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The Israeli army announced Thursday evening that it had “completed the encirclement of Gaza City”, a week after the start of its ground operation in the Palestinian territory.
“Our soldiers have completed the encirclement of Gaza City, the centre of the Hamas terrorist organisation,” Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari told a news briefing.
Israel is preparing a ground invasion of Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised statement on Wednesday, but he declined to provide any details on the timing or other information about the operation.
He said the decision on when forces would go into the Palestinian enclave, controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas, would be taken by the government’s special war cabinet, which includes the leader of one of the centrist opposition parties.
Myanmar junta troops suffered heavy casualties during intense clashes with the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in Mandalay’s Mogok Township on Saturday, according to the TNLA.
Fighting broke out twice on Saturday when troops from Light Infantry Battalions 88, 104 and 102 and Light Infantry Division 44 advanced into upper Nyaung Kone village in Mogok Township, a TNLA Brigade 2 stronghold.
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Russian forces carried out new air strikes overnight on targets in eastern, southern and northern Ukraine, Kyiv’s military said on Thursday.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
At least 500 people have been killed in a strike on Al Ahli Arab Hospital in the middle of Gaza City, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The hospital served as a shelter for thousands of residents who fled their homes in northern Gaza, seeking safety from Israeli airstrikes. Residents stranded in Gaza are running out of medicine, food, water and power.