28 Merkava tanks, 4 military bulldozers, an armored vehicle and a troop carrier were destroyed, in addition to the downing of 4 drones.
