Israel Launches Ground Operation in Gaza After Deadly Airstrikes

Israel Launches Ground Operation in Gaza After Deadly Airstrikes: The Israeli military announces the launch of a new ground offensive in Gaza, which would see the redeployment of troops to areas they had retreated from since an almost two-month ceasefire. This offensive was triggered a day after the previously discussed ceasefire was virtually shattered by Israel's drastic airstrikes: over 400 people were said to have died, many of them minors, and hundreds more were injured.

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"IDF operations will be carried out in light of targets struck from the air, with land operations from sea and air attacking ground forces occupying different locations," the Israel Defense Forces stated.

The objective of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), according to their assessment, is to extend its so-called "security perimeter" that divides Gaza and Israel and to create a "partial buffer zone" between the north and south of the Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces claim to have "taken control and re-established" its presence in the Netzarim corridor, a large strip of territory dividing Gaza's north and south which had been occupied by troops during the course of war and had retreated out of as a part of a ceasefire agreement made in January.

As these actions unfolded, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz released a video statement that he addressed to the "Gaza residents."

In the video, Katz announced that "all hostages should be returned and Hamas needs to be removed" in what he called the "final warning."

"What comes next will be much harsher, and you will bear the full consequences," Katz said in Hebrew with Arabic subtitles. "Soon, the evacuation of the population from combat zones will resume. If all Israeli hostages are not released and Hamas is not removed from Gaza, Israel will act with force beyond anything you have ever seen."

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Meanwhile, thousands took to the streets in various cities across Israel Tuesday night into Wednesday afternoon and evening in protest against the resumption of the war. In Tel Aviv, protesters drummed and held up posters bearing the faces of the Israeli hostages still in Gaza, calling for an immediate deal for their release.

Thousands more marched toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home in Jerusalem, waving Israeli flags and carrying a banner pleading for new elections, accusing the Israeli administration of working against its people.

Polls suggest that the majority of Israelis oppose the ceasefire's termination and want negotiations to continue. The return-to-war decision seems to many to be a straightforward betrayal of the last hostages in Gaza by prime minister Netanyahu and his government.

Israel's attacks were said to have hit junior Hamas leaders in the air force strike on Tuesday. Hamas then announced that the attacks had succeeded in killing 5 of their own leaders. This morning, the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not make distinctions between civilians and combatants, announced that 436 people have been killed in the airstrikes, among whom, 183 were children, 94 were women, 34 were elderly, and 125 were men.

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