Deir al-Balah Israeli forces
Tel Aviv (dpa) — The Israeli military has, for the first time in the ongoing Gaza war, moved ground troops into parts of Deir al-Balah, eyewitnesses said on Monday.
Israeli soldiers are reported by city residents to have taken control of buildings in the south-west of the city in the central Gaza Strip and positioned snipers on the rooftops.
The Israeli military initially did not comment on this.
On Sunday, the army issued an evacuation order for several residential blocks in the south-west of the city. Residents said they left their homes early on Monday.
Palestinian journalists told British public broadcaster BBC that Israeli tanks had advanced there, accompanied by air and artillery strikes.
The information could not initially be independently verified.
Israel had previously refrained from military action in Deir al-Balah because hostages abducted by the Palestinian militant organization Hamas were suspected to be there.
The Israeli forum of hostage families expressed dismay over the advance of Israeli troops. The political decision-makers had failed to address the concerns of the affected families regarding the serious threat to the lives of their relatives, a statement from the forum said.
“The Israeli people will not forgive anyone who knowingly endangers the hostages – both the living and the dead,” the statement said. According to Israeli reports, 50 people abducted from Israel are still being held in Gaza, with at least 20 of them believed to be alive.
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