WATCH: Israeli Forces Enter Gaza, Return; Preparing for Broader Invasion

Israel
ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images
Joel B. Pollak

An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) strike team entered Gaza overnight Wednesday into Thursday to attack anti-tank defenses in preparation for a ground invasion that has long been anticipated, the IDF said.

The IDF published video of the mission:

In a statement, the IDF said:

Overnight, the IDF conducted a targeted raid using tanks in the northern Gaza Strip, as part of preparations for the next stages of combat. The activity was commanded by the Givati Brigade.

During the activity, soldiers located and struck numerous terrorists, terror infrastructure and anti-tank missile launch posts, and operated to prepare the battlefield.

The soldiers exited the area at the end of the activity.

In addition, according to the IDF (via Times of Israel) said that it his 250 Hamas targets, including a rocket launch site near a school.

Roughly 100,000 troops are massed at the Gaza border to enter and take out Hamas, the Palestinian terror organization that attacked Israel on October 7, murdering around 1,200 people, wounding well over 4,000 more, and taking over 200 hostages.

The scale and brutality of the attack has convinced Israelis that they can no longer tolerate the presence of Hamas in Gaza. A ground invasion will likely have a heavy cost in terms of lives, but the county is united behind the need to invade and fight.

Editor’s Note:  This story was updated to reflect a revised number on the death toll from the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel.  The Israeli government estimate of 1,400 was revised to around 1,200, according to Reuters.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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