The Israeli army announced on Tuesday a plan to what it described as “deepening” its military operation in the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, where battles with the Palestinian resistance are intensifying.
Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said that the army added an entire battalion and engineering forces to continue deepening operations in Khan Yunis.
Losses among the ranks of the occupation army have increased over the past few days, with Israel expanding its ground operation in the north and south of the Gaza Strip, especially in Khan Yunis.
The spokesman added in his daily press conference that returning the Israeli detainees in Gaza alive is a “central goal” of the war, in what appears to be a response to the mounting demands to conclude a new prisoner exchange deal with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), especially by the families of the detainees.
In turn, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant confirmed that the Israeli military operation will expand to include other areas in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Channel 12 quoted Gallant as saying during an inspection of one of the military sites on the Gaza border, “Khan Yunis has become the new capital of terrorism, and we will not stop working there until we liquidate senior Hamas leaders,” as he put it.
Galant vowed that Israel would continue its war on the Gaza Strip until it “fully achieves its goals,” stressing that “victory requires more time,” he said.
This evening, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), announced that it had targeted a Merkava tank, a troop carrier, and an Israeli bulldozer with “Al-Yassin 105” shells in Khan Yunis, as well as detonating an explosive device with an Israeli force barricaded in a house east of the city, killing and wounding its members.
Northern Front
On the Lebanese front, Hagari announced in his conference that the occupation army targeted what he described as “terrorist infrastructure,” weapons depots, and missile launch sites in southern Lebanon.
The spokesman said that Hezbollah “continues to act as a shield for Hamas and thus exposes Lebanon and its citizens to danger,” as he put it, in a reiteration of Israeli officials’ continuous threats to the party to discourage escalation.
Since the beginning of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Israeli occupation army have been exchanging cross-border shelling, and each side announces the infliction of deaths and injuries on the other side.
This comes as the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip continues for the 74th day, leaving nearly 20,000 martyrs and more than 52,000 wounded, most of whom are women and children, in addition to massive destruction of residential buildings, vital facilities, and hospitals.