The operation carried out on Wednesday night by Israeli land forces in the northern part of the Gaza Strip was essentially a "rehearsal" of land invasion, as Sky News correspondent in the Middle East Alister Bankal.
It is recalled that in a statement published by the Israeli army on the internet it is noted that "during the night the army carried out a targeted raid with tanks in the northern part of the Gaza Strip as part of the preparations for the next stages of the battle".
The video released shows armored vehicles proceeding to a sandy area on the border. An excavator straightens the soil of a embankment, battle tanks launch shells and appear explosions near or in the midst of a series of damaged houses.
The Sky News correspondent today explained why yesterday's operation is part of "preparing the ground" for the large-scale ground invasion the Israelis have threatened to launch into the Palestinian enclave.
According to Bankal, this preparation includes gathering intelligence but also ensuring that entry points are clear of mines.
Israeli forces will also have to form a picture of what Hamas' reaction will be when the full-scale invasion finally begins, but also of the intensity of fire they will receive from the terrorists when they cross the border, the Sky News correspondent points out. . "All this information helps them plan the ground invasion."
After yesterday's raid by Israeli ground forces into the Gaza Strip - believed to be the largest since the start of the war - ended, all Israeli soldiers exited the enclave and returned to Israeli soil.
The United Nations has issued a warning that "nowhere is safe" in Gaza amid intensified Israeli airstrikes in preparation for a widely expected ground offensive.
The coordinator, Lynn Hastings, argued in a statement that "advance warnings" issued by the Israeli military to populations to evacuate areas it intends to target "make no difference."
"No place is safe in Gaza," he stressed.
The Israeli Forces reported that warplanes hit more than 250 sites belonging to the Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip in the last day.
The sites included Hamas infrastructure, command centers, tunnels and rocket launchers, according to the IDF.
The IDF said the rocket launchers were "placed in the heart of civilian areas that fired into Israeli territory throughout the war."
Separately, the IDF reports that Navy forces hit a Hamas surface-to-air missile launch site in Khan Younis.
The IDF said the rocket launch site "is next to a mosque and a kindergarten, which is further evidence that Hamas is deliberately using civilian sites for terrorist purposes."
