Status of ongoing IDF operations in Gaza unclear as aid trucks enter the enclave

The IDF continued its broader Gaza invasion on Tuesday, but its future moves hold many question marks.

On Tuesday, too, the military revealed that a friendly fire incident had led to the death of a soldier.

Additionally, the IDF approved 100 trucks of food aid for Gaza, only one day after allowing in just 20 trucks, the first such aid to pass into the Strip since early March.

It was unclear how those developments might impact or otherwise slow the army’s invasion progress.

Military strikes over 100 terror targets 

The main new progress the IDF noted on Tuesday was Division 162 killing dozens of Gazan fighters and the air force and other units striking over 100 terror targets – including Hamas’s latest aerial commander for northern Gaza.

During the war, Israel has killed many Hamas drone and rocket commanders.

It remains unclear whether the main thrust of the new invasion is to eliminate Hamas’s remaining commanders and forces or to control enough of Gaza on the ground to make it hard for the terror group to operate in public.

After an 11-week Israeli blockade, Israel cleared nine trucks of aid on Monday to enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, although a United Nations official said just five of those entered Gaza.

“The next step is to collect them [food aid], and then they will be distributed through the existing system, the one that has proven itself,” said the UN official, adding that those trucks contained baby food and nutritional products for children.

The IDF updated the media about food aid on Monday; at press time, there was no new IDF update.

Reuters contributed to this report.