Israel-Gaza ground offensive: Hamas warned delay to attack has made Israeli troops ‘more lethal’
There was a nervous energy at a dusty staging post for ground troops, waiting for an order to invade Gaza.
Several soldiers, stern-faced and in full combat gear, asked not to be filmed.
Others, however, appeared more relaxed, even smiling as they stood by a line of armoured personnel carriers on a sprawling stretch of flat, sandy fields in southern Israel, weapons slung over one shoulder, some with heavy-looking green rucksacks on their backs.
The overwhelming sense on the ground with an infantry brigade was one of a force preparing for battle rather than a prolonged wait – even as debate swirls at a high political and diplomatic level about potential delays in the next stage of Israel’s war against Hamas.
Lieutenant Colonel Gilad Pasternak, 38, the executive officer for the brigade, said his troops were preparing themselves for action.
“Our brigade is about to manoeuvre wherever needed, through the sectors that we need to go through,” he told Sky News, speaking in English.
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Lieutenant Colonel Pasternak says the wait has benefitted the soldiers
The 828 infantry brigade is massed near the border with Gaza
The officer did not talk specifically about any delay but said soldiers have been using their waiting time wisely since commanders mobilised the military in the wake of the 7 October Hamas terror attack on Israel.
“Actually the time that has been given us has made us much more prepared, much more efficient, much more lethal towards Hamas if it will be needed to go inside,” he said.
“All the ground forces know exactly what they are about to do and actually this time of wait that the commanders gave us, it actually made us much more prepared.
“When we have the sign, we will be able to go, do whatever we need to do and we have full confidence in our leadership to do so.”
Israel has been saying for days that it is preparing to move to the next phase in its war against Hamas.
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This is expected to involve a significant ground assault into Gaza, which is controlled by Hamas, but is also home to more than two million Palestinian civilians.
But there has not been a rush to enter, despite a massive build-up of thousands of Israeli troops, tanks and artillery along the border with the Palestinian enclave.
Instead, allies such as the United States have been offering Israeli leaders words of caution against a hasty ground attack while Hamas still holds more than 200 hostages inside Gaza.
There is also mounting concern at the rising number of dead Palestinians, including children and women, killed in an unprecedented barrage of Israeli airstrikes.
The soldiers are preparing for a dangerous ground invasion of Gaza
Israel says it only hits Hamas targets but knows that the militant group operates within Gaza’s civilian population.
In addition, there is the very real risk that Israel’s conflict with Hamas could ignite a regional war as Iran – an arch-enemy of Israel – seeks to exploit the crisis.
Sky News was allowed to film with soldiers of the 828 infantry brigade, one of Israel’s most effective infantry units, at the staging post on Tuesday afternoon.
We watched as tracked armoured vehicles rolled into different positions, surrounded by groups of troops.
The soldiers said they had no choice but to fight after the terror unleashed by Hamas inside Israel which left more than 1,400 people dead and many more injured.
Lieutenant Colonel Pasternak, who is a full-time officer rather than a reservist, said a goal of the military operation was to free the hostages who were taken that day.
“I am sure that is exactly what is going to happen,” he said.
He is no stranger to fighting in Gaza.
The officer was injured during a previous ground incursion into the territory in 2014 but said he is ready to return.
“I know Gaza is maybe dangerous,” he said. “The infrastructure Hamas has built inside Gaza is terror infrastructure.
“But I know for sure the IDF (Israel Defence Force) is strong, powerful and able to stand by its missions.”
Katy Perry has blasted off to space along with five other women in the first all-female space crew in over sixty years.
The Firework singer lifted off from West Texas on a Blue Origin rocket before becoming the first artist to sing in space.
Flying alongside Perry were author Lauren Sanchez, the fiancee of Blue Origin owner and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, journalist and TV presenter Gayle King, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, former rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, and filmmaker Kerianne Flynn.
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What happened in Blue Origin all-female space flight
The star-studded crew were supported on the ground by family and friends including Kris Jenner, Khloe Kardashian and Oprah Winfrey, who said she had “never been more proud” of her friend, King.
“There’s only one time all the women are going up for the first time,” Oprah said she told her friend when urging her to go on the flight, telling her she’d regret turning down the opportunity.
(Seated left to right) Lauren Sanchez and Kerianne Flynn, (standing left to right) Amanda Nguyen, Katy Perry, Gayle King and Aisha Bowe. Pic: Blue Origin
Katy Perry rings a symbolic bell before boarding the New Shepard rocket. Pic: Blue Origin
Weightlessness
The crew were weightless for just four minutes after passing the Karman line, a 62-mile-high boundary that is internationally recognised as the boundary of space.
Pic: Blue Origin
They could be heard screaming as they began to feel weightless, and told each other to look at the incredible views of the moon.
As the crew were leaving space, Perry started to sing What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong.
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‘I feel super-connected to love’
Asked why she chose that song, she said: “It’s not about me or about me singing my songs, it was about a collective energy in there.
“It’s about this wonderful world that we see right out there and appreciating it.”
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Kardashians share support for all-female crew
She confirmed she will be writing a song about the experience.
Katy Perry kisses the ground after the flight. Pic: Blue Origin
The descent
Three parachutes on their capsule opened up to bring them safely back down to Earth and just before they landed, an air cushion blew a cloud of dust up in the west Texas desert, giving a dramatic-looking touchdown.
Pic: Blue Origin
Pic: Blue Origin
“Excited as I am, I’ll be very glad when we come back down,” said self-confessed nervous flier King before liftoff.
When she exited the shuttle, the presenter kissed the floor and said: “Thank you, Jesus”.
She said it was “oddly quiet” in space, and it reminded her that people needed to “do better and be better” on Earth.
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“It was the most incredible experience of my life to be up there and see such vast darkness in space and look down on our planet,” said Flynn, through tears.
“The moon was so beautiful and I feel like that was a special gift just for me,” she said.
Donald Trump has suggested “homegrown criminals” in the US could be deported to jails in El Salvador – saying the US attorney general is “studying the laws right now”.
He made the comment while speaking alongside the Central American nation’s president, Nayib Bukele, in the White House.
The Trump administration has sent hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members to CECOT, a maximum security prison in El Salvador, since March.
When asked about the deportations – which were briefly blocked by a US court last month – Mr Trump said: “I’d like to go a step further.
“We also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, hit elderly ladies on the back of the head when they’re not looking, that are absolute monsters.
“I’d like to include them in people to get out of the country.”
Pic: Reuters
When pressed on the matter by a reporter, he replied: “They’re as bad as anybody that comes in. We have bad ones too. I’m all for it.”
US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was present at the meeting, is “studying the laws right now”, the US president added.
“If we can do that, that’s good,” he said. “I’m talking about violent people, really bad people.
“We can do things with the president [of El Salvador] for less money and have great security. He does a great job with that. We have other we’re negotiating with too.”
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The Trump administration has been deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members to the El Salvador jail since mid-March, when the US president signed the Alien Enemies Act.
The law from 1798 has been invoked just three times before, in wartime. It allows the president to detain and deport immigrants living in the US legally if they are from countries seen as “enemies” of the government.
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Lawyers and immigrant rights groups have been unable to contact the men sent to the 40,000 capacity CECOT prison – the largest detention facility in Latin America.
A judge issued a temporary block on the deportations on 17 March, but this was lifted by the Supreme Court last week.
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