A visual analysis of Israel's ground operation in Gaza
LONDON -- Israel is conducting what it describes as an "expanded ground operation" inside Gaza. Israeli authorities have said the ground operation will support them in achieving the goals of the war, including attempting to rescue more than 200 hostages held by Hamas since the surprise terror attack on Oct. 7 and to destroy Hamas, which the U.S. and E.U. have classified as a terrorist organization.
ABC News' Visual Verification team has analyzed videos released by Israel Defense Forces and Hamas, as well as videos circulating on social media. This analysis gives an idea of the scale and scope of the ground operation so far. The breakdown of these videos shows how the Israeli military is making its way through Gaza from at least four different directions in the north, east and south around Gaza City.
This map identifies six points where visual evidence confirms IDF movements within Gaza.
In the videos detailed below, soldiers, armored vehicles and tanks are seen three miles inside Gaza from the north, and two miles inside Gaza from the east.
In a video released by the IDF on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 28, armored vehicles can be seen massed on the border between Israel and Gaza, near the sea. The vehicles are seen digging on the beach as they work their way south into Gaza.
Later on Saturday, a video began to circulate on social media showing two Israeli soldiers on the roof of a building nearly two miles south of the location of the first video.
They take hold of a flagpole hanging on the roof before the video cuts off. Someone speaking near the camera says it has been three weeks since "the massacre," an apparent reference to the Oct. 7 attack that killed more than 1,400 people, according to Israeli authorities. In response to the attack, the Israeli military has carried out wide-scale airstrikes on Gaza, killing more than 8,300 people, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
Satellite imagery taken on Monday, Oct. 30, and provided by Planet Labs, showed Israeli military vehicles traveled at least another mile south toward Gaza City.
On Sunday, Oct. 29, a video released by the Hamas military wing showed IDF soldiers congregating near the Erez border checkpoint. This border crossing was one of many breached early in the morning of Oct. 7 by Hamas militants.
Hamas militants film themselves emerging from a tunnel before they are seen shooting toward the soldiers' position and the soldiers scramble to react.
A Sunday IDF press release said IDF soldiers "confronted" the militants, killing and injuring them.
Freelance journalist Yousef Al Saifi is driving north from southern Gaza on Oct. 30 and films a tank visible blocking Salah Al-Deen Street, a major thoroughfare that spans the north-south length of Gaza. Hamas video posted the day before references tanks visible east of there -- just under two miles to the eastern Gaza border.
As Al Saifi approaches, a car in front of him appears to attempt a U-turn as it approaches the tank. The tank fires in the direction of the car. In response, the driver of Al Saifi's vehicle speeds away.
Elsewhere, on Tuesday, Oct. 31, the IDF released a video showing its soldiers walking into Beit Hanoun, a city in the very far northeast of Gaza, as armored vehicles can be seen rolling through.
They walk through devastated buildings and a bulldozer digs through the destruction before a soldier can be seen boarding up a window using panels of wood.
