Oct. 28 (UPI) — Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Saturday confirmed that Israel has entered into a new stage of its war against Hamas militants in Gaza, declaring that the “ground shook” in the Palestinian enclave overnight.
Gallant said in a video message that Israeli Defense Forces had “attacked above and bellow ground, struck terrorists of all ranks and in all places” late Friday into Saturday morning, likely indicating that a long-anticipated ground assault into Gaza Strip had begun.
“I completed a situation assessment,” he said. “Last night we accomplished [completed] a phase in the war. We will continue to be strong and precise. And hunt down every terrorist,” he said, adding, “The ground shook in Gaza last night.”
The comments came as the IDF unleashed some of its heaviest bombardments of Gaza yet in its war against Hamas.
Israeli jets attacked about 150 underground targets in the northern Gaza Strip during the night, the IDF said, claiming the strikes killed several Hamas fighters and destroyed combat tunnels, underground combat spaces and other “underground terrorist infrastructures.”
The IDF said its naval forces also attacked targets used by Hamas overnight, including observation posts, anti-tank launching positions and a military installation that assisted the ground forces.
Israel released footage of what it claimed were armored columns rolling into the Gaza Strip.
The IDF claimed that Asem Abu Rakaba, described as the chief of Hamas’ aerial forces, was slain during the assaults. The military said he was in charge of the terror group’s UAVs, drones, paragliders and aerial detection, took part in the planning the Oct. 7 massacre of Israeli civilians and “commanded the terrorists who infiltrated Israel on paragliders and was responsible for the drone attacks on IDF posts.”
More than 7,300 Palestinians have died since Israel launched retaliatory strikes in the wake of the bloody Hamas offensive on Oct. 7 on that killed around 1,400 Israelis, according to figures released Friday by the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
As the ground invasion appeared to be getting underway, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke with Gallant to “discuss Israel’s operations in Gaza.”
According to a Defense Department statement, Austin “underscored the importance of protecting civilians during the Israel Defense Forces’ operations and focusing on the urgency of humanitarian aid delivery for civilians in Gaza” in his talks with Gallant.
The conversation also focused on “the need for Hamas to release all of the hostages.”
Even as Israel sent forces into the Gaza, its military also continued to battle with Hezbollah forces along its northern border in Lebanon.
The IDF struck targets in Lebanon on Saturday in response to a rocket barrage fired from Lebanon toward an Israeli military position in the Misgav Am area and the Bedouin town of Arab el-Aramshe, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Meanwhile in Istanbul, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a massive pro-Palestinian rally on Saturday that Israel was an occupier and reiterated comments made earlier this week that Hamas is not a terrorist organization.
“What was Gaza, Palestine in 1947, what is it today? Israel, how did you get here? How did you get in? You are an invader,” the Turkish president said. “It is the West that is most responsible for the massacre in Gaza. The massacre in Gaza is entirely the work of the West.”
“As I said, Hamas is not a terrorist organization, Israel was very disturbed by this,” Erdogan said. “Since we knew this, we stated it clearly.”
