Israel’s ground invasion entered its second day on Wednesday, with tanks and troops advancing under air and sea fire. The New York Sun reports that about 400,000 have fled. The Israeli military has pushed tanks and infantry into Gaza City under air and naval cover and aims to encircle the city before advancing inward. The Israel Defense Forces said it struck a weapons-production site in Gaza City and that “terrorists were present at the site.”
Over the past two days, air force and artillery units hit more than 150 targets in support of ground maneuvers. IDF chief of staff Eyal Zamir said thousands of reservists are operating alongside regular units.
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“All the risks and opportunities were presented to the political echelon clearly and professionally,” Zamir said.
This comes as a U.N. commission concluded for the first time that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected the report as “falsehoods” and accused the writers of being “Hamas proxies.”
How many people are fleeing and where can they go?
Roughly 400,000 residents have left Gaza City, and the military estimates about 600,000 civilians remain. The IDF announced a second, time-limited corridor via the Salah al-Din Road that will be open for 48 hours to allow movement south.
Coastal routes have also carried large numbers of evacuees, though many face high transport costs and limited shelter options in central and southern Gaza, the Post added.
What are aid groups and the UN saying?
The U.N. Human Rights Office urged the Israeli military to end what it called the “wanton destruction of Gaza City,” saying the campaign is “destroying the last viable element of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.” It described the strategy as “tantamount to ethnic cleansing” and said it “appears to be focused on causing a permanent demographic shift.”
In a joint statement, 22 humanitarian organizations said, “Rhetoric and half measures are not enough. This moment demands decisive action.”
How do hostages and Israeli politics figure into the operation?
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cast the operation as necessary to defeat Hamas and recover captives. He warned that if Hamas harms “a hair on the head of even one hostage, we will hunt them down with greater force until the end of their lives — and that end will come much faster than they think.”
What is the communications situation inside Gaza City?
Residents have faced widespread network outages. The Washington Post reports that the Palestinian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority attributed the disruptions to “continued aggression and targeting of major network routes.”
The Times of Israel added that Israeli strikes on main network lines in northern Gaza collapsed internet and telephone service, cutting residents off from the outside world, and noted that Associated Press attempts to reach people in Gaza City failed to go through.
