Israel steps up its offensive in Gaza and eliminates a senior Hamas commander in Lebanon
Israeli forces have announced the start of an operation in Shejaiya, east of Gaza City, ‘to deepen control in the area and extend the defensive security strip’. During this new offensive, which also aims to put pressure on Hamas to make progress in the stalled negotiations on the release of the 59 Israeli hostages, the Israeli Army has already eliminated several fighters from the terrorist group and destroyed key infrastructure of the organisation, including a command and control complex.
The army also assured that, both before and during the offensive, it allowed the evacuation of civilians through designated routes. Furthermore, hours earlier, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had launched evacuation leaflets warning residents to leave the area immediately due to the intensity of the fighting.
On the other hand, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched a projectile into Israeli territory that was intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system.
This new operation in Gaza comes shortly after the Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz, declared that the military offensive in the Palestinian enclave seeks to clear areas of ‘terrorists and infrastructure and capture an extensive territory that will be added to the security zones of the State of Israel’.
For his part, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed on Wednesday that the army is ‘dividing’ the Strip and ‘taking control’ of various areas to increase the pressure on Hamas and achieve the release of the hostages.
Since 18 March, Israel has intensified its bombing of Gaza after the stalling of negotiations for a new phase of the ceasefire, in force since 19 January. In recent days, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced once again, marking one of the largest population movements since the start of the war.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces have consolidated their presence around the ruins of Rafah, in the south of Gaza. However, the Israeli government has not yet publicly defined its long-term objectives for the areas it now controls and calls the ‘security area’.
According to the Israeli human rights group Gisha, the IDF has already taken control of some 62 square kilometres, equivalent to approximately 17% of the total area of the enclave.
Israel eliminates a senior Hamas commander in Lebanon
In parallel to the offensive in Gaza, Israel has intensified its operations against Hamas leaders outside the enclave.
In the last few hours, the Israeli army announced the elimination of Hassan Farhat, commander of Hamas's Western Sector in Lebanon, in an air strike on an apartment in the city of Sidon.
According to military spokesman Avichay Adraee, the operation was led by the Northern Command and the Israeli Intelligence Service. Farhat was identified as responsible for multiple attacks against Israel and for launching projectiles into the Safed area on 14 February 2024, an attack in which an Israeli soldier was killed and several others were injured.
The military statement indicated that Farhat had been developing offensive plans against Israel for months and represented a threat to its security.
This Israeli attack comes amid an increasingly fragile ceasefire on the border between Israel and Lebanon, agreed after the clashes with Hezbollah.
The Lebanese national news agency reported that the attack, carried out with a drone, caused two successive explosions that destroyed an apartment on the fourth floor of a building, causing damage to nearby buildings, shops and vehicles.
The bombing also caused panic in Sidon, the largest city in southern Lebanon, located far from the Israeli border and which until now had suffered few attacks in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.