Israel’s military said its ground forces had mounted limited raids into the Gaza Strip overnight and said their air strikes were focusing on sites where Hamas fighters were assembling to attack any wider Israeli invasion, Reuters reports.

“During the night there were raids by tank and infantry forces. These raids are raids that kill squads of terrorists who are preparing for our next stage in the war,” he said, describing incursions that went “deep” into Gaza.

“These raids also locate and search for anything we can get in terms of intelligence on the missing and the hostages,” he said.

Hagari said such interventions helped understand where “the terrorists are assembling, the terrorists are getting organised in anticipation of the next stages of the war. And our role is to reduce these threats.”