Latest Developments:
- Israel’s military conducts ground incursion into Gaza for the consecutive second day, followed by a barrage of fresh airstrikes.
- Pentagon says U.S. military launched airstrikes early Friday on two locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
- Israel says 1,400 people killed since Oct. 7’s Hamas attack
- Gaza health officials say move than 7,000 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstikes.
- UNRWA chief, who confirms 57 staff members killed in Gaza since war began, including 15 in one day, announces plan to visit Gaza.
Israel’s military said late Thursday it again carried out a ground operation in the Gaza Strip, where Israeli forces have been conducting airstrikes targeting Hamas militants for nearly three weeks.
The Israel Defense Forces said the raid was brief as its tanks and infantry engaged Hamas fighters and struck anti-tank weapons before returning to Israeli territory.
The IDF operation — the second of its kind in as many days — was its latest incursion as it makes preparations for a promised full-scale ground invasion.
Additional airstrikes, which have ravaged swaths of the Gaza Strip, where residents are running out of food, water and other supplies, followed the latest incursion. Meanwhile, the U.S. military launched airstrikes early Friday on two locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder.
“These precision self-defense strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups that began on October 17,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
Israeli officials have pledged to ensure Hamas can no longer carry out attacks that threaten Israel following its October 7 massacre of about 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
The death toll in Gaza has reached at least 7,000 people, the majority women and children, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The ministry, which tracks the death toll, released a detailed list of names and ID numbers on Thursday, including more than 2,900 minors and more than 1,500 women.
Source : VOA News
