Watch live: Southern Israel skyline as IDF tanks enter Gaza ahead of ground invasion

Watch a live view of the southern Israel skyline after the IDF said Israeli troops carried out a “targeted raid” in the Gaza Strip with tanks overnight.

In a statement, the IDF said the operation was carried out “in preparation for the next stages of combat” as troops prepare for a large-scale invasion.

Tanks entered Gaza overnight, attacking multiple Hamas targets before withdrawing.

Footage showed a bulldozer levelling a raised bank and tanks firing shells as explosions were seen close to a row of damaged buildings.

Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel will enter Gaza but not when.

Israeli leaders have threatened a large-scale invasion as part of the war to destroy Hamas in the wake of the militant group’s attack on 7 October.

Officials in Israel have said that more than 1,400 people there, mostly civilians who died in the initial Hamas rampage, have been killed.

According to the health ministry in Gaza, Israeli retaliatory strikes have killed more than 6,500 Palestinians.