North-south road blocked
Tanks appear to be entering Gaza district
October 30, 2023, 12:18 p.m
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
Eyewitnesses report Israeli tanks in Al-Seitun, the largest district of Gaza City. The most important north-south axis in the Gaza Strip is blocked. “They shoot at every car that drives there,” says a witness.
According to eyewitnesses, Israeli tanks briefly entered a neighborhood on the outskirts of Gaza City. “Dozens” of tanks moved into the Al-Seitun district and blocked the main road between the north and south of the Gaza Strip, eyewitnesses said this morning.
“They have cut off Salaheddin Street and are shooting at every car that drives there,” said a witness. The tanks and the Israeli Air Force bombarded the important traffic axis over a length of one kilometer. The road is covered in large craters and is no longer passable.
According to several witnesses, the tanks took up two positions on the main road, one 1.5 kilometers from the Israeli border and another two kilometers away. According to eyewitnesses, after almost an hour the tanks withdrew towards the border.
Palestinians report four deaths in West Bank
Al-Seitun is Gaza’s largest district, with 130,000 residents before the war began. However, the part into which the tanks reportedly advanced is comparatively sparsely populated. There are increasing signs that Israel is trying to encircle Gaza City. The Israeli army had again called on the civilian population to flee to the south of the coastal area.
The Israeli army reported in the morning that it had expanded its ground activities in the north of the Gaza Strip and had hit more than 600 targets in the coastal enclave within 24 hours. The attacks were among the most violent since the major attack by the radical Islamic group Hamas on October 7th.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, four people were killed in clashes with the Israeli military in the city of Jenin during the night, according to Palestinian reports. The information cannot be verified. The Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post reported that the army had taken action against armed members of militant Palestinian organizations. Explosives were also seized.