The only other main road south through Gaza is situated close to the coast and can be covered by gunships in the Mediterranean. The focus now is on the south - on the destruction of Hamas - which it is hoped will provide a deterrent to Hezbollah,” said Ms Mizrahi. “After that Israel will have to rethink our strategy in the north to make sure we don’t repeat the mistake we made with Hamas.” It was only after this incident that overwhelming artillery bombardments and air strikes were called in by the IDF. There’s absolutely no ground advance inside the residential neighbourhoods in the Gaza Strip. What happened on Salah al-Din Street was the incursion of a few occupation army tanks and a bulldozer,” said Salama Maarouf, the head of the Hamas government office in Gaza.

Amad back training on the grass at Carrington after injury

Immediately after Oct 7, many within the IDF and wider Israeli intelligence community argued for a preemptive strike on Hezbollah, she added. Now, however, with US aircraft carriers within striking distance, a “Gaza first” strategy has been adopted. Israeli shelling has expanded in recent days, including a strike on Saturday on Jabal Safi, a mountainous area that lies about 25 km (15 miles) into Lebanon. The IDF learns from its mistakes and that is why you have seen air strikes over such a period; they are preparing the ground, clearing it in the areas where they know they will have to fight,” one former military intelligence analyst told The Telegraph on Monday. Bunker-busting bombs which can penetrate 100 feet below the surface were used on Friday, lighting up the skies for miles around before the troops moved in over the weekend.After weeks of heavy bombing and several night raids designed to test Hamas resistance, disarm booby traps and roll the field, Israel now has troops dug in on the strip and appears to be trying to draw a noose around Hamas by cutting the strip in two. Only the IDF knows fully what is going on but it seems slow and deliberate,” said Sima Shine of the INSS. “I would characterise it as a cautious, step-by-step approach from a military perspective.”

step-by-step’ push into Gaza so far and what could come next Israel’s ‘step-by-step’ push into Gaza so far and what could come

Hamas itself reported “heavy fighting” in northern Gaza but said Israeli tanks had retreated from the southern outskirts of Gaza City. Iran is the problem; they are happy and they are celebrating,” said Ms Shine. “We were focused on the nuclear threat and became distracted from the conventional military build-up via its proxies. Our exclusive video captured Amad running out on the grass at our base on Monday morning, the first time he has been out there since the season got under way.Ultimately, Hamas would be destroyed or expelled and Gaza would be run by surrounding Arab nations, perhaps with UN involvement, until the Palestinian Authority could take over, he suggested. Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman, declined to comment on specifics but confirmed Israel had “expanded the activity” of its forces within Gaza, bringing in “infantry, engineering corps, armoured tanks and artillery corps”. The overwhelming fear of contracting an illness or an excessive focus on symptoms are debilitating conditions, exacerbated by Dr Google The entire place here is full of people. No one in the entire neighbourhood has left. We are staying,” he told Reuters by phone. “Whether tanks or planes, there will not be another displacement (of Palestinians). That is our decision even if that will mean our martyrdom (death).”