Israel uses soldiers in Gaza Strip – and breaks ceasefire

According to its own information, Israel’s army has started a soil offensive in the Gaza Strip. The aim was to create a limited buffer zone between the north and the south of the area, the Israeli military said. The presentation according to “targeted ground attacks” follows massive Israeli air strikes on the coastal area since the night of Tuesday, with which the ceasefire that has been in effect since January de facto.

As part of the offensive, ground troops had also expanded their control in the so-called Netzarim corridor, it said. This divides the coastal strip into a northern and a southern half. Israeli soldiers have moved up to the middle of the strategically significant corridor.

In February, Israel’s army had withdrawn from the Netzarim corridor as part of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, apart from an area of ​​one kilometer wide directly on the border with Israel. This enabled Palestinians to return to their places of residence in large numbers as a result of the war from the cities of the north. The effects on the movement of the residents of the Gaza Strip were initially unclear.

The ground troops have been in the center in the past 24 hours and in the south of the Gaza Strip, Israel’s army said. With the help of the “targeted soil inserts”, the Israeli military also wants to expand its own “security zone”.

For the first time since the beginning of a ceasefire around two months ago, the Israeli Air Force had again bombed massive destinations of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihads (PIJ) in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday night. According to the health authority controlled by the Hamas, at least 436 people have been killed, including 183 minors and 94 women. The information does not distinguish between civilians and combatants and are currently not being verified independently.