A column of Israeli tanks rolled into the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday in the start of a ground offensive against Hamas. The Israeli military confirmed that a force had entered the Gaza Strip to seize some areas used to fire rockets.
Israeli security officials said the operation is likely to go on, but the goal is not to reoccupy Gaza. The depth and intensity will depend on parallel diplomatic efforts, the officials said, according to the AP.
Israel's campaign "won't be easy and it won't be short," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a televised address shortly after the ground invasion began. "We do not seek war but we will not abandon our citizens to the ongoing Hamas attacks.
Maj. Avital Leibovich, an Israeli army spokeswoman, told CNN: "We have many, many targets. To my estimation, it will be a lengthy operation."
Israel has ordered the call-up of tens of thousands of military reservists as part of the ground offensive, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said in a statement late Saturday. It said that, in accordance with a secret cabinet discussion on Friday, the government ordered the armed forces "to draft the necessary reservists, on a scale of tens of thousands of troops".
A text message sent by Hamas' military wing, Izzedine al-Qassam, said "the Zionists started approaching the trap which our fighters prepared for them."
Hamas said it also broadcast a Hebrew message on Israeli military radio frequencies promising to kill and kidnap the Israeli soldiers. "Be prepared for a unique surprise, you will be either killed or kidnapped and will suffer mental illness from the horrors we will show you," the message said.
Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said in a televised speech that Gaza will "become a graveyard" for Israeli soldiers. He appeared on Hamas' Al Aqsa TV shortly after the ground offensive started. After the invasion, Hamas spokespeople and gunmen fired off fiery warnings to the Israeli forces. In another message, Hamas warned Israeli forces that "Gaza will not be paved with flowers for you, it will be paved with fire and hell."
