Israel strikes over 100 targets in Gaza; conflict could last months?

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced today, October 20, that they had attacked more than 100 targets in the Gaza Strip during the night of October 19 and early morning of October 20, including an attack that killed a member of the Hamas force involved in the attack on southern Israel on October 7, according to The Times of Israel .

Another overnight attack targeted a Hamas air defense team after it attempted to fire missiles at Israeli warplanes, the IDF said. An underground tunnel, a weapons depot and dozens of command centers were among the 100 Hamas sites hit overnight.

Palestinians in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 19 gather around the rubble after an Israeli attack.

Among the 100 targets hit was a mosque in the Jabaliya neighborhood that the IDF said contained Hamas weapons and equipment and was used by the group as an observation post and training ground.

There is no information yet on Hamas' reaction to the IDF's statement.

Gaza has come under a wave of Israeli fire in retaliation for a Hamas offensive on October 7 that Israel says killed at least 1,400 people. Israeli bombings have since killed at least 3,785 people in Gaza, according to AFP, citing figures from Gaza's health ministry.

Israel talks about planned ground operation in Gaza

As airstrikes continue against Hamas in Gaza, the Israeli military is preparing for an invasion of Gaza to destroy Hamas. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops stationed near Gaza on October 19 that orders to enter Gaza would come “soon,” according to The Times of Israel .

"Now you see Gaza from afar, soon you will see it from the inside. Orders will come," Mr Gallant told the soldiers of the Givati Brigade.

A formation of Israeli tanks and other military forces is seen near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel on October 20.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also visited the front line, telling a group of soldiers that Israel was on the road to a great victory.

However, the commander of the IDF's Southern Command, Major General Yaron Finkelman, said that the planned ground offensive in Gaza would be "protracted". "Now the maneuver will move the fighting to their territory. We will defeat them on their territory. It will be difficult, long and intense," Finkelman was quoted as saying by The Times of Israel .

Will the Hamas-Israel conflict last for months?

Speaking at a funeral on October 18, Israeli cabinet minister Benny Gantz said the ongoing Hamas-Israel conflict could last for months and could include the northern front, according to The Times of Israel .

"The war will take a long time. The war in the south, and if necessary also in the north or elsewhere, can take months and the reconstruction will take years. Only when [the reconstruction] is complete will we have won," Minister Gantz said at the funeral of Ofir Libstein, head of the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council, who was killed in a Hamas attack in the southern Israeli neighborhood of Kfar Aza on October 7.

"Our goal is not only to defeat Hamas, but also to promise that the south will be 100% paradise. After the war, after we win, on whatever front we fight, we will devote ourselves to this reconstruction," Mr. Gantz stressed.

Also on October 18, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said that the war against Hamas would not be short, especially if Hezbollah continued to participate in the war, according to The Times of Israel .

Israel attacks several Hezbollah sites

In addition, the IDF today announced that it had attacked several more sites belonging to the Iran-backed Hezbollah force in southern Lebanon on the night of October 19 and early morning of October 20 in response to rocket and missile fire into northern Israel on October 19, according to the Times of Israel .

The IDF also claimed to have carried out a drone strike.

Israeli and Hezbollah troops have clashed along the border with Lebanon after the Hamas-Israel conflict erupted on October 7. In response, the Israeli army today announced plans to evacuate the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona, according to AFP.

Israeli authorities have repeatedly evacuated communities on the northern border, as reserve forces and convoys of tanks and armored vehicles roll into the area.

US State Department official resigns over US sending weapons to Israel

Josh Paul, director of public and congressional affairs at the State Department's Political-Military Affairs Bureau, recently resigned over his opposition to continued US military support for Israel in its conflict with Hamas, according to NPR today, October 20. The Political-Military Bureau oversees arms sales.

In a two-page letter posted on LinkedIn , Mr. Paul wrote that he promised himself when he joined the Political-Military Department more than 10 years ago that he would stay “as long as I felt the harm I could cause would be less than the good I could do.”

Mr. Paul submitted his resignation on October 18, the same day that US President Joe Biden visited Israel to publicly show support for the country.

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