JERUSALEM

The Israeli army began a wide-scale ground incursion in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday as Tel Aviv expanded its military campaign against the Palestinian enclave.

According to the state broadcaster KAN, the ground offensive involves the army’s 36th Division, in the largest attack since the military resumed its assault on Gaza on March 18.

Wednesday’s assault was preceded by evacuation orders issued by the army in the past two days for Palestinians from large areas between Rafah and Khan Younis.

Israel began a surprise aerial campaign on Gaza on March 18 and has since killed more than 1,000 victims and injured over 2,000, shattering a January ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

More than 50,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in Israel's military onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.