Israeli tanks attack northern Gaza ahead of “next stages of combat”

Israeli troops carried out a “targeted attack” with tanks in northern Gaza this Thursday (26) before withdrawing from the strip, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Video published by the IDF showed tanks and armored vehicles, including a bulldozer, moving on a road near a fence. Tanks fired artillery and destruction could be seen nearby.

The IDF said the attack was “part of preparations for the next stages of combat.”

“The soldiers left the area at the end of the activity,” the statement said.

IDF spokesman Peter Lerner described the attack as large but limited in scope, saying it was “a clear and comprehensive operation aimed at creating better conditions for ground operations if and when that occurs.”

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“We actually confronted the enemy, killing terrorists who were planning to carry out attacks against us with anti-tank guided missiles,” he told CNN .

IDF preparations

Israel has vowed to exterminate Hamas, the radical Islamic group that controls Gaza, in response to its deadly terrorist attacks and kidnapping violence on Oct. 7 in which 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed and more than 200 taken hostage.

In a televised speech on Wednesday (25), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel is “preparing for a ground incursion” into Gaza, after almost three weeks of air strikes on the coastal strip.

Israeli attacks killed more than 6,400 people and injured another 17,000, according to information from Hamas-controlled health authorities in Gaza and published by the Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah.

An Israeli soldier killed in a clash with Hamas on Sunday is the first publicly announced Israeli military death within the strip since October 7, the IDF said on Tuesday.