The Cradle: Israeli army launches "limited" ground incursion into Gaza
Posted by sashimi on October 26, 2023, 2:02 pm
26 Oct 2023
Lede: US special forces and senior Pentagon officials have been 'advising' Israel ahead of a ground offensive, as the army is deemed unprepared to confront the Palestinian resistance in urban warfare
Israel forces launched a limited ground incursion into the northern Gaza Strip late on 25 October to prepare for the "next stages" of the war and its anticipated large-scale offensive into the enclave.
"In preparation for the next stages of combat, the IDF operated in northern Gaza. IDF tanks and infantry struck numerous terrorist cells, infrastructure, and anti-tank missile launch posts. The soldiers have since exited the area and returned to Israeli territory," a military statement said on 26 October.
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The incursion was considerably bigger than the smaller incursions that Israel has been carrying out near the Gaza border lately, which reportedly aims to locate missing Israelis and clear out explosives.
Last weekend, Israeli troops crossed the border fence by several meters, launching a preparatory incursion into the Gaza Strip.
There's been so much talk and controversy about the BBC chosing not to label Hamas as a terrorist organisation, however, there's no 'controversy' in our media about casually defining the Israeli military as the IDF, the Israeli Defence Force, which accepts, without question, the Israeli government/state's view, or prepaganda about the character of the Israeli military and their state.
Why don't the BBC/Guardian label them the IOF, Israeli Occupation Force, surely that's what they really are? It's more accurate. Ask the Palestinians or in the wider Middle East?
Then they accept, uncritically, Israeli statements about the conflict and their actions, as if they are, per definition, true. They never say, but we couldn't independently verify the Israeli claims.
The BBC always seem to be on first name basis with Israeli spokesmen, too.