Israel’s military has announced the launch of a major offensive aimed at defeating Hamas and securing the freedom of remaining hostages in Gaza.
Israeli Defense Forces said on its Hebrew X account that it had mobilized troops for “Operation Gideon’s Chariots” to seize “strategic areas” of the Gaza.
The Hamas-run civil defense says Israeli attacks have killed around 250 people since Thursday, while Reuters news agency reported at least 58 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes overnight, according to local authorities.
Israel imposed an aid blockade on the strip in March after the breakdown of the two-month ceasefire.
Donald Trump, the US president, said on Friday that “a lot of people were starving” in Gaza.
The Israeli military did not use the operational name in similar posts on its English-Language X account.
It said it would not stop operating “until Hamas is no longer a threat and all our hostages are home”, and had “struck over 150 terror targets throughout the Gaza Strip” in 24 hours.
Israeli has intensified its bombardment and built up armored forces along the border, despite growing international pressure to resume ceasefire talks and end its blockade.
The Times of Israel said that “Gideon’s Chariots” – a reference to a biblical warrior – would see the IDF take and control territory, move civilians to the south of the strip, attack Hamas and prevent it from taking control of aid supplies.
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Thousands of Israeli troops, including soldiers and reservists, are expected to enter Gaza as the operational ramps up in the coming days.
Residents in many parts of northern and central Gaza have been told to leave their homes or place of shelter – an order aid workers say is almost impossible because many gave already been repeatedly made homeless during the war.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, earlier this month said that Israel was preparing an “intensity entry into Gaza” to capture and hold territory.
His government said that it would not commence until Trump had completed a tour of the Middle East. The US president left the region on Friday.
