Israeli Forces Begin to Advance Into the Southern Gaza Strip

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Facts

  • Initial reports from Israeli army radio on Monday indicate that Israeli forces have begun to advance into the southern regions of the Gaza Strip, with verified reports that Israeli tanks are operating near the southern city of Khan Younis. An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman confirmed that Israel 'continues to expand the ground incursion' across all of Gaza.1
  • Unicef spokesman James Elder reported that Israel's bombardment of the south of the strip was the worst the region had seen since the war began; a local source told AFP that Israeli forces had advanced south along the Salah al-Din road, dividing it between Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis. An Israeli spokesman said that Israel did not intend to permanently displace Palestinians from their homes.2
  • As Israel expands its offensive, US officials have repeatedly warned against excessively high civilian casualties, with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin saying over the weekend that if Israel drove Gaza's civilian population into 'the arms of the enemy,' it would lead to a 'strategic defeat.'3
  • Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israeli forces will not leave the areas in which it is operating until all of Hamas's infrastructure is destroyed and the group will see 'the same and worse' regarding Israeli military operations in the north of the strip. Gallant reiterated that Israel's goal is to destroy Hamas and return all of the hostages still being held in the strip.4
  • In the West Bank, Israeli forces raided Ramallah, Jenin, Silwad, Jaffna, Jalazoun, Qalqilya, and Hebron, arresting 'dozens,' per Palestinian media. More than 3.5K Palestinians have been arrested and 256 have been killed in the West Bank since Hamas's Oct. 7 attack.5
  • Gaza's health ministry reports that the conflict has left almost 16K people — the majority of whom were women and children — in the Gaza Strip dead. The official Israeli death toll stands at 1.2K people and there are still over 100 hostages being held in the Gaza Strip.6

Sources: 1BBC News, 2The Guardian, 3Financial Times, 4The Jerusalem Post, 5Al Jazeera (a) and 6Al Jazeera (b).

Narratives

  • Pro-Israel narrative, as provided by The Jerusalem Post. Though this has been a tragic war, Israel cannot allow Hamas to survive. Hamas seized upon last week's temporary pause to mark Israeli positions and prepare itself for continued attacks on Israeli forces in Gaza. Indeed, the pace at which Israeli forces maneuvered in Gaza threw Hamas's military leadership off-kilter, and Israel will have to work intelligently in its campaign in the south of the strip to fully eliminate the terrorist group so it can never launch an attack like Oct. 7 again.
  • Pro-Palestine narrative, as provided by Middle East Eye. Israel continues to demonstrate that its war is not against Hamas but against the Palestinian people as a whole. Nowhere in Gaza is safe, and Israel has effectively rendered the north of the strip unlivable. Unfortunately, the temporary ceasefire only gave civilians a few days of relative rest, and now Israel has returned to killing Palestinians at an unprecedented rate. The US, Israel's biggest ally, must exert more pressure to end the war.

Predictions