Bloomberg said in a report that Israel sent troops and tanks to the northern Gaza Strip in what it describes as the second and longest phase of its war against Hamas, a more cautious approach than it pledged after the October 7 attack that killed 1,400 people, including 311 soldiers, according to Israeli reports.

According to Bloomberg: “Instead of launching a large-scale ground invasion, the army started slowly, taking a day-by-day approach based on casualties, fears of the conflict spilling over into Hezbollah in the north, and internal political pressures on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The campaign is expected to continue.” “Six weeks to six months, according to a number of officials.”

The agency quoted officials, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive issues, saying, “Israel wants to destroy Hamas as an organization and ensure that Gaza will no longer be a source of threat to it.”

The extent to which that goal is realistic remains unclear, according to the agency, which indicated pressure from the United States and other allies on Israel to force it to be more specific about its goals, as well as to draw a vision for what will happen next.

The report explained that the decision to launch a ground invasion actually indicates a shift in focus away from negotiating the hostages, about 230 of whom Hamas has held since October 7. It also indicates the belief that Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran, will not resort to the decision to engage in all-out fighting and will be content with short-term skirmishes, and thus a battle will not be opened on two fronts.

Officials say, according to the agency, that the prevailing feeling is that Hamas was trying to buy time, aiming to release a small number of hostages per week while demanding a widespread ceasefire and prisoner exchange.

The agency reported that officials say that the security services have formed a group whose mission is to target every Hamas leader involved in the October 7 attack, “headed by Yahya Sinwar,” and “some of them have already been killed, according to the Israeli army.”

Another goal that is widely discussed, according to the agency, is that Israel will not return the entire Gaza Strip to whoever will eventually rule instead of Hamas. It plans to create a buffer zone to prevent a repeat attack, according to a number of officials.

Israel expressed its intention to besiege the main city in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, and published pictures of tanks on the western coast of the Gaza Strip 48 hours after issuing orders to expand ground incursions across its eastern borders, according to international media.

The agency says: “Israel initially sought not to reveal its current plan in its ongoing war with Hamas fighters, which has been going on for three weeks, as its forces were moving under the cover of darkness and in light of the cut off of communications from the Palestinians, but Israel later announced what it called the “second phase” of Its operations against the Iranian-backed movement.”

Some Palestinian citizens in the devastated and besieged Gaza Strip said that telephone and Internet services began to gradually return on Sunday, after a complete interruption for more than a day, which severely affected rescue operations at a time when Israel announced that it had bombed Hamas targets, especially in the north of the city. Gaza, where its government headquarters and command centers are located, according to the agency.

Hamas said it fired mortar shells at Israeli forces in northern Gaza and bombed Israeli tanks with missiles, downplaying reports that the Israeli army had made notable progress in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Israel has tightened its siege and bombed Gaza for three weeks without stopping, leading to the killing of more than 8,000 people, most of them civilians - including more than 3,200 children, according to the United Nations agency UNICEF, while 20,000 people were injured, and more than 35% of the area was destroyed. Gaza strip.

Hamas was able to detain 230 (according to Israeli sources), including at least 100 Israeli soldiers.

Western countries generally support what they say is Israel's right to defend itself, but international anger is mounting over the number of bombing victims, while calls are growing for a "humanitarian truce" to allow aid to reach civilians in Gaza and ease the humanitarian crisis.