Ground op underway: IDF troops enter Gaza

Israeli TV Channel 1 is showing nightvision photos of infantry entering Gaza. Location of the entry points and scope and duration are not given.

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Ground op underway: IDF troops enter Gaza

 

Ground operation underway: Following heavy artillery bombardment, IDF soldiers enter Gaza Saturday evening; forces invade northern section of Strip; earlier, army fires hundreds of shells at areas adjacent to Gaza fence

 

Hanan Greenberg
Latest Update:  01.03.09, 20:42 / Israel News

 

IDF invades Gaza: IDF ground troops entered the northern Gaza Strip Saturday evening, as the army launched its long anticipated ground operation.

 

 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met Friday night and approved the ground incursion. The operation was approved in principle in the cabinet session 10 days ago.

 

Earlier in the day, artillery cannons started to shell targets in the Strip. The IDF said that by Saturday evening hundreds of shells had been fired at precise targets in Gaza. Much of Gaza was enveloped by darkness as night fell.

 

Meanwhile, Air Force aircraft continued to drop leaflets in Gaza, calling on residents to leave their homes in order to avoid injury. The leaflets dropped Saturday read: "Area resident, as result of the acts undertaken by terror activists in your area against Israel, the IDF is forced to respond immediately and operate in this area. For your own safety, you are asked to leave the area immediately."

 

Earlier Saturday, the Air Force attacked a vehicle in Khan Younis carrying Hamas officer Muhammad Maaruf and another group member. The two were reportedly killed in the strike. Saturday morning, a senior Hamas commander was assassinated.