Above photo: Screenshot of a video showing Israeli troops inside Gaza on 31 October. Israeli army.
Palestinian resistance have thwarted several Israeli incursions into Gaza strip, as Israeli warplanes ramped up strikes against civilians in the besieged enclave.
Hamas Palestinian resistance group announced on Saturday, October 28, the failure of the Israeli ground attack, saying significant losses were inflicted upon the occupation forces.
“The enemy fell into ambushes set up by the Palestinian resistance on three fronts,” Hamas announced in a statement, adding that resistance fighters used Kornet anti-tank missiles and Yassin shells against occupation forces.
The Israeli occupation used helicopters to evacuate the wounded and the dead from the battlefield, Hamas stated, and added that they are expecting that the Israeli occupation will try further incursions.
Meanwhile on Saturday, the Israeli army, which rarely acknowledges losses, shared a footage of occupation forces operating in the Gaza Strip.
The undated video showing tanks was shared through the military’s official account on X.
Earlier on Friday, Israeli occupation army said ground troops were “expanding their efforts inside Gaza to dismantle the infrastructure of Hamas.”
Late Friday night, Palestinian media also reported that Israeli tanks were taking their position within the Gaza Strip.
Communications blackout
The Israeli incursion was preceded by a near-total blackout of internet and cellphone service.
The largest telecommunications provider in Gaza that was still largely operational, Paltel, reported on Friday, October 27, that it had suffered a complete disruption of all services after heavy Israeli bombing earlier in the day destroyed its last remaining infrastructure connecting it to the global internet.
NetBlocks, a UK company that tracks global internet connectivity, said the bombing created the biggest internet blackout since the conflict began.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society issued a statement saying that the disruption would likely cause significant problems for emergency medical services in Gaza.
“We have completely lost contact with the operations room in Gaza Strip and all our teams operating there due to the Israeli authorities cutting off all landline, cellular and internet communications,” the group said.
Unprecedented airstrikes
The Israeli occupation has intensified its bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip, with extended series of large explosions lighting up the sky over the Gaza city and other regions across the enclave.
Palestinian media described the airstrikes as the most violent since the outbreak of the Israeli aggression on the territory.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that it was out of touch with its staff and health facilities in Gaza.
“The blackout is also making it impossible for ambulances to reach the injured,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in a post on social media platform X.
Battle rages in Gaza City as Israeli incursions continue
Intense clashes between Israeli forces and the Palestinian resistance inside Gaza continued throughout 31 October, as Gaza officials warn that Tel Aviv is moving ahead with plans to split the northern part of Gaza Strip from the south.
A spokesperson for Gaza’s Ministry of Interior and National Security, Iyad al-Bazm, reported that Israeli troops advanced on the strategic Salah al-Din Street of Gaza City and “are trying to reach Al-Rashid Street, where they seek to separate the north of the Gaza Strip from its south.”
Israel also continued its bombardment of the strip. A violent airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip resulted in the death of at least 100 people.
Hamas’ armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, announced in a statement that their fighters have inflicted “direct losses” on Isreali forces.
“The ground incursions on various axes are a miserable Zionist attempt to achieve an imaginary victory to cover up the military and security failure and the defeat of October 7,” the statement read. “Gaza will remain a cemetery for the invaders.”
The al-Qassam Brigades also fired missiles towards Tel Aviv as the battle continues.
Israeli troops are facing fierce resistance and have fallen into several ambushes since they began operating inside the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli military source told Reuters, “The biggest challenge facing the army in the ground attack on Gaza is the resistance tunnels, from which Palestinian forces suddenly come out and target Israeli soldiers with bullets and RPGs, and again they go back into these tunnels.”