The IDF announced on Thursday that it has intensified its ground invasion, sending in land forces, including a mix of infantry, tanks, and artillery from Brigade 188 into the Beit Lahiya and coastal areas of northern Gaza.
The announcement makes the invasion of Gaza more of a major change in the reality on the ground, following the more modest initial announcement on Wednesday that IDF tanks had entered the Netzarim Corridor of central Gaza.
Moving only tanks and limited infantry into the Netzarim Corridor was significant in that it started to cut off the northern and southern parts of Gaza and enable a future larger invasion.
But the IDF’s latest move of moving larger amounts of ground forces into populated areas of northern Gaza is a significant escalation in terms of the status of what is now a developing invasion.
Also, the IDF clarified that over the course of Wednesday, Golani Brigade forces would be stationed in the southern sector and would remain on standby to carry out operations within Gaza.
Despite all of these moves – which follow the significant air war escalation against Hamas, which started on Tuesday morning at 2:10 a.m. and killed six top Hamas leaders and many mid-level commanders – Israel’s invasion to date is still more akin to the 2014 “light” invasion into perimeter areas of Gaza, versus the deep invasion into all of Gaza’s cities that the IDF undertook from late 2023-mid-2024.
It is also a far cry from the massive invasion of all of Gaza in rapid succession, which many Israeli officials had been predicting over the last month or so once new IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir would take over the military.
Tuesday’s air strikes broke a nearly two-month ceasefire dating back to January 19.
So far, Israel still seems to be giving Hamas time to agree to concessions relating to returning hostages before it broadens the ground invasion to be full-scale.
IDF warning to Gazan civilians
The IDF’s statement came after IDF Arabic Spokesperson Colonel Avichay Adraee warned Gaza residents not to move along the Salah a-Din Road and said that movement from the North to the South would only be permitted via the Rashid Road (along the seafront).
“The IDF does not intend to harm you. For your safety, it is forbidden to approach IDF forces in the defensive zone and in any place where they are deployed,” Adraee’s post on X/Twitter stated.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report
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