MSNBC reported live on air that the Israeli Defence Forces “are preparing to expand their ground operations into the Gaza Strip this evening.” Israeli ground troops have been conducting raids in Gaza over the week, as their airstrikes are beginning to focus “on Hamas infrastructure, on their terrorist tunnels, as well as on their command centers and anti-tank positions. These are what military experts refer to as shaping operations. They are trying to essentially soften the ground for when Israel eventually goes in with this long-promised ground incursion.”
An IDF spokesman MSNBC spoke to said that they are focusing on the tunnels that Hamas has been using to navigate in Gaza. “That appears to be part of what they are targeting as they go in tonight, both by air and on the ground, with this spokesman saying that this is both an advantage for Hamas and that they can hide in those tunnels, but it also can be a weakness because it can become a death trap for Hamas when Israel's military goes in. The official saying that Israel has a very solid idea right now about the network of tunnels that they're going to have to deal with as they go in on the ground.”
