The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it has killed dozens of Hamas militants, among them commanders, as it pushes deeper into Gaza, with tanks being seen Monday on the outskirts of Gaza City, blocking a key road linking the northern and southern halves of the Strip.
Hamas has also announced it is engaged in "heavy fighting… with the invading occupation force", after the IDF confirmed more Israeli troops have been surged into the Strip. It appears the warring sides are in some locales engaged in building-to-building and door-to-door fighting in the dense urban zone.
"Overnight, troops eliminated dozens of terrorists who barricaded themselves in the buildings and tried to attack the forces that were moving in their direction," IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said. "We are carrying out an expanded ground operation into the Strip… forces are moving towards the terrorists, the terrorists are barricading themselves in staging grounds, and we are attacking them from the air."
Israel is signaling its intent to encircle Gaza City with tank and ground units - a significant challenge given its size of 18 square miles with a pre-conflict population of over 650,000 people. In total some 1.1 million people live in the northern half of the Strip.
Recent reports have estimated that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have defied Israel's order to flee south. By Saturday the IDF had utilized open spaces like the beach to quickly allow tank units to plunge two miles deep into the Strip.
IDF has been publishing brief clips of forces operating in Gaza:
Gazans have told Al Jazeera that they are receiving emergency phone calls at their residences (after communications were switched back on this weekend) with messages like the following: "This is the Israeli army, we are telling you to evacuate south because in the coming hours it is going to be very dangerous in the area where you are at."
At this point amid the fog of war as well as the desire of each side present that they have the battlefield edge, it's not expected that military casualty rates will be published, but the Israeli media has cited a series of IDF statements to compile the following accounts:
- In one incident, ground troops directed the Air Force to carry out a drone strike on a Hamas staging ground, killing more than 20 terrorists, according to the IDF.
- In another incident, the IDF said a fighter jet struck an anti-tank guided missile launch position and a number of Hamas operatives who were identified by ground troops near Al-Azhar University in Gaza City.
- Later Monday, the IDF said troops encountered a number of Hamas cells attempting to attack them during the morning hours. Ground forces directed air force combat helicopters and drones to strike the terror cells and kill their members.
- Forces also demolished anti-tank guided missile and rocket launch positions, as well as other infrastructure belonging to Hamas, the IDF said.
As for Israeli forces having reportedly gained control of a key road that runs north-south, AFP has also cited eyewitnesses who say "They have cut the Salah al-Din road and are firing at any vehicle that tries to go along it."
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