BICOM

The IDF expanded its targets in its operation against armed groups in the Gaza Strip over the past day, including a series of strikes against the homes of seven senior Hamas officials. This followed an order from Israel’s Chief of Staff Benny Gantz yesterday for the IDF to intensify the pace of attacks, which has brought the number of sites targeted since the start of the operation to 1,350.

The IDF struck approximately 80 targets overnight, including underground rocket launching sites, smuggling tunnels and training bases. It also targeted buildings owned by senior Hamas figures, which were apparently used as command posts and weapon storage facilities, as well as several Hamas police headquarters. The IDF also fired on several Hamas rocket-firing crews as they prepared to fire rockets towards Israel. On Sunday afternoon the IDF reported that it had killed the head of Hamas’s rocket-launching unit Yehiya Bia.

Palestinian fatalities rose sharply over the last forty-eight hours, including civilians. Eleven members of the al-Dahou family were killed in a single strike on a house yesterday, which killed Hamas rocket engineer Jamal Mohammed Yassin Dalu. It is unclear whether he was the target of the strike, or whether the intended target was the head of Hamas’ rocket unit Yahia Rabia, who IDF officials first claimed had been hit but later retracted. The death toll on the Palestinian side has increased to 65, with a number of women and children among the weekend’s Palestinian fatalities. The increase in Palestinian fatalities may be due to the fact that having hit many of its initial targets in less built up areas, the IDF is now moving on to targets in more built up areas, where the risk of unintended civilian casualties is greater.

Israel is keen to send a clear message to Hamas, that they are going to come under increasing pressure the longer the conflict goes on. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet yesterday that he is ‘prepared to expand’ the operation in Gaza and Israeli Radio reported this morning that 45,000 reservists have now been called up and troops and tanks are massing on the border.

In a separate development, the Kerem Shalom crossing reopened on Sunday to allow the transfer of humanitarian aid into Gaza. In total, 124 trucks of goods entered the Gaza Strip carrying medical supplies, food, milk and gas.