Israeli forces advanced about three kilometers deep into the Gaza Strip, CNN estimates based on an analysis of video footage published by the Israeli press.

In this video taken on Sunday, soldiers raise an Israeli flag on the roof of a hotel in the Gaza Strip, according to News.ro.

“Soldiers of the 52nd Battalion of the 401st Brigade are waving the Israeli flag in the center of the Gaza (Sector), near the beach,” the soldier says in the video, which was shot a few kilometers north of the center of Gaza.

“We will not forgive and we will not forget and we will not stop until we win,” he says.

The footage is one of the first clues to where Israeli ground forces have been and what they have been doing during the escalation of ground operations in the Gaza Strip.

A blackout in Gaza prevented information from leaving the enclave, but providers announced a gradual recovery on Sunday.

The video was published by the Israel Hayom newspaper.

CNN asked the IDF to comment on the video and why Israeli soldiers are raising the Israeli flag on the hotel’s roof.

A CNN team heard machine gun fire Sunday in the town of Sderot, located near the Gaza Strip.

Gunfire was heard in the northern part of the Palestinian enclave, near the border, while the Israeli army continued artillery and mortar fire from outside the enclave, further south.

On Sunday, tanks and armored vehicles approached the security barrier, helicopters, drones and fighter jets flew over them.

A large convoy of vehicles was observed in the north of the Gaza Strip.

Areas further from the security barrier, where numerous tanks and armored vehicles were located a few days ago, are now almost empty, indicating that Israeli forces have moved closer to the security barrier. (News.ro)

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