Israeli forces cut Gaza in two, isolating north of enclave

Troops encircled Gaza City, backed by airstrikes and some gunfire from warships offshore.

Palestinians run for cover after a strike near the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

Israeli forces pushed across Gaza and in from the Mediterranean coast on Thursday, cutting the enclave in two and isolating densely populated urban areas in the north where armoured and infantry units were battling Hamas militants, said the Israeli military and the UN.

“IDF forces have finished encircling Gaza City, the stronghold of the Hamas terrorist organisation,” said Israeli Military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari on Thursday night.

Israel’s military said that it killed around 130 militants in battles around the Gaza Strip on Thursday afternoon, in a large-scale attack by land, air and sea on Hamas installations, including command and control centres, booby-trapped buildings and targets belonging to the militant group’s naval forces.

Overnight and in the morning, the fighting was especially intense in several neighbourhoods in northern Gaza, where Israeli troops attacked in Karama and Zeitoun, moving closer to the centre of Gaza City, backed by airstrikes and in some cases by gunfire from warships offshore, according to Israeli military officials.

The UN said it had halted humanitarian-aid deliveries to the north, where 300,000 residents are thought to have stayed behind despite evacuation orders from the Israeli military. “Gaza City and northern Gaza have been largely cut off” because of the fighting, the UN said.

Israeli authorities have said they would ensure safe passage for civilians who want to head south to escape the fighting.

An Israeli army self-propelled howitzer moves past waiting traffic while crossing a road along the border with the Gaza Strip this week. Picture: AFP

By splitting Gaza and fighting north and south of Gaza City, Israel has created a two-front war for Hamas. But that has also meant committing Israeli troops to fight in the north’s difficult urban terrain. An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment on whether Israeli forces had reached the coast to the south of the city.

Hamas fighters used anti-tank missiles to target Israeli tanks and armoured personnel carriers as Israeli ground forces pressed into the city’s outskirts. In one heavy firefight, Israeli troops were ambushed by a large group of militants, firing antitank missiles, throwing grenades and detonating explosives, according to the Israeli military.

“The soldiers engaged with the terrorists, with the assistance of artillery fire and tanks, while directing an aerial strike from a helicopter and a missile strike from a naval boat. Dozens of terrorists were killed during the battles,” the military said on Thursday.

“Everywhere they go, soldiers are describing what they see — terrorists who come out of tunnel shafts, underground tunnels under buildings, under hospitals, under schools, they see it all,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters Wednesday.

At least 20 Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat, including Lieutenant Colonel Salman Habaka, the commander of an armour battalion who was killed on Thursday, according to an announcement by the Israeli military, apparently the highest-ranking officer killed in combat in Gaza so far.

It was unclear if Israeli troops planned to press immediately deeper into Gaza City, a Hamas stronghold that has been pounded from the air for nearly three weeks, or if they would remain on the outskirts, testing Hamas’s defences and calling in airstrikes.

Giora Eiland, a former Israeli general and national security adviser, said Israel has succeeded relatively easily in cutting off northern Gaza from the south, putting its forces in a position to maintain a siege on Hamas.

Israeli troops are now focusing on finding entrances to the tunnel network used by Hamas’s militants and seeking to kill them while they are still below ground, Eiland said. To maintain a tight siege on Gaza City, he said, Israel would also need to destroy tunnels that run from north to south that could be a lifeline for Hamas.

“Gaza is probably the most fortified military position in the world,” said Eiland. “We are speaking about a tough battle that can last weeks.”

Israeli officials said that in the past few days they have managed to eliminate a large part of Hamas’s anti-tank capabilities.

Clashes were also reported further south in Gaza, including in the refugee camps at Al Maghazi, Al Bureij and An Nuseirat, according to the U.N.

The Wall Street Journal