Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant has announced that Israeli forces have “captured and cleared” the western part of the city of Gaza. He is quoted by the Ynet portal.
According to the minister, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are moving on to the next phase of the operation in the Gaza sector.
He also expressed the opinion that as they advance deeper into the Gaza sector, Israeli military personnel are getting closer to freeing the hostages held in the Palestinian enclave.
“The deeper we go, the more pressure is put on Hamas,” he said.
Galant noted that this will increase the chances of the return of Israeli hostages.
Earlier, it was reported that IDF fighters took operational control of the harbor in the Gaza sector, which is used by the radical Palestinian movement Hamas for terrorist purposes.
The situation in the Middle East has escalated after thousands of Hamas militants infiltrated Israel from the Gaza sector on October 7, when Hamas declared the start of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation. In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the country is at war.
The goal of Israel’s retaliatory operation, “Iron Swords,” is to repel the attack, free over 200 hostages, including foreigners, and destroy Hamas. As part of achieving this goal, Israel has been carrying out massive missile strikes on the Gaza sector since the first day of the operation. However, the Israeli National Security Council has decided to stop the supply of water, food, goods, electricity, and fuel to the sector. Humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza have only been resumed through the Rafah checkpoint after October 20, and their volume is considered insufficient.
On October 27, Israel announced the “expansion” of its ground operation in Gaza. The exact start date of this operation is unknown, but hundreds of thousands of Palestinians evacuated their homes and moved to shelters and the south of the enclave in anticipation of it.
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu promised to destroy Hamas.
