US President Joe Biden, in remarks looking beyond the war that began with an Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian Hamas militants

Israeli ground forces operated within the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, attacking multiple Hamas targets before withdrawing, the military said in a statement on what Israel’s Army Radio described as the biggest incursion of the current war.

Video of the overnight action issued by the military showed armoured vehicles proceeding through a sandy border zone. A bulldozer is seen levelling part of a raised bank, tanks fire shells, and explosions are seen near or amid a row of damaged buildings.

The military statement posted online said the incursion was carried out “in preparation for the next stages of combat”, a possible reference to the large-scale invasion that Israeli leaders have threatened as part of the war to destroy Hamas.

“The soldiers have since exited the area and returned to Israeli territory,” the military statement added.

Israel began localised ground incursions on Sunday as the war, triggered by an Oct 7 cross-border rampage by Hamas gunmen, entered its third week. Israel’s Army Radio described Thursday’s incursion as the biggest yet.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas in Gaza.

BOMBARDMENT

Israel bombarded Hamas targets as it prepared for a ground invasion, with Russia warning the conflict could spread beyond the Middle East, and as world powers failed to secure plans to deliver critical humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.

US President Joe Biden, in remarks looking beyond the war that began with an Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Palestinian Hamas militants, said on Wednesday that the future should include Israeli and Palestinian states side by side.

“Israelis and Palestinians equally deserve to live side by side in safety, dignity and in peace,” Biden said at a joint press conference in Washington with visiting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Biden said he believed one reason the Islamist Hamas group attacked southern Israel, killing 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostages of different nationalities, was to prevent normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the conflict could spread beyond the Middle East and said it was wrong that innocent women, children and old people in Gaza were being punished for other people’s crimes.

“Our task today, our main task, is to stop the bloodshed and violence,” said Putin in a meeting with Russian religious leaders of different faiths, according to a Kremlin transcript.

“Otherwise, further escalation of the crisis is fraught with grave and extremely dangerous and destructive consequences. And not only for the Middle East region. It could spill over far beyond the borders of the Middle East.”

Reflecting concerns the Gaza war may spread, the Wall Street Journal reported that Israel had agreed to delay invading Gaza until US air defence systems can be placed in the region, as early as this week, to protect American forces.

Asked about the report, US officials told Reuters that Washington has raised its concerns with Israel that Iran and Iranian-backed Islamist groups could escalate the conflict by attacking US troops in the Middle East. An Israeli incursion into Gaza could be a trigger for Iranian proxies, they said.

Gaza’s war has already sparked conflict beyond the Palestinian territories. Israeli warplanes struck Syrian army infrastructure on Wednesday in response to rockets fired from Syria, an ally of Iran. Israel has also targeted Syria’s Aleppo airport and Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Iran, Israel’s arch-enemy, has sought regional ascendancy for decades and backs armed groups in Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere as well as Hamas. It has warned Israel to stop its onslaught on Gaza.

‘GROUND INVASION’

Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, which rules Gaza.

“We will keep striking in Gaza in order to achieve the goals of the war,” Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said. “Every strike strengthens us and improves our situation ahead of the next stages in the war.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised statement that Israel was “preparing for a ground invasion. I will not elaborate on when, how or how many.”

Israeli tanks and troops are massed on the border with Gaza awaiting orders. Israel has called up 360,000 reservists.

International pressure is growing to delay any invasion of Gaza, not least because of hostages. More than half the estimated 220 hostages held by Hamas have foreign passports from 25 different countries, the Israeli government said. Many were believed to have had dual Israeli nationality.