(October 27, 2023 / JNS) Israel Defense Forces ground forces stationed on the front at the border of the Gaza Strip are broadening their activity, the Israeli military announced on Friday night, as the Israeli Air Force unleashed a wave of firepower strikes that stood out in its intensity.
“In recent hours, we stepped up attacks on Gaza. The IAF is attacking [in a] broad manner, hitting underground targets and terror infrastructure in a very significant manner,” IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said. “Ground forces are broadening their activity.”
Israel’s stated war objectives are the destruction of the Hamas terror army and the return of all kidnapped hostages.
“We will continue to attack in Gaza City and its environment and call on civilians to evacuate,” Hagari said.
Internet and phone service was reportedly down in Gaza, and the Palestine Telecommunications Company (Paltel) announced “a complete disruption of all communication and Internet services” due to the IDF offensive.
U.S. and Israeli officials told ABC News that the current ground activity in Gaza is not a large-scale offensive, and Peter Lerner, the IDF spokesman, said that the current action is not the major operation that is expected.
Hagari said terrorist fire targeted military posts in Avivim and Misgav from the north, with the IDF returning fire. “We are continuing to search and destroy terror squads,” he said of the lower-level conflict with Hezbollah.
“Since the start of the war, the IDF destroyed many terror squads. Anyone who endangers us will pay with their lives,” Hagari added. “The IDF is on high alert in the north.”
The IDF also thwarted an aerial threat in the Red Sea on Friday morning, it stated.
IAF forces “were scrambled after an aerial threat was identified in the area of the Red Sea. The IAF intercepted the hostile targets in the area,” the military said. “No threat was posed to civilians, and no infiltration into Israeli territory was identified.”
Israel will continue to work with Egypt and the United States to tighten defenses in the Red Sea, Hagari said.
The IDF has officially counted 310 fallen soldiers and 229 hostages. “At this time our heart is with the hostages,” Hagari said. “We are dedicated to the national mission of bringing them all back.”
At the end of the third week of war, hundreds of thousands of reservists and other security force personnel are deployed around Israel’s land borders, as well as in the air, at sea and in the cyber arena, he said.
Asked to address reports on alleged hostage exchange deals, Hagari called those “psychological terrorism on Israeli citizens.”
“We will hold and bring any relevant data on the hostages, operational, intelligence or civilian,” he said. “We’ll give it to families. Until then, I call on civilians not to capitulate to this.”
