Jerusalem, Oct 26 (AFP/APP):Israel sent tanks, troops and armoured bulldozers into the Gaza Strip in a "targeted raid" overnight that destroyed multiple sites before withdrawing from the Hamas-run territory, the army said Thursday.
Black smoke billowed into the night sky after a blast in the grainy night-vision footage the military released hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared preparations for a ground war were underway.
On the 20th day of Israel's deadliest Gaza war yet, that has already killed thousands, the army said its forces had hit "numerous places, infrastructure and defence installations".
The operation in northern Gaza came in "preparation for the next stages of combat", it said, adding that the soldiers had "returned to Israeli territory".
The black-and-white video showed a column of armoured vehicles moving near Gaza's border fence. Other footage appeared to show an air strike and buildings being struck with munitions, sending debris flying high into the air.
Just hours earlier, Netanyahu had delivered a nationally televised address to Israelis telling them "we are in the midst of a campaign for our existence".
Israel has relentless strikes that Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said has killed more than 6,500, also mainly civilians -- a toll expected to rise substantially if Israeli troops massed near Gaza move in.
That scenario has further heightened international alarm as shock is growing about the scale of human suffering inside the besieged territory where Israel has cut off most water, food, fuel and other basic supplies.
In southern Gaza, a bereaved Palestinian woman, Umm Omar al-Khaldi, recounted to AFP how she witnessed her neighbours being killed in an Israeli strike that reduced the house to rubble, with many feared buried beneath.
"We saw them getting bombarded -- the children got bombarded while their mother was hugging them," the woman said, desperately pleading for help from the outside world.
"Where are the Arabs, where is humanity?" she said. "Have mercy on us, have mercy on us."
