Israel should stop its "collective punishment" of Gaza's civilians with actions beyond self-defence, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, warning it would worsen regional tensions and lead to humanitarian disaster. In a call with Saudi Arabian counterpart, Wang also condemned the continued Israeli retaliation to a shock attack a week ago by Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. "Israel's actions have gone beyond self-defence," Wang told Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Sa
There are, as of yet, no tanks rolling into Gaza. It’s all shaping operations and small localised raids so far.
So there’s no ground invasion. But the offensive has started
If you consider preparations to be part of the thing, yes. Which is a valid view just not standard military lingo.
Look at it like this: If you only do shaping, that is, poke and peek until you have the enemy in a position you like, but then don’t actually pounce the impact on the battlefield will be minimal to non-existent: Borders won’t shift, what you essentially did is having an overcomplicated skirmish.
…that’s militarily speaking. Of course, the IDF already killed more Gazan civilians than Hamas killed Israeli civilians. But militarily speaking that’s not an offensive, how could it, it’s not affecting military targets.