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Air Force pounds Gaza overnight in bid to ‘devastate’ Hamas; rocket fire continues

Troops still fighting to clear terrorists from border towns 48 hours after start of assault that has killed over 700; terror groups say they’re holding 130 Israelis hostage in Strip

By EMANUEL FABIAN and TOI STAFF Today, 8:13 am

The Israeli Air Force pounded Gaza with airstrikes overnight Sunday as part of its effort to “devastate the capabilities of the Hamas terror group,” two days after the terror group unleashed carnage on an unprecedented scale in Israel, killing at least 700 civilians and security personnel in the deadliest single day in the nation’s history.

Among the 500 targets hit overnight were eight Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad war rooms; a building housing Hamas operatives; several high-rise towers housing Hamas assets; a command center used by a senior official in Hamas’s naval forces; an “operational asset used by Hamas” located within a mosque in Jabaliya; an asset used by the terror group for intelligence; and three tunnels in the Beit Hanoun area in northern Gaza.

Israel formally declared a state of war on Sunday as the death toll from the massive Hamas attack rose above 700 and was expected to rise further, with the fate of over a hundred people abducted and taken into the Gaza Strip still unclear.

The Government Press Office, a body that operates under the Prime Minister’s Office, said that the number of hostages in Gaza was over 100. Hamas and Islamic Jihad boasted Sunday night that they were holding some 130 Israeli hostages, claiming this included high-ranking army officials.

[...]

Gun battles between military forces and holed-up terrorists raged throughout Saturday, with the army slowly recovering from its shock and killing and capturing numerous attackers, after long hours in which the gunmen ravaged towns under their control. By Monday morning there were fewer such battles, but the army said there were still pockets of terrorists in the area, including dozens who had infiltrated overnight, and efforts to completely secure the communities were ongoing.

The Israel Defense Forces’ top spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, said Monday morning that fighting was ongoing in and near Kfar Aza, Be’eri, Nirim, Shaar Hanegev, Nir Oz, Alumim and Holit. Some of the terrorists have been in Israel since the preliminary attack on Saturday, while others crossed the border over the past two days.

Hagari said that overnight, some 70 terrorists infiltrated Be’eri. Most of them were killed in battle with IDF troops, but others were still hiding in homes in the kibbutz.

In Kfar Aza, seven terrorists were identified in the town’s vicinity, and the mouth of a tunnel near the kibbutz was found as well, Hagari said.

While it was known that the terrorists infiltrated by land, sea, and air, this is the first tunnel found in the current conflict. Israel had invested millions of dollars in an advanced underground wall of sensors and obstacles that was supposed to make tunneling into the country impossible.

Six terrorists were identified near Kibbutz Nirim, and four in Alumim, Hagari added.

Israel vowed to take the fight back to Hamas; Israeli jets and helicopter gunships hit over 1,148 sites in Gaza since Saturday, as reserves troops girded for a wide offensive against Gaza-based terrorists. An American aircraft carrier, accompanied by fighter jets and gunboats, steamed toward the region in a show of support for Israel’s war effort as the United States offered unwavering support.

The dead included at least 73 soldiers, including top officers, and 34 police officers.

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer said he understood the actual death toll to be significantly higher. “There will probably be more hundreds, several hundred more,” he said.

As remains of the dead were recovered and taken for identification, desperate parents were among those who lined up at a missing person’s center that was set up near Ben Gurion Airport on Saturday evening. Relatives were told to bring items such as toothbrushes that could contain DNA.

The number of wounded also continued to tick upward throughout the day. The Health Ministry said late Sunday that 2,382 people were treated at hospitals, including 22 people in critical condition and hundreds more also fighting for their lives.

[...]

Duped by Hamas

A source close to Hamas told Reuters Sunday night that the terror organization had conducted a years-long campaign to fool Israel into thinking the group did not desire armed conflict and could be placated with economic incentives to maintain relative calm.

“Hamas gave Israel the impression that it was not ready for a fight,” the source told the agency. “Hamas used an unprecedented intelligence tactic to mislead Israel over the last months, by giving a public impression that it was not willing to go into a fight or confrontation with Israel while preparing for this massive operation.”

He said that as part of its preparations, the terror organization built a mock Israeli community to train in. “Israel surely saw them but they were convinced that Hamas wasn’t keen on getting into a confrontation,” he said.

“Hamas was able to build a whole image that it was not ready for a military adventure against Israel,” the source added.

Former national security adviser Yaakov Amidror told Reuters that some countries allied with the Jewish state had bought into the lie, telling Jerusalem that Hamas was showing “more responsibility.”

“We stupidly began to believe that it was true,” he said. “So, we made a mistake. We are not going to make this mistake again and we will destroy Hamas, slowly but surely.”

[...]

A number of foreign nationals and dual citizens were among those feared kidnapped or killed, including victims from the US, UK, France, Germany, Thailand, Mexico, Nepal and elsewhere.

A day after announcing that Israel would carry out a broad retaliatory campaign in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was largely silent on Sunday. His office announced Sunday afternoon that ministers had approved formally declaring war the night before, and shortly afterward the IDF announced that it was intensifying strikes on Gaza.

The Hamas-run health ministry in the Gaza Strip said 436 Palestinians had been killed and another 2,300 had been wounded in the Gaza Strip. Israel said it killed at least 425 Palestinian terrorists in Gaza and hundreds more in Israeli territory. Another 11 Palestinians were reported killed in West Bank unrest, though there was little information about those clashes, with efforts mainly concentrated in the south.

[...]

https://www.timesofisrael.com/air-force-pounds-gaza-overnight-in-bid-to-devastate-hamas-rocket-fire-continues/

Posted
4 minutes ago, shep854 said:

Talk about a seriously belated drop in the bucket.  So much for the legend of the well-armed, self-reliant kibbutzim:

Israeli Minister of National Security Issues New Order Loosening Regulations on Gun Ownership (townhall.com)

No mention of reports of arms being returned to Israelis with lapsed licenses.

Interesting topic, indeed.

March, 2018:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/comparing-america-to-israel-on-gun-laws-is-dishonest-and-revealing/

December, 2020:

https://polisci.barnard.edu/sites/default/files/inline-files/Hannah Katz - Guns in America vs Israel.pdf

May, 2022:

https://www.jewishboston.com/read/when-it-comes-to-gun-control-why-cant-the-u-s-be-more-like-israel/

February, 2023:

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-02-05/ty-article/.premium/we-dont-want-to-be-like-america-will-israels-government-adopt-new-gun-laws/00000186-20cf-d934-adef-e7ff261d0000

Quote

Israel's existing gun ownership is 'almost optimal,' a former Public Security Ministry chief says and cautions against sweeping changes triggered by latest terror attacks

Posted
1 minute ago, Strannik said:

BS.  

 

 

I would like to see some categorization of Palestinian casualties by actor - inter-Pal violence is more common than inter-Israeli one.

Posted
12 hours ago, nitflegal said:

As many of have said, I would guess Hamas was doing as their masters ordered.  Derailing the Israeli/Arab peace process is worth sacrificing Hamas if you're Iran.  For Israel, I don't see how they can not eradicate Hamas for this; it's too big and too brazen.  Which means going after Hamas leadership and killing them everywhere, which puts Israel into conflict with Qatar.  And even though they know it if they don't, then Hamas recruitment goes through the roof and they get emboldened to this all again.  If an enemy went into any country and slaughtered hundreds of civilians in multiple towns and took hostages for rape and parading their corpses around that country would utterly slaughter them regardless of the consequences.  I doubt if Israel will be any different.  Which means, by the way, that the country that the US has been trying to loosen things up with took those overtures and then proceeeded to probably set the middle east aflame for years.  Thank God for no mean tweets though. . . 

6 Billion to who......????? Yeah, this kind of attack is something they can't back away from not that Hamas wants to. I continue to wonder how involved Hezbollah will be. I think the Israelis will goo in scorched Earth at least for the first week or two. I continue to expect re-occupation of the strip before all is said and done. If Iran is heavily involved, I presume the Israelis will want pay back in the future. The US will not want it to happen during an election year. 

This might cast a wrench into Biden's prospects. We will now have two nations who will clamor for dollars, Ukraine and Israel. 

Posted
5 hours ago, seahawk said:

Imho the option is a modern version of the intra-German border. Fortifications, mines, vehicle ditches and automated turrets. The fence is too easy to bring down, you need something more substantial.

On the down side, this also makes moving into Gaza a lot harder, but maybe this can be sold as a positive point.

I thought the Israelis had automated turrets??

Posted
1 minute ago, ex2cav said:

I thought the Israelis had automated turrets??

https://gab.com/aetherczar/posts/111204612449642413

Quote

From the private channel of @mig41 (https://t.me/+Bj6AGXhJGnxjMGJi)
This Israeli girl served directly on the border with the Gaza Strip and asks the same questions as us. This is all strange:

“There is not a single chance in the world that there could be such an approach to the fence without us knowing about it. Observers are kept in the bunker, for four hours they cannot take their eyes off screen. I was woken up at night because of a pigeon, because of a stork that approached the fence, because of a cockroach under the fence - the whole sector was on edge. How did they manage to come in with tractors, 400 people and no one paid attention. I did this for two years, this can’t happen. There may be a chance that someone from the inside contributed to this.

That Telegram channel is private, unfortunately, but the video could be watched in the link.

Posted
3 minutes ago, sunday said:

https://gab.com/aetherczar/posts/111204612449642413

That Telegram channel is private, unfortunately, but the video could be watched in the link.

Many folks were probably on leave, and this compounded personnel shortages. If anything, possible that folks who were even supposed to be staffed at these checkpoints decided to spend the night doing something else because of the holiday. 
 

Just assumptions

Posted
8 minutes ago, Perun said:

...

Poverty rate: 59.8 %

Uninployment: 46.4 %

From total registred population of 2,226. 544, 1,300.000 is people in need

...

Which sounds persuasive, because Israeli intelligence announced they were convinced giving more work visas would make conflict less likely. So, commendably, the Government gave more work visas, then this happened.

 

Posted
5 minutes ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

 

Oh, I hope that photo was from an old training exercise, to illustrate sloppy training...a chamber flag in that rifle??!

Posted
12 hours ago, nitflegal said:

I don't think they have an answer.  Honestly, I don't think anyone does.

Gaza must be occupied and Hamas removed from power by force.  If these tasks are beyond the strength of Israel then the US needs to stop talking about being Israel's ally and actually start being Israel's ally, with troops on the ground.

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