Tel Aviv [Israel], November 8: Israel said its forces were pushing deep into Gaza City, where residents said tanks were positioned on the outskirts for a potential storming of Gaza's urban heartland.
Israel previously said it had surrounded Gaza City, home to around a third of the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million people, and would soon attack it to annihilate Hamas fighters who assaulted Israeli towns across the border one month ago.
There was no indication on the ground that Israeli forces had thrust en masse further into the city, but a spokesperson for the military, Richard Hecht, suggested that the encircling troops could be making raids inside.
Asked whether such raids had taken place, he said: "I'm not going to talk about how we are operationally acting from within our encirclement around Gaza City. You are in the right direction, that's all I can say."
The military wing of Hamas said its fighters were inflicting heavy losses and damage on advancing Israeli forces.
It was not possible to verify the battlefield claims of either side.
War began on Oct. 7 when Hamas fighters burst across the fence enclosing Gaza and killed 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians, and abducted more than 200, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel has unrelentingly bombarded Hamas-run Gaza, killing more than 10,000 people, around 40 percent of them children, according to tallies by health officials there.
Israel gave residents a window from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to leave Gaza City. Residents say Israeli tanks have been moving mostly at night, with Israeli forces largely relying on air and artillery strikes to clear a path for their ground advance.
Gaza's interior ministry says 900,000 Palestinians are still sheltering in northern Gaza including Gaza City.
While Israel's military operation is focused on the northern half of Gaza, the south has also come under attack. Palestinian health officials said at least 23 people were killed in two separate Israeli air strikes early on Tuesday in the southern Gaza cities of Khan Younis and Rafah.
As he spoke, rescuers at the house used their hands to try to free a girl buried up to her waist in debris.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation