On Tuesday, Israel announced that its forces were advancing deep into Gaza City, with reports from residents indicating the positioning of tanks on the city’s outskirts, potentially in preparation for an assault on Gaza’s urban core.

“For the first time in decades, IDF is fighting in the heart of Gaza City. At the heart of terrorism,” Major General Yaron Finkelman, commanding officer of the Southern Command of the Israeli Defence Forces, told reporters near the Gaza border. “Every day and every hour the forces are killing militants, exposing tunnels and destroying weapons and continuing onward to enemy centres.”

Previously, Israel had declared the encirclement of Gaza City, home to approximately one-third of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million residents, and had intentions to launch an offensive against Hamas fighters who had attacked Israeli towns along the border a month ago.

While there were no immediate indications of a widespread Israeli incursion into the city, a military spokesperson, Richard Hecht, suggested that encircling troops might be conducting targeted raids inside Gaza City, Reuters reported.

Israel has, until now, maintained a level of ambiguity regarding its long-term intentions for Gaza, should its operation to defeat Hamas prove successful.

However, in one of the initial direct statements on the matter, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel aims to assume security responsibility for Gaza “indefinitely.”

Written B.C. Begley