Ground offensive ‘not yet heading into most complex areas’

Two hours after Israel announced the launch of its ground offensive against Hamas, Housing Minister Uri Ariel says the IDF is not yet heading into “the most complex areas” of Gaza. At this stage, the operation will “allow the special forces” to deal with the tunnels.

Ariel tells Army Radio that he expects Hamas will keep firing rockets, however. If so, he says, this will necessitate a deeper IDF land offensive.

The ground offensive was announced late Thursday by the Prime Minister’s Office,

After ordering ground troops into Gaza, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ya’alon had instructed the IDF to be prepared for an expansion of ground operations as part of its attack on Hamas terror tunnels in the Gaza Strip.

“Through terror tunnels such as these, Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israeli territory early this morning with the aim of carrying out mass terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.

The green light for ground ops in the Gaza Strip was given by the cabinet after Israel agreed to an Egyptian ceasefire proposal which Hamas rejected and afterward launched rockets at Israel, the PMO said. It also pointed at Hamas’s abrogation of the five-hour humanitarian truce earlier on Thursday.

The IDF spokesman said later Thursday that large numbers of troops were operating in Gaza, and urged Gaza residents to evacuate areas where the IDF was operating.

The offensive was unanimously approved by the security cabinet “several days ago,” Likud minister Gilad Erdan said.