2023 Israeli Invasion Of The Gaza Strip

On the evening of 27 October 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a large-scale invasion inside the Gaza Strip, as part of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, with the stated goal of destroying Hamas and overthrowing it.

Background

After Hamas militants invaded Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel declared war against Hamas. Israel moved to mobilize 300,000 reservists and began to move armor close to the border with the Gaza Strip in the aftermath. Included in the amassing of armor were Namer armored personnel carriers and Merkava tanks.

Prior to the raids, Israel had called for the more than one million people living in the north half of the Gaza Strip to evacuate during a 24-hour window, while Hamas instructed those residents to stay put. The IDF had urged around 1.1 million civilians to leave North Gaza so they would not be hurt or caught in crossfire, and Israeli officials said that the window was left at 24-hours to reduce the time for Hamas to conduct military preparation in the area. However, aid groups stated that the time window was too short to evacuate the one million people, and lack of electricity in Gaza hampered the ability of electronic communications regarding the evacuation to reach Gazans. Israel had dropped leaflets in Gaza City containing the evacuation order, in addition to electronic communications.

On 21 October 2023, the Israeli army dropped more leaflets in Gaza with the message: "Urgent warning! To the residents of Gaza: your presence to the North of Wadi Gaza is putting your lives at risk. Anyone who chooses not to evacuate from the North of the Gaza Strip to the South of the Gaza Strip may be identified as a partner in a terrorist organization."

Raids inside Gaza

On 13 October 2023, the Israeli Defense Forces sent armored vehicles and infantry into the Gaza Strip, stating that their goals were to attack Hamas militants and to rescue hostages that had been abducted to Gaza by Hamas. The operation, according to Israeli officials, was not part of a larger and widely anticipated ground invasion, but rather a raid in which troops only temporarily enter the Gaza Strip. The IDF confirmed the same day that Israeli remains were located and retrieved in the Gaza Strip.

Another raid, headed by the Givati Brigade and the 162nd Armored Division, took place between 25 and 26 October and was the largest offensive so far, including tanks, other vehicles and IDF Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozers. A followup raid took place the next night in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City.

Invasion

On the evening of 27 October, the IDF launched a large-scale ground assault on the towns of Beit Hanoun and Bureij in the Gaza Strip. The assault came amid a series of large-scale Israeli airstrikes that cut off mobile communications and internet access in Gaza. Shayetet 13, a commando unit of the Israeli Navy, carried out a strike on Hamas naval forces overnight.

On 28 October, Israel said that the units deployed inside the Gaza Strip the previous night were still on the ground, which marked the beginning of the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. The IDF announced it is "expanding ground operations" in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military reissued a call to Gaza residents to evacuate the north as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the "second phase of the war had begun".

The IDF advanced on three fronts: from the northeast near Beit Hanoun, from the northwest near Beit Lahia, and from the east near Juhor ad-Dik.

On 30 October, the IDF blocked the Salah al-Din Road, which is a major thoroughfare connecting the northern and southern parts of the Gaza Strip. Additionally, Israeli tanks were spotted in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. A local resident told AFP that the Israelis "have cut the Salah al-Din road and are firing at any vehicle that tries to go along it." Witnesses reported, and a video showed, an Israeli tank firing on a taxi with a white flag on its roof that had attempted to turn around. An Israeli military spokesman said "The IDF was not shown any proof that this is a civilian car and there's no information on who is inside." A kidnapped IDF private was freed the same day in an operation headed by the IDF, with assistance from Shin Bet and Mossad. On 30 October in northwest Gaza the Al-Qassam Brigades and the DFLP's National Resistance Brigades engaged Israeli forces. Alongside that, the National Resistance Brigades bombarded Israeli vehicles with heavy mortar shells.

On 1 November, IDF reported the deaths of 16 soldiers, 15 killed inside Gaza and one outside Palestinian territory.

On 2 November, IDF had completely surrounded Gaza City, which began the siege of Gaza City. Al-Qassam Brigades showed footage of the destruction of an Israeli Merkava tank after its fighters used an Al-Yassin 105mm rocket to neutralize the Trophy protection system.

On 5 November, IDF reported the death of 29 soldiers and one severely wounded, during the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

On 11 November, four IDF soldiersa major, a sergeant major, and two master sergeantswere killed and other four were wounded after a tunnel exploded in their vicinity near Beit Hanoun. All casualties were from the 697th battalion of the 551st Reserve Brigade Arrows of Fire. Among the dead was Matan Meir, the executive producer of the Israeli television series Fauda.

Israeli strategy

On 29 October, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said he expected the "second stage of the war" to last "months". The following phases are expected to be the removal of small pockets of resistance, and, finally, withdrawal from Gaza.

Even after Israeli troops entered the Gaza Strip and began to maintain a persistent physical presence in the region beginning on 27 October, Israel's military had adopted a strategy of referring to the invasion as "operations" and "raids" rather than using the term "invasion". According to the Associated Press, this communications strategy was undertaken to preserve operational flexibility and to keep hostile forces guessing as to Israel's military plans. The United States has urged Israel to avoid a full-scale invasion and instead conduct "surgical" operations to avoid casualties and a regional escalation. Israeli military sources say there are over 20,000 troops of the IDF in Gaza as of 31 October.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will have overall security responsibility over the Gaza Strip for an indefinite period following the war. President of the European Commission Von der Leyen states that there should not be a long-term Israeli security presence in Gaza and mentions as a possibility, a UN mandated peace force, while US President Joe Biden has said "When this crisis is over, there has to be a vision of what comes next, and in our view it has to be a two-state solution". On 11 November, Netanyahu widened the split with the US over postwar governance, saying that he was against the Palestinian Authority having a role there.

Reactions

Iran

According to Al Jazeera English, on 15 October, "Iran warned Israel of regional escalation if the Israeli military enters Gaza for a ground invasion." Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stated that if efforts to stop Israeli attacks in Gaza fail, it's increasingly likely that "other fronts will be opened".

United States

In an interview that aired on 15 October, US President Joe Biden said it would be a "big mistake" for Israel, which is preparing for a ground attack on Gaza in pursuit of Hamas, to reoccupy the 25-mile stretch of territory. U.S. officials said the Biden administration advised Israel to delay the ground invasion of Gaza to allow more time for hostage negotiations.

Former CIA director David Petraeus warned that a ground offensive in Gaza "could be Mogadishu on steroids very quickly."

Egypt

On 25 October, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi warned that a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip would cause "many, many civilian casualties".

Saudi Arabia

On 27 October, Saudi officials strongly cautioned the United States that an Israeli ground operation in Gaza could have devastating consequences for the Middle East.

Israeli public

On 19 October, a poll by the Israeli newspaper '' Maariv'' found that 65% of Israelis supported a ground invasion and 21% opposed it. In comparison, according to a poll conducted for Israel's ''Maariv'' newspaper on 25 and 26 October, only 29% of Israelis supported an immediate large-scale ground offensive into the Gaza Strip. ''Maariv'' said that "It is almost certain that the developments on the matter of the hostages, which is now topping the agenda, have had a great impact on this shift."

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, that represents the families of kidnapped Israelis, complained that no one had explained "whether the ground operation endangers the well-being of the 229 hostages".

Effects on Children

UNICEF spokesperson Toby Fricker stated, "There is no safe place for children anywhere across the strip right now." UNICEF: Children were disproportionately impacted by Israel's attack on Gaza. On 13 November, UNICEF stated more than 700,000 children in Gaza were displaced. The Palestine Red Crescent Society stated displaced children were suffering, due to power outages, lack of basic essentials, and "scenes of pain and fear." The executive director of UNICEF, toured Gaza on 15 November, stating many children were buried under rubble and lacking medical care. The head of pediatrics at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, stated due to the lack of clean water, he was witnessing the "most serious epidemic of gastroenteritis" among children he had ever seen.

See also

* Outline of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
* List of military engagements during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
* Timeline of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
* October 2023 Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip
* United States support for Israel in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
* 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza
* Population statistics for Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, 2023
Attacks in Asia in 2023
Battles during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
Gaza–Israel conflict
Battles in 2023
2023 in the Gaza Strip
Hostage rescue operations
Military operations of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
Cross-border operations