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2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip
Part of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
Gaza Strip   Evacuated areas inside Israel   Current extent of the Israeli invasion of Gaza   Maximum extent of the Hamas invasion of Israel   Areas inside Gaza Strip ordered to be evacuated by Israel See here for a more comprehensive map.
Date 27 October 2023 – present (1 year, 1 month, 4 weeks and 1 day) Location Gaza Strip Status Ongoing IDF conducts raids within the Gaza Strip Israel orders northern Gaza to be evacuated IDF launches a ground assault on Beit Hanoun and Bureij IDF completely surrounds Gaza City
Belligerents
Israel	Hamas File:Flag of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine.svg Palestinian Islamic Jihad File:PFLP Infobox Flag.svg Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Commanders and leaders
Benjamin Netanyahu Yoav Gallant Benny Gantz Herzl Halevi Tomer Bar Ronen Bar	Ismail Haniyeh Yahya Sinwar Mohammed Deif File:Flag of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine.svg Ziyad al-Nakhalah File:PFLP Infobox Flag.svg Abu Jamal Abu Khaled
Units involved
162nd Armored Division 401st Brigade Israeli Air Force Shayetet 13	Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades Nukhba File:Flag of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine.svg Al-Quds Brigades File:PFLP Infobox Flag.svg Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades National Resistance Brigades
Strength
20,000 inside Gaza Strip	Al-Qassam Brigades: 40,000
Casualties and losses
Per Israel: 20 killed	Unknown

On the evening of 27 October 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a large scale ground incursion inside the Gaza Strip with the stated intent to attack Hamas militants and locate and rescue Israeli hostages. While not characterized as an invasion by Israel, sources treat it as an invasion in the classic sense of the word.

Background

After Hamas militants invaded Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel declared war against Hamas. Israel moved to mobilize 300,000 reservists and began to move armor close to the border with the Gaza Strip in the aftermath. Included in the amassing of armor were Namer armored personnel carriers and Merkava tanks.

Prior to the raids, Israel had called for the more than one million people living in the north half of the Gaza Strip to evacuate during a 24-hour window, while Hamas instructed those residents to stay put. The IDF had urged around 1.1 million civilians to leave North Gaza so they would not be hurt or caught in crossfire, and Israeli officials said that the window was left at 24-hours to reduce the time for Hamas to conduct military preparation in the area. However, aid groups stated that the time window was too short to evacuate the one million people, and lack of electricity in Gaza hampered the ability of electronic communications regarding the evacuation to reach Gazans. Israel had dropped leaflets in Gaza City containing the evacuation order, in addition to electronic communications.

On 21 October 2023, the Israeli army dropped more leaflets in Gaza with the message: "Urgent warning! To the residents of Gaza: your presence to the North of Wadi Gaza is putting your lives at risk. Anyone who chooses not to evacuate from the North of the Gaza Strip to the South of the Gaza Strip may be identified as a partner in a terrorist organization."

Raids inside Gaza Strip

On 13 October 2023, the Israeli Defense Forces sent armored vehicles and infantry into the Gaza Strip, stating that their goals were to attack Hamas militants and to rescue hostages that had been abducted to Gaza by Hamas. The operation, according to Israeli officials, was not part of a larger and widely anticipated ground invasion, but rather a raid in which troops only temporarily enter the Gaza Strip. The IDF confirmed the same day that Israeli remains were located and retrieved in the Gaza Strip.

Another raid, headed by the Givati Brigade and the 162nd Armored Division, took place between 25 and 26 October and was the largest offensive so far, including tanks, other vehicles and IDF Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozers. A followup raid took place the next night in the Shuja'iyya neighborhood of Gaza City.

Invasion

On the evening of 27 October, the IDF launched a large-scale ground assault on the towns of Beit Hanoun and Bureij in the Gaza Strip. The assault came amid a series of large-scale Israeli airstrikes that cut off mobile communications and internet access in Gaza. Shayetet 13, a division of the Israeli Navy, carried out a strike on Hamas naval forces overnight.

On 28 October, Israel said that the units deployed inside Gaza Strip the previous night were still on the ground, which marked the beginning of the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip. The IDF announced it is "expanding ground operations" in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military reissued a call to Gaza residents to evacuate the north as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the "second phase of the war had begun".

The IDF advanced on three fronts: from the northeast near Beit Hanoun, from the northwest near Beit Lahia, and from the east near Juhor ad-Dik.

On 30 October, the IDF blocked the Salah al-Din Road, which is a major thoroughfare connecting the northern and southern parts of the Gaza Strip. Additionally, Israeli tanks were spotted in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. A local resident told AFP that the Israelis "have cut the Salah al-Din road and are firing at any vehicle that tries to go along it." Witnesses reported, and a video showed, an Israeli tank firing on a taxi with a white flag on its roof that had attempted to turn around. An Israeli military spokesman said "The IDF was not shown any proof that this is a civilian car and there's no information on who is inside." A kidnapped IDF private was freed the same day in an operation headed by the IDF, with assistance from Shin Bet and Mossad. On 30 October in northwest Gaza the Al-Qassam Brigades and the DFLP's National Resistance Brigades engaged Israeli forces. Alongside that, the National Resistance Brigades bombarded Israeli vehicles with heavy mortar shells.

On 1 November IDF reported the deaths of 16 soldiers, 15 killed inside Gaza and one outside Palestinian territory.

On 2 November, IDF had completely surrounded Gaza City, which began the siege of Gaza City.

Israeli strategy

The Israeli government has not as of 30 October described operations as an invasion although according to Vox it has "both political and tactical reasons to obfuscate" while the New York Times says "the Israeli military appears to have begun an invasion of the Gaza Strip". Zoran Kusovac of Al Jazeera has stated that it is unclear whether the actions are a "probe" or the start of something larger. The United States has urged Israel to avoid a full-scale invasion and instead conduct "surgical" operations to avoid casualties and a regional escalation. Israeli military sources say there are over 20,000 IDF forces in Gaza as of 31 October.

On 29 October, Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant said he expected the "second stage of the war" to last "months". The following phases are expected to be the removal of small groups of resistance, and, finally, withdrawal from Gaza.

Reactions

Iran

According to Al Jazeera, on 15 October, "Iran warned Israel of regional escalation if the Israeli military enters Gaza for a ground invasion." Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stated that if efforts to stop Israeli attacks in Gaza fail, it's increasingly likely that "other fronts will be opened".

Saudi Arabia

On 27 October, Saudi officials strongly cautioned the United States that an Israeli ground operation in Gaza could have devastating consequences for the Middle East.

See also

• Outline of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
• List of military engagements during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
• Timeline of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
• October 2023 Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip

Notes

1. Temporary raids ongoing since 13 October

References

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