For the first time since Operation Cast Lead began over two weeks ago, the IDF on Sunday announced that reservists have been sent into the Gaza Strip to participate in the military effort.
The army refused to say whether the announcement was an indication that the third phase of the operation had begun.
Defense officials have said that the IDF is prepared for a third stage in which ground troops would push further into Gaza, but are waiting for approval from the government. The first phase consisted of aerial bombardment, and the second saw ground forces enter Gaza, seize open areas used to fire rockets and surround Gaza City.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity as military plans have not been made public, said the army also has a contingency plan for a fourth phase - the full reoccupation of Gaza and toppling of Hamas.
A limited number of reservists have been deployed as of Sunday, the army said. At the beginning of the operation, the cabinet gave the IDF approval to call up tens of thousands of reservists.
Earlier on Sunday, IAF planes attacked at least twenty smuggling tunnels along the Philadelphi Corridor, on Gaza's southern border with Egypt. The tunnels were being used to smuggle weaponry into Gaza, according to the IDF.
The IDF said that it would continue to expand operations against such tunnels along the Corridor. Also on Sunday, the IAF said that over the weekend Hamas operatives tried to shoot down an Israeli plane using an anti-aircraft missile. The army has said that Hamas possesses several shoulder-held ground-to-air missiles, and in air raids overnight Saturday, the IAF hit a Gaza mosque in which a number of them were stored. Meanwhile, in one of the fiercest ground battles since the start of Operation Cast Lead, IDF troops battled Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza City suburb of Sheikh Ajleen. Fighting in Sheikh Ajleen erupted before dawn and continued into the day as IDF infantrymen and tanks advanced toward Gaza City and its approximately 400,000 residents, Palestinian witnesses said. Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they ambushed the soldiers, leading to some of the heaviest fighting since Israel sent ground forces into the territory on January 3. Gunfire subsided in the early afternoon, with the IDF in control of buildings on the neighborhood's outskirts. At least 40 Palestinians had been killed across Gaza by Sunday afternoon, according to Gaza health officials. Many were noncombatants, they claimed, including four members of one family killed when a tank shell hit their home near Gaza City. There were no reports of IDF casualties. On Sunday, the IAF dropped additional leaflets urging Gaza residents to report the whereabouts of Hamas operatives, even providing a phone number to call. "You can call the numbers listed below to inform us about the locations of rocket launchers, warehouses, tunnels and terrorist groups operating in your area," the leaflet said in Arabic, promising "confidentiality guaranteed." On Saturday, leaflets were dropped on Gaza City warning residents of a wider offensive. "The IDF is not working against the people of Gaza but against Hamas and the terrorists only," the leaflets said. "Stay safe by following our orders." Since Saturday night, the IAF hit at least seven rocket cells, as well as the launcher used to fire the Grad-type rockets at Beersheba on Sunday morning. In searches in the northern Strip on Sunday the IDF found several weapon caches, one of them containing communication equipment. IDF armored corps destroyed homes believed to contain weapons, and in one case a tank crew opened fire at Hamas operatives planting a bomb. The IDF has repeatedly stated that Hamas fighters are wearing civilian clothes and endangering civilians by operating out of heavily populated residential areas. Overnight Saturday, IAF aircraft bombed over 60 Hamas targets in Gaza, including the home of Hamas military chief Ahmed Ja'abri. Ja'abri was not expected to have been at home at the time as he is believed to be in hiding, possibly under Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, in another bunker, or in an apartment building filled with civilians. Also in overnight air raids, the IAF hit a mosque in Rafah which served as a training camp and meeting place for Hamas operatives as well as an anti-aircraft missile warehouse, the army said. The air force also bombed nine tunnels along the Philadelphi Corridor and about ten other weapons storehouses throughout the Gaza Strip. An IDF official told Army Radio that soldiers reported killing over 40 Hamas gunmen during overnight operations, while troops themselves emerged unscathed.
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