In a preview of the Israeli ground assault on the Gaza Strip, the theater of the Israel-Hamas war, a column of tanks and infantry launched an overnight raid into Gaza, striking "numerous" targets before retreating to home soil.

The military announced the incursion into the north of the Palestinian territory hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that preparations for a ground war were underway.  

The Israel Defense Forces, or IDF, described the operation as a "targeted raid" that hit "numerous terrorist cells, infrastructure and anti-tank missile launch posts."

Pressure on UN chief 

Meanwhile, the United Nations faced greater global pressure yesterday following Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' unwarranted description of Hamas' 7 October assault on Israel as not occurring "in a vacuum."

In a speech on Wednesday, the UN chief pointed to "56 years of suffocating occupation" endured by the Palestinians.

UN agency World Health Organization, or WHO, exposed a crack in the global body as it issued a separate statement directed at Hamas, calling for the release of the more than 200 hostages it holds.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was pressing ahead with plans for a ground war in Gaza to uproot the extremist Hamas. 

"We are in the midst of a campaign for our existence," Netanyahu said in a nationally televised address, insisting that Israel will decide how the war is prosecuted.

Throngs of Hamas gunmen poured from Gaza into Israel last 7 October, killing 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 222 more, according to official tallies.

'Get hostages out first'

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he had privately suggested Israel should get the hostages out, if possible, before any ground invasion.