Israeli fighter jets have continued attacking high-rise buildings and other targets in the Gaza Strip as Israel boosted its deployment of troops and tanks near the besieged Palestinian enclave on Thursday.
Palestinians marked the first day of the Eid al-Fitr religious holiday under relentless aerial bombardment with Gaza’s health ministry saying that 103 people, including 27 children, have been killed since the Israeli offensive began late on Monday. More than 580 others have been wounded.
Reporting from southern Israel, Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett said that operations on both sides were still going on, but there has been a bit of a lull in terms of the most recent rocket fire out of Gaza.
“However, we are still hearing regularly artillery heading into Gaza from locations around here,” said Fawcett.
“Also in the last ten minutes, the sound of machine-gun fire apparently coming from nearby. Helicopter[s] as well, and so the situation remains that this is a continuing military attack that the Israelis seem intent on continuing.
“What we saw earlier was the first of a major movement of heavy armour that we’ve seen so far, tanks, tracked vehicles, heading in a line south towards Gaza, at the same time there was this extremely intensive artillery barrage lasting about an hour, then there was a pause, and then another big artillery barrage coming later.
“It’s not yet clear whether this is a ground invasion, or whether it is a kind of a warning of the potential of a ground invasion. Either way, it is already having a devastating impact it seems in Northern Gaza,” he added.
