Video shows Israeli armored vehicles clearing paths into Gaza ahead of a likely ground invasion
X/@IDF
- The footage shows Israeli armored vehicles clearing paths into northern Gaza.
- The paths will likely be used by the Israeli Defense Forces to invade Gaza.
- The IDF said it conducted "targeted raids" overnight as it gears up to "wipe out" Hamas in Gaza.
Israeli armored vehicles have cleared paths into Gaza ahead of a likely ground invasion, according to a video shared by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The footage shows dozens of armored vehicles clearing dirt piles and constructing several paths near the border fence between Gaza and Israel.
A column of military vehicles can be seen leaving tracks in the ground as it crosses northern Gaza:
The vehicles include Merkava Mark lV main battle tanks, Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozers, and Puma armored engineering vehicles, according to OSINT Defender, an open-source intelligence monitor.
The armored vehicles can also be seen opening up entry points into Gaza:
X/@IDF
OSINT Defender said the paths "will likely be used" by the IDF in their upcoming ground invasion.
Israel conducted a "targeted raid" of Gaza overnight as part of preparations for the next stage of combat before exiting the area, the IDF said in a post on X on Wednesday.
In a televised address on Wednesday, Israel's Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu, said the IDF was gearing up for a ground invasion, but he declined to give any details on the timing or scale of the invasion.
"I will not elaborate on when, how, or how many. I will also not elaborate on the various calculations we are making, which the public is mostly unaware of, and that is how things should be," he said, per Reuters.
In the aftermath of Hamas' terror attacks on southern Israel on October 7, in which some 1,400 people were killed and another 5,400 left injured, the Israeli government declared war on Hamas and said it would wipe out the militant group in Gaza.
Israel's Defense Minister ordered a "complete siege" of Gaza, cutting off electricity and the flow of food, water, and supplies, leaving more than two million people trapped in a humanitarian disaster.
The IDF has since pummeled Gaza with airstrikes, causing material and human devastation in the enclave, photos show.
Israel has so far held off a full-scale invasion of the enclave after the US requested it delay it so the Pentagon could place air defenses in the region to protect American troops, unnamed US officials told The Wall Street Journal.
Military experts previously told Insider that Israel's invasion of Gaza could turn the war into a larger regional conflict, dragging Iranian-backed militant groups, including the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the Islamist Houthi militia, into the Israel-Hamas war.
The Palestinian death toll in Gaza exceeded 4,800 on Wednesday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza's Ministry of Health.