Israel troops launch brief ground raid into Gaza

Israeli troops and tanks launched an hourslong ground raid into northern Gaza overnight into Thursday the military said striking several militant targets in order to ldquoprepare the battlefieldrdquo ahead of a widely expected ground invasion after more than two weeks of devastating air raidsThe raid came after the UN warned it is on the verge of running out of fuel in the Gaza Strip forcing it to sharply curtail relief efforts in the territory which has also been under a complete siege since Hamasrsquo bloody rampageIsraeli tanks entering northern Gaza for the overnight raid PicAPThe rising death tolls in Gaza are unprecedented in the decadeslong IsraeliPalestinian conflict Even greater loss of life could come if Israel launches an expected ground offensive aimed at crushing Hamas which has ruled Gaza since 2007 and survived four previous wars with IsraelThe Health Ministry in Hamasruled Gaza said Wednesday that more than 750 people were killed over the past 24 hours higher than the 704 killed the previous day The ministry however does not distinguish between civilians and combatantsRise in harassment against Jewish and Muslim AmericansMuslim and Jewish civil rights groups say theyrsquove seen large increases in reports of harassment bias and sometimes physical assaults against members of their communities since the October 7 Hamas attacksThe AntiDefamation League ADL and the Center on AmericanIslamic Relations saw increases in reported instances many involving violence or threats against protesters at rallies in support of Israel or in support of Palestinians over the last two weeks Other attacks and harassment reported by the groups were directed at random Muslim or Jewish people in publicA spokesperson for the Council on AmericanIslamic Relations said it had received 774 reports of biasrelated acts in two weeks The ADL recorded at least 312 antisemitic acts including physical violence such as a woman being punched in the face in New York by an attacker who the league says said ldquoYou are JewishrdquoHamas supporters use online games to torment Israeli kidsIsraelrsquos Ministry of National Security has reported that it has received reports of attacks made during games played on the popular game platform Roblox wherein kids playing the game were exposed to characters avatars wearing uniforms and holding weapons with the flags of Palestine and Saudi Arabia attack Israeli playersThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever