On Sunday, the Israeli army announced the start of ground operations north of the city of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Israeli Army Radio said, "There are armored forces in the area that have already begun to move and attack targets belonging to the Hamas movement."

Israeli Army Radio expected that "the army will expand the deployment of its forces in the region and intensify the ground operation."

The official Palestinian News Agency (Wafa) confirmed that “Israeli vehicles penetrated, on Sunday evening, into Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, starting from the eastern border area in the Al-Qarara area, northeast of Khan Yunis, towards Salah al-Din Street.”

It added: "The occupation vehicles are stationed near the Mills Junction amid heavy fire coverage from warplanes and shelling from tanks, artillery, and reconnaissance aircraft."

Earlier, on Sunday, the Israeli army called on residents of a number of neighborhoods in the city of Khan Yunis to evacuate their homes in preparation for bombing them.

Israeli Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy confirmed on Sunday that the army had begun ground operations south of Gaza, while operations were continuing in the northern part of the Strip.

Speaking to soldiers in the Gaza Division in southern Israel, Halevy said: “Yesterday morning (Saturday) we began the same movement south of the Gaza Strip,” referring to ground operations.

The senior military official added, according to the Times of Israel, that the ground operations in the south “will not be less powerful than the operations in northern Gaza, and will not have fewer results.”

Hamas leaders will confront the Israeli army everywhere.” Halevy explained: “We have the capabilities to do this to the fullest extent, and just as we did it with strength and precision in the northern Gaza Strip, we are also doing so now in the southern Gaza Strip, and we also continue to work to deepen the achievements in the northern Gaza Strip.” Gaza".

Video footage circulated on the Internet showed Israeli tanks in Khan Yunis, south of Gaza, and Hamas also explained that its fighters clashed with Israeli forces in the area.