Israel poised to launch ground offensive in Gaza

The Israeli military is drafting a plan for a possible ground war in Gaza following another night of rocket attacks and escalating street violence between Jews and Israeli Arabs.

The Israeli Defense Forces said it had deployed two infantry units and one armoured unit to the border with Gaza, and that a ground operations plan would be submitted to military chiefs later today, ahead of approval by the Israeli government. 

Hamas militants have launched dozens of rockets at Israel again today, after Israeli air strikes killed senior commanders and destroyed a multi-storey building in Gaza yesterday.

The escalation, which began on Monday, has triggered the worst street violence between Jews and Israeli Arabs in years. Last night, far-right Jewish mobs took to the streets across Israel searching for Arabs, while Arab-Israeli citizens clashed with police.

At least 67 Palestinians and seven people in Israel have been killed since fighting began. The escalation has prompted the UN to warn of a “full-scale war”.

Shocking footage shared on social media has also shown the “near-lynchings” of Jewish and Arab motorists. In one incident shown live on TV, a mob was seen dragging a man they thought was an Arab from his car in a Tel Aviv suburb and beating him until he lay motionless and bloodied on the ground.

Reuven Rivlin, Israel’s president, interrupted a TV broadcast with an appeal to “please stop the madness”. He said: “We are endangered by rockets that are being launched at our citizens and streets, and we are busying ourselves with a senseless civil war among ourselves.” 

Groups of Israeli Arabs were also reported to be demonstrating in cities including Jerusalem, Haifa, Tamra, and Lod, where the government imposed a state of emergency after violence there on Tuesday.

President Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night and said he was hopeful that a cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians would end soon. He said that Israel “had a right to defend itself” but he added: “My expectation and hope is this will be closing down sooner than later.”

Despite Biden’s optimism, neither side has shown any sign of backing down. Netanyahu has promised to “continue acting to strike at the military capabilities of Hamas” and other Gaza groups, while Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh, said: “The confrontation with the enemy is open-ended.”