Israel is pushing into southern Gaza as the clock ticks down

WITH THEIDF IDF war in Gaza about to enter its third month, Israeli forces are pushing hard into the of the coastal strip. In the most intense fighting seen so far, they are hoping to inflict as much damage as they can to before the political clock runs out on what may be Israel’s last large-scale ground offensive of the war.On December 5th Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, the chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces (), said his troops had encircled Khan Younis, the largest city in southern Gaza and the birthplace of Hamas’s two main leaders in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Deif. They have since entered the city itself which, along with two other Hamas strongholds in northern Gaza, Shujaiya and Jabalia in Gaza city, have been the main focus of the since the collapse of a weeklong truce on December 1st.