FIERCE Israeli troops gearing up to storm Hamas strongholds in Gaza have been given shoot-to-kill orders, leaked invasion plans reveal.
Tens of thousands of soldiers face ambush at every turn and will have to grapple with booby traps and defences carefully planted by the terrorists.
GettyIsraeli tanks near the Gaza border in Ashkelon, Israel[/caption]
GettyAn Israeli soldier stands close to the Gaza border in Netivot[/caption]
The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are being readied to launch an all-out ground offensive on Gaza after militants burst over the border and brutally massacred hundreds.
They will be tasked with capturing Gaza City, toppling the enclave’s Hamas leadership and rescuing up to 199 hostages.
Israel’s soldiers have vowed to “wipe this evil off the face of the earth once and for all” as they prepare to attack the terror group.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told front-line soldiers: “The next stage is coming”.
Israel has warned Gaza it is preparing an all-out assault “from the air, land and sea”, with almost 400,000 troops gearing up for battle.
Mr Netanyahu said: “They are ready to take action to defeat the bloodthirsty monsters who have risen against us to destroy us.
“Hamas thought that we would come apart – we will demolish Hamas.”
The ground offensive is set to be Israel’s largest since it invaded Lebanon in 2006.
But Hamas is believed to have been preparing for months for a ground assault in retaliation for the carnage its gunmen unleashed on October 7.
Israeli soldiers face the gruelling task of combating Hamas’ so-called “tunnel rats” lurking in the group’s 311-mile maze of passages.
The complex network is virtually untouchable by airstrikes – and is only accessible by the floors of select homes, mosques and schools.
But it’s understood the entire lair is heavily laden with booby traps and homemade bombs.
It comes as…
PM Benjamin Netanyahu vows to ‘exterminate bloody monsters’ as troops surround GazaNearly 400,000 Israeli troops are gearing up for battleGaza-Egypt border crossing set to reopen for ‘limited time’Israeli commandos spray Hamas terrorists with machine gun bullets during a high-speed sea battleHamas commanders ‘are training boy soldiers’ to battle Israeli forcesBiden warns it would be a mistake for Israel to occupy GazaFuel reserves at Gaza hospitals expected to last only around 24 more hours
Israeli military leaders believe Hamas gunmen will attempt to scupper the IDF’s progress by blowing up some of the underground passages as Israeli soldiers advance above them, reports The New York Times.
It is feared Israeli forces may also be ambushed by Hamas gunmen bursting out of hidden tunnel openings.
The tunnels are understood to be connected to launch pits where rockets have been fired from towards Israeli areas.
Each tunnel is reinforced with concrete and some are so narrow fighters are unable to stand up in them.
Others, however, are much more spacious – allowing terrorist troops to run through them and transport weapons and contraband.
They are extremely difficult to detect from the air and have long frustrated Israel’s military as despite being armed with top-of-the-range equipment, they have so far been unable to wipe them out.
As Israeli forces prepare to pour over the border, sources told the NYT military rules have been loosened to allow soldiers to make fewer checks before shooting suspected enemies dead.
But a former UK intelligence chief has warned the whole thing is a set-up to trick Israeli soldiers into Gaza.
Alex Younger, head of the UK’s MI6 foreign intelligence service from 2014 to 2020, told the BBC’s The Today Podcast, that Hamas had likely intended to lure Israeli fighters into a ground offensive.
He said: “You shouldn’t do what your enemy wants you to do.
“And it’s really obvious now that Hamas are essentially laying a trap for Israel.”
Younger added the group “will be well pleased if Israel commits itself to an open-ended, full-scale ground invasion of Gaza because of the scale and intensity of conflict that would entail, and the loss of innocent life that would inevitably follow and the radicalisation that would engender, and the extent to which will put Israel’s allies and partners in the region in an impossible position.”
It comes as Israel has evacuated civilians living close to the Lebanon border amid fears Hezbollah is on the brink of invading.
Foreign powers have urged the Iran-backed terror group to stay on the sidelines – but deputy chief Naim Qassem vowed to join “when the time comes for action”.
The threat of an escalation in the war came as UN aid chief Martin Griffiths warned that the “spectre of death” is hanging over the entire region.
GettyArmed fighters in one of the underground tunnels in Shujaya neighborhood of Gaza City[/caption]
ReutersIsraeli soldiers gather on and around a tank near the border with Gaza[/caption]
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