JERUSALEM
The Israeli army is set to call up additional 16,000 reservists, having decided to intensify the ground offensive against the Gaza Strip, Israeli military sources said early on Thursday.
A military source told Israel's Channel II that as many as 70,000 Israeli troops are taking part in the operation on Gaza.
The source added that the Israeli army would substitute the new reservists with troops that are serving on the Gaza front now to give them some rest.
A military source, meanwhile, told Israel's Channel I that it would take the army a few days in order to destroy Gaza's tunnels.
Israel's army contains 400,000 regular troops, but 200,000 reservists are always ready to join in combat, according to Israeli sources.
Israel has been pounding the Gaza Strip since July 7 with fierce aerial, naval and ground bombardments with the ostensible aim of halting rocket fire from the strip, leaving 1363 dead and 7680 others injured so far.
The vast majority of the dead and injured victims are civilians: children, women and elderly people.
Gaza-based resistance factions, meanwhile, have continued to fire rocket at Israeli cities in response to relentless Israeli bombardments.
According to official Israeli figures, 53 Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed since the hostilities began.
Israel's military operation, dubbed operation "Protective Edge," is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the densely-populate Gaza Strip – which is home to some 1.8 million Palestinians – within the last six years.
In 2008/9, over 1500 Palestinians were killed in Israel's three-week-long operation "Cast Lead."
By Alaa Rimawi
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en
