The Israeli army is mobilizing its forces in preparation for a major attack on Gaza
Israel on Tuesday intensified its troop buildup as reserve soldiers began responding to call-up orders in preparation for launching an offensive aimed at seizing control of Gaza City in the north of the besieged and devastated Palestinian enclave after nearly two years of war.
Civil Defense reported that at least 85 people have been killed by Israeli fire across the Gaza Strip since dawn on Tuesday, as Israel has intensified its bombardment of Gaza City in recent days.
On Wednesday, the Israeli army claimed to have assassinated Misbah al Dayeh, head of the Mujahideen Brigades in the Gaza Strip, the armed wing of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement.
The Israeli army said in a statement: “In a joint operation led by the Southern Command, Misbah Salim Misbah al Dayeh, who served as the head of the Mujahideen Brigades organization in the Gaza Strip, was eliminated last week in the Nuseirat area central Israel”.
The Israeli army said, “al Dayeh was busy recruiting activists in the West Bank and inside Israel, using them to plan and carry out operations… During the war, the organization he headed was involved in attacks inside Israel and against Israeli military forces in the Gaza Strip”.
The statement also noticed that “al Dayeh assumed his position after three of the organization’s former leaders were eliminated in Israeli airstrikes in recent months”.
The Mujahideen Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, did not immediately comment on the Israeli military’s statement.
Israel is proceeding with its plan to seize control of the largest city in the Gaza Strip, despite mounting international and domestic pressure to end the war in Gaza, where the United Nations declared a famine last month.
Israeli media reported that approximately 40,000 reserve soldiers were called up as part of the first wave of mobilization.
An Israeli military official said that regular forces, not reserves, will lead the next phase of operations.
On Tuesday, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir told reserve soldiers, “We’ll increase and intensify the pace of strikes in our operation, and that is why we have called you up… The IDF will accept nothing less than a decisive victory… We’ll not stop the war until we defeat this enemy”.
In Tel Aviv, a group of conscientious objectors calling itself “Soldiers for the Kidnapped” organized an event calling on reserve and regular soldiers not to report for duty.
Last week, the Israeli military declared Gaza City a “dangerous combat zone” and said it must be evacuated.
The International Committee of the Red Cross deemed evacuating the city impossible and evacuation plans unfeasible.
The vast majority of the Strip’s population of more than two million people have been displaced multiple times during the war.
