Israel's tanks plow through the Gaza Strip
Israel's ground offensive in the Gaza Strip is in full swing. The armed forces are currently aiming to capture Gaza City. According to the Israeli military, the city is already surrounded. Independent information on this is hard to come by. However, at least for the area south of Gaza City, the claims can be confirmed with images from the European Copernicus space program.
Compared to earlier images from the Sentinel satellites from the region, clear traces of heavy equipment, presumably combat vehicles, can be seen. The changes on the ground are particularly evident in the so-called false color images with their characteristic red cast. The most recent images with a clear view of the Gaza Strip were taken on November 1 and provide an objective bird's eye view of the events.
As recently as October 22 - when the Sentinel satellites last caught a slightly cloudy view of the Gaza Strip - there was still no sign of the advance of the combat units. Since then, the Israeli forces have apparently succeeded in advancing far into the interior of the country, starting from the eastern border strip near the village of Juhor a-Dik. The distance to the Mediterranean coast seems to have been almost overcome. From the border to the coast, the Gaza Strip measures just under seven kilometers at this point.
Israeli combat units have also advanced inland in the north of the sealed-off Palestinian territory. Especially in the northwest, along the coast, the troop movements are well documented and documented by various sources. The ISW (Institute for the Study of War) currently assumes that Israeli units have so far been able to advance about five kilometers inland.
Further offensives and operations are taking place near the Erez border crossing in the north and on the outskirts of Beit Hanun in the north-east. There, however, the Israeli soldiers are repeatedly exposed to attacks from Hamas' extensive tunnel systems. This considerably reduces the Israeli army's prospects of quick successes and is one of the reasons why experts fear that all parties involved will have to prepare for long and bloody battles.
The declared goal of the Israelis is to destroy Hamas. Before the ground offensive began, the population of the Gaza Strip was asked to leave the north of the region and seek shelter in designated humanitarian zones in the south. However, there are still civilians in the contested areas. The region not far from the Rafah border crossing is also repeatedly targeted by Israeli air strikes.
The ongoing Israel war has led to Israel's ground forces advancing towards Gaza City in the Gaza Strip. Despite the Israeli military's claim of surrounding Gaza City, civilians continue to live in areas that have been subjected to Israeli air strikes, particularly near the Rafah border crossing.
Source: www.ntv.de
