By Nick Parker
CRACK Israeli special forces units have spearheaded the first ground offensive into besieged Gaza.
Super-elite Sayeret Matkal soldiers are believed to have led tanks and infantry into Hamas lairs to hunt down terrorist rocket crews and search for hostages.
Israeli tanks and troops have already begun conducting raids inside Gaza[/caption]
Smoke rises above Ashkelon near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip[/caption]
An Israeli battle tank heads to the border of Gaza to prepare for the invasion[/caption]
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, meets with the US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin earlier today[/caption]
Smoke rises over Rafah, in Gaza, after an Israeli airstrike[/caption]
The mission was the first to probe Hamas defences ahead of an anticipated full-scale ground invasion as early as tomorrow.
An Israeli defence source told The Sun: “It is safe to assume that special forces would have been involved in this stage of the operation – it is just the start.”
Modelled on Britain’s SAS, the Sayeret Matkal are the prime special forces unit of Israel and experts in hostage recovery.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas as the army prepares for an expected ground invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu delivered the threat in a nationally televised address late on Friday.
Israel has been pounding Gaza with airstrikes since Hamas militants carried out an unprecedented cross-border attack last Saturday, killing over 1,300 people in a brutal rampage.
Israel on Friday morning ordered half of Gaza’s population to evacuate their homes.
Families in cars, trucks and donkey carts packed with blankets and possessions were seen streaming down a main road out of Gaza City.
Netanyahu said in a national address on TV that Israel will “never forget these horrific acts of our enemies.”
He added: “We are striking at our enemies with unprecedented might – this is just the beginning. We will end this war stronger than ever.”
“We will destroy Hamas,” he added, saying Israel has widespread international support for the operation.
Israel’s military announced tonight that they had been carrying out “localised raids” into Gaza for the last 24 hours to “cleanse the area of terrorists and weapons”.
Infantry and tank units took part in a mission to locate rocket crews and hostages, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said in a televised briefing.
But it is understood the full-scale invasion has not yet begun.
The latest Israel-Hamas war has claimed at least 3,200 lives on both sides since Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on October 7.
For days on end, Israeli troops have been pounding terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip, sparking chilling threats of revenge from both Iran and Hezbollah.
It comes after days of air strikes that have been successfully wiping out its Hamas kill list, an ex-British colonel has revealed.
Colonel Richard Kemp told The Sun: “I’ve watched an artillery battery firing mission against terrorists in Gaza yesterday.”
The former commander of troops in Afghanistan added: “And so far I believe that the IDF operations have been very successful.
“They’ve been making their way down [their] target list of terrorist leaders.”
Kemp also noted Israel’s success in wiping out “terrorist infrastructure”, including communication centres, ammunition dumps and missile launchers.
Nethanyahu has vowed that “every Hamas member is marked by death”.
As many as 1,800 Palestinians have reportedly died in the bombardment of Gaza, including hundreds of children.
Israel warned 1.1million people living in the north of the Gaza Strip to flee their homes ahead of an “imminent attack”.
Hamas has claimed 70 people, mostly women and children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike on convoys fleeing Gaza City.
It comes as Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah has insisted it is “fully prepared” to join Hamas in its bloody war with Israel.
Foreign powers have urged Hezbollah to stay put on the sidelines – but deputy chief Naim Qassem vowed to join “when the time comes for action”.
He told supporters gathered in the southern Beirut suburb: “Hezbollah knows its duties perfectly well. We are prepared and ready, fully ready, and be are following developments moment by moment.”
The group has already clashed with Israel across the Lebanese border multiple times in the past week.
Qassem added: “We will contribute to the confrontation within our plan… when the time comes for any action, we will carry it out.”
Now, Iran has joined in on the threats, warning that “new fronts” will open up if its “war crimes” in Gaza continue.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran’s foreign minister, said: “Naturally, with the continuation of Israeli war crimes and the humanitarian siege of Gaza and Palestine, any decision and possibility by other members of the resistance movement is probable.”
The resistant group he is referring to is made up of Hamas, Hezbollah and militant groups spread across Yemen, Iraq and Syria.
It comes as…
- More than 1,300 killed in Israel while Gaza death toll stands at almost 1,800
- Hamas terrorists’ twisted battle plans revealed
- UK to send warships, Marines & spy planes to help Israel
- Knifeman kills teacher in France on ‘Day of Jihad’
- Israeli commandos rescue 250 hostages from checkpoint
- Hero search teams find survivors of Hamas massacre alive 5 days on
- UK Jewish schools close over safety fears amid warning over anti-Israel demos
- The first rescue flight to the UK has taken off from Israel, the Foreign Office has confirmed.
As the bloody war rages into its seventh day, Israel has urged those living in Gaza City to flee their homes as the war-torn country aims to eradicate Hamas in revenge for its grisly weekend assault.
Leaflets were dropped in Gaza warning of an “imminent attack” and telling more than one million citizens to flee its northern parts as Israel’s military prepares to unleash their troops.
It sent panic rippling through civilians and emergency workers already struggling under Israeli airstrikes and total siege.
Panicked families have been pictured grabbing what’s left of their belongings and running to safety as the 24 hour countdown ticks on.
Israel’s military has been massing 360,000 soldiers on the border as it gets ready to discharge a huge ground offensive to crush Hamas’s strongholds.
In a hint the expected invasion is imminent, the IDF warned: “This evacuation is for your own safety.”
It added that Hamas militants are hiding inside a matrix of tunnels underneath the city and inside buildings where citizens live.
Israeli planes are dropping leaflets urging people to leave Gaza City[/caption]
A girl holds a leaflet dropped from Israel army planes, warning residents of an ‘imminent attack’[/caption]
Israel had warned civilians in Gaza to move to safer areas[/caption]
Palestinians loaded up their vehicles before heading to safer areas in the south[/caption]
The IDF said: “In the following days, the IDF will continue to operate significantly in Gaza City and make extensive efforts to avoid harming civilians.”
In the last 24 hours, at least 13 Israeli and foreign hostages being held in northern Gaza were killed in airstrikes, according to Palestinian authorities.
But Hamas has called on Gaza’s residents to stay in their homes as it dismissed Israeli’s warnings to flee as “fake propaganda”.
The terrorist group have fiercely ruled the territory since 2007 after ousting the rival Fatah movement.
Meanwhile, the founder of Hamas declared today to be a global day of rage against supporters of Israel – a so-called Day of Jihad.
Evil Khaled Mashal called for protests across the Muslim world in support of the Palestinians – saying he wanted their “blood and souls”.
In France, a teacher has been knifed to death by a man shouting “Allahu Akbar”.
And in China, an Israeli diplomat has been stabbed – while large crowds have attempted to storm the Israeli border with Jordan.
Across the West Bank, clashes erupted as thousands took to the streets on Friday to march in solidarity with the Palestinians fleeing Gaza.
Eleven people are reported to have been shot down by Israeli soldiers during the confrontations.
‘THIS IS CHAOS’
Inas Hamdan, an officer at the UN Palestinian refugee agency in Gaza City, said: “This is chaos, no one understands what to do.”
She said all the UN staff in Gaza City and northern Gaza had been told to evacuate south to Rafah.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has warned against a “second Nakba” catastrophe facing Palestinians after the Israeli army issued the evacuation warning.
The Nakba, or “catastrophe”, refers to some 760,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes during the 1948 war that coincided with Israel’s creation.
Meanwhile, Nebal Farsakh, a spokesman for the Palestinian Red Crescent in Gaza City, said there was no way more than one million people could be safely moved that fast.
She said: “Forget about food, forget about electricity, forget about fuel.
“The only concern now is just if you’re going to make it, if you’re going to live.
“What will happen to our patients? We have wounded, we have elderly, we have children who are in hospitals.”
Israel halted all deliveries of food, water, fuel and medicine to the tiny enclave after Hamas launched its assault on Saturday.
On Wednesday, Gaza’s only power station ran out of fuel and shut down – leaving only lights powered by scattered private generators.
Harrowing photos showed blooded babies and children crammed into hospital wards as medics struggled with demand.
A senior official with the International Committee of the Red Cross warned that the lack of electricity could cripple hospitals.
Farsakh said many of the medics were refusing to evacuate hospitals and abandon patients.
UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps insisted Israel has the right to defend itself.
Speaking to Sky News, he said: “Israel, unlike Hamas, is doing all it can to provide advance notice and warning in order that they can go after those terrorists”.
Israel has been plotting to unleash troops into Gaza after hundreds of Hamas terrorists rampaged for hours on Saturday and massacred at least 260 revellers at the peace festival.
In total, 1,300 Israelis are said to have been killed since the militants stormed across the border.
They dragged an estimated 150 soldiers and civilians – including men, women, children and the elderly – into captivity in Gaza.
Podcast: Israel’s War on Terror Explained
The Sun has launched a brilliant new podcast ‘Israel’s War on Terror Explained’.
In the first episode, we talk to the Israel Defense Force about tactics in their Hamas offensive and the fraught mission to rescue hostages.
To listen, click here if you’re on mobile – or simply scan the QR code with your phone if you’re reading on a computer.
Palestinian women flee following an Israeli strike in Gaza[/caption]
A teddy bear lies on the ground amongst the rubble[/caption]
Palestinians flee to safer areas in Gaza City[/caption]
Palestinian civilians are attempting to evacuate under a barrage of heavy artillery and air strikes[/caption]
A masked Palestinian protester gestures while walking near flaming tires in the West Bank[/caption]
Police officers push back a man during a protest near the Embassy of Israel in Japan[/caption]
Category: News, World News, Global politics, Israel Hamas war
