IDF Launches Major Ground Offensive Into Gaza City
It's about to get very ugly in Gaza City. Hamas doesn't care and continues to refuse to lay down its weapons and / release any Israeli hostages, living and dead. The carnage is on them.
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The Israeli Air Force struck more than 850 terror targets and hundreds of terrorists in Gaza City over the past week, the military said. The strikes were aimed at dismantling Hamas’s infrastructure and preparing the area for the entry of ground forces.
The Israel Defense Forces have opened what they describe as a “new stage” in their war against Hamas, sending tens of thousands of troops into Gaza City in the largest ground maneuver since the war began.
The IDF has been giving Gazans a chance to evacuate the city, dropping leaflets time and again, recommending that they leave immediately and stating that it is now an active war zone. They estimate that 300,000 Gazans have fled, but that approximately 700,000 remain.
The offensive, code-named Gideon’s Chariots B, follows weeks of intensified strikes on Hamas positions and probing raids along the city’s outskirts. This includes numerous strikes on high rises in Gaza City, which Hamas were using to launch attacks on IDF soldiers.
Hamas is furious, and has also moved some of the Israeli hostages out of the tunnels, trying to use them as human shields. But Netanyahu has had enough of Hamas. And Trump is equally disgusted by them.
Overnight, a heavy wave of airstrikes paved the way for advancing forces, which began pushing into new neighborhoods. The IDF says the goal is to encircle the city and dismantle Hamas’s military infrastructure.
Two divisions, the 162nd and the 98th, are leading the assault, with the 36th Division expected to join in the coming days. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir is overseeing the operation from Southern Command headquarters.
To sustain the campaign, the army has mobilized about 60,000 additional reservists, supplementing the 70,000 already on active duty. Despite growing fatigue, turnout rates remain high, between 75 and 85 percent across most units, according to the IDF.
While Gaza City is the main focus of the escalation, other divisions remain active: the 99th is tasked with securing Israel’s northern buffer zone, while the Gaza Division continues operations in the south.
The offensive marks one of Israel’s largest coordinated operations in Gaza since October 7, with military leaders betting on overwhelming force to break Hamas’s grip on the Strip’s most populous city.