ISRAEL AT WAR!!!

[shalom]

TV7 Israel News - Sword of Iron, Israel at War - Day 55 - UPDATE 30.11.23

[Midnight]

War Resumes After Hamas Breaks Truce With Terror and Rocket Attacks; Israel Responds With Air Strikes on Gaza

By Kristinn Taylor
Dec. 1, 2023 2:51 am


The war between Israel and Hamas resumed on Friday after Hamas broke the day-to-day ceasefire for hostages agreement with a deadly terror attack in Jerusalem on Thursday and rocket fire on Israel early Friday morning. Also, Hamas had reportedly not sent a list of hostages to be released for Friday. Israel responded with air strikes on Gaza after 7 a.m. local time, and ground attacks.

Statement by the Israel Defense Forces: “Hamas violated the operational pause, and in addition, fired toward Israeli territory. The IDF has resumed combat against the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza.”

Times of Israel reporter Emanuel Fabian, “IDF says Hamas has violated the ceasefire by firing rockets at Israel, and in response, has renewed its attacks on the terror group…Hamas also did not provide a new list of hostages by 7 a.m.”

Fox News reporter Trey Yingst, “The ceasefire is over. Israeli jets are striking Gaza. Heavy clashes reported at different areas along the strip.”

Hamas launched missiles at Israel:

Israel released a map for people in Gaza to help keep them safe during combat operations.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken departed Israel as the ceasefire ended after meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials.

The Biden administration is putting pressure on Israel in its conduct of the war, “Israeli Prime Minister @netanyahu and I discussed efforts to secure the release of all remaining hostages and accelerate delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance into Gaza. I emphasized the need for Israel to take every possible measure to avoid civilian harm.”

“I spoke with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah about the conflict in Gaza and measures to improve security and freedom for Palestinians in the West Bank. I reiterated the U.S. commitment to advancing the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

In D.C. on Thursday night, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) attended a hunger strike for Hamas in front of the White House:

link

[shalom]

TV7 Israel News - Sword of Iron, Israel at War - Day 56 - UPDATE 1.12.23

[shalom]

TV7 Israel News - Sword of Iron, Israel at War - Day 57 - UPDATE 2.12.23

[ExquisiteGerbil]

Israel Kills Hamas Commander Wissam Farhat in Renewed Gaza Offensive


JOEL B. POLLAK
2 Dec 2023

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced Saturday that it had killed Hamas commander Wissam Farhat, who was involved in planning the October 7 terror attack and had been involved in terrorism against Israel for almost three decades.



Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised that Israel will kill every Hamas member involved in the October 7 attack.



Farhat was arrested in 1995 while driving a truck full of explosives for use in a terror attack against Israel. Hamas claimed later that he had divulged the location of another Hamas commander in Gaza City, who was later killed in an explosion.



Once he was released from prison in Israel, Farhat found his way back into the organization, and was responsible for the deaths of both Israeli soldiers and Israeli civilians.



In a statement, the IDF and the Israel Security Agency [ISA] said:



Earlier today, following precise IDF and ISA intelligence, IAF fighter jets eliminated Hamas’ Shejaiya Battalion Commander, Wessam Farhat.



Farhat began his command over the battalion in 2010 and commanded it during Operation “Protective Edge” – during which he ordered terrorists to target IDF soldiers in Shejaiya, including a dual attack that resulted in the deaths of six IDF soldiers.



He took part in the planning of the October 7th massacre, during which, he directed Hamas “Nuhkba” terrorists to infiltrate the Nahal Oz Kibbutz and IDF post. In addition, Farhat was one of the masterminds of the 2002 terror attack on Mechinat Atzmona, in which five Israeli civilians were killed. Moreover, he was one of the masterminds of the anti-tank missile terror attack on a civilian bus in Nahal Oz in 2011, in which an Israeli child was killed.



In 1995, while he was on his way to carry out a suicide attack in Israel, Farhat was apprehended by security forces and imprisoned in an Israeli prison for ten years. Following his return to Gaza, he worked in rocket production for the Hamas terrorist organization.



Since the beginning of the war, the IDF and ISA have significantly degraded the Shejaiya Battalion’s capabilities, including the elimination of their senior commanders and the striking of terror infrastructure and weapons.



Israel resumed its Gaza offensive after Hamas broke a seven-day truce on Friday morning. There are still thought to be 136 hostages held by Hamas and other terror organizations in Gaza — including some women, whom Hamas says are soldiers.



The fate of the Bibas family — a mother, a four-year-old, and a baby — is still unknown, though Hamas has claimed they are dead.

link

[shalom]

TV7 Israel News - Sword of Iron, Israel at War - Day 58 - UPDATE 3.12.23

[Midnight]

Report: Israel Penetrates into Southern Gaza, Surprising Hamas

JOEL B. POLLAK
3 Dec 2023

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spent the first 48 hours of renewed fighting by attacking targets throughout Gaza, and fighting deep into southern portions of the Gaza Strip — apparently surprising Hamas, which expected Israel to stay in the north alone.



The U.S. had openly opposed an Israeli invasion of the southern Gaza Strip, saying that Israel had to account for civilians first. Whether Israel defied the U.S, or the U.S. participated in the ruse, Hamas does not appear to have expected the southern push.



Israel also released a map to help civilians avoid fighting, with different areas of the Gaza Strip numbered. The U.S. suggested that the map satisfied its concerns, though the administration has at times offered conflicting signals about Israeli tactics.



Reports on social media suggested that Israel had cut begun to cut a path across the southern Gaza Strip, entering from the east and progressing toward the Mediterranean coast, effectively dividing Gaza into three smaller sections — north, central and south.



Fighting in the south centered around the city of Khan Yunis, where Hamas leadership is thought to have fled — and where many of the remaining 137 Israeli hostages may be imprisoned. Talk among Israeli officials has shifted from negotiating for the release of hostages to the possibility of freeing them by force.



Israel announced the elimination of a senior Hamas commander, Haitham Khuwajari, an alleged leader of the October 7 terror attack on Israel, on Sunday, and the IDF and Israel Security Agency [ISA] released video of the airstrike in which he was killed:

Hamas launched dozens of rockets at targets across Israel, but speculation mounted that it might be emptying its arsenals rather than allowing rockets to be seized by the advancing IDF before being fired.



Reports on social media suggested that morale among the Palestinian population had begun to collapse, and that Israel might turn the tide against Hamas by appealing directly to the residents of Gaza to rise up against the terrorists that rule the territory.

link

[Midnight]

He clearly has no idea that Israel has God and His unlimited resources behind them! 


SecDef Austin Warns of ‘Strategic Defeat’: If Israel Isn’t Careful, Palestinians Might Support Hamas

JOEL B. POLLAK
3 Dec 2023

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin warned at the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday that Israel could face “strategic defeat” if it was not more careful about how it fought Hamas, because more Palestinians might be driven to support the terrorist group .

Austin seemed not to know that the vast majority of Palestinians already support Hamas, at least in one recent opinion poll.



A wartime poll of Gaza and West Bank residents last month by Birzeit University’s Arab World for Research & Development (AWRAD) found that “the majority of (59%) strongly supported or (16%) supported to some extent the October 7 attacks carried by the Hamas-led factions.” Hamas received the support of 76% of respondents. The poll is marred somewhat by the fact that there is no free speech in Hamas-run Gaza or the Palestinian Authority-run areas of the West Bank. Still, the results are notable.



The majority of Palestinians also voted for Hamas in the last Palestinian election of any kind, the parliamentary elections of 2006.



Moreover, Palestinian civilians from Gaza participated in the Hamas atrocities on October 7, and many celebrated the attack: the world watched on video as mobs cheered terrorists who brought back hostages and joined in abusing the bodies of dead Israelis.



Austin warned that Israel could face “strategic defeat” in the war, and claimed that the U.S. had learned that by fighting ISIS:



Israel is in a hard fight against a cruel enemy, in one of the most densely populated areas on Earth.



But democracies like ours are stronger and more secure when we uphold the law of war. So we will continue to press Israel to protect civilians and to ensure the robust flow of humanitarian aid.



First and foremost, that’s the right thing to do. But it’s also good strategy.



You know, I learned a thing or two about urban warfare from my time fighting in Iraq and leading the campaign to defeat ISIS.



Like Hamas, ISIS was deeply embedded in urban areas. And the international coalition against ISIS worked hard to protect civilians and create humanitarian corridors, even during the toughest battles.



So the lesson is not that you can win in urban warfare by protecting civilians. The lesson is that you can only win in urban warfare by protecting civilians.



You see, in this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population. And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.



So I have repeatedly made clear to Israel’s leaders that protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza is both a moral responsibility and a strategic imperative.



And so I have personally pushed Israeli leaders to avoid civilian casualties, and to shun irresponsible rhetoric, and to prevent violence by settlers in the West Bank, and to dramatically expand access to humanitarian aid.



This week, a U.S. Air Force C-17 airlifted more than 54,000 pounds of U.N. medical supplies, warm clothing, and food to the people of Gaza—and we expect more such flights in the days ahead.



And so two things are true: any state has a duty to respond to a terrorist attack like October 7th. And every state has a duty to protect civilians during armed conflict.



And so that’s crucial as Israel works to dismantle the Hamas terrorist infrastructure in Gaza. And it will also be crucial for our work with our allies and partners after the conflict ends.



Though Austin suggested that the U.S. could teach Israel about operating against terrorists in urban environments, it was actually Israel that taught the U.S. how to fight in those conditions. As the New York Times reported in 2003, the U.S. studied Israel’s tactics against terrorists in Jenin in Operation Defensive Shield in 2002. Israeli commandos raced to the heart of the city and fought their way out, rather than vice versa; and blasted holes in walls to fight house-to-house without outdoor exposure.



The U.S. completed the territorial defeat of ISIS under the Trump administration. Under Secretary Austin, the U.S. botched the pullout from Afghanistan; upon departing, the U.S. military also killed an innocent man, Zemari Ahmadi, plus nine other civilians, including seven children, in a drone attack that it initially claimed had been a targeted killing of a member of “ISIS-K.”



Austin also said that the war should lead to a two-state solution, seemingly unconcerned about rewarding Palestinians for terror.


link

[shalom]

TV7 Israel News - Sword of Iron, Israel at War - Day 59 - UPDATE 04.12.23

[shalom]

TV7 Israel News - Sword of Iron, Israel at War - Day 60 - UPDATE 05.12.23

[shalom]

Israel-Hamas War: IDF penetrates heart of southern Gaza

Although the IDF had achieved this penetration on Monday, this news was kept classified in order to take the terror group by surprise.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB, JERUSALEM POST STAFF

DECEMBER 5, 2023 15:58

Updated: DECEMBER 5, 2023 21:57




IDF troops penetrate deep in southern Gaza, December 5, 2023 (IDF Spokesperson's Unit)



The IDF has penetrated to the heart of Khan Yunis, the command center of Hamas in southern Gaza, on multiple fronts simultaneously, achieving this objective on Sunday, through a variety of maneuvers, and announcing it on Monday.



A massive force of multiple brigades, including from Division 162, were thrown into the onslaught with air cover and ground forces to eliminate Hamas command and control capabilities.



IDF sent large force into Shejaia at the same time as Khan Yunis attack

At the same time, the IDF sent a large and hard-hitting force, including Divisions 162 and 36, into Shejaia, known as Hamas’s greatest remaining stronghold in northern Gaza.



A senior IDF official said that the IDF had waited to assassinate the head of Hamas’s Shejaia battalion until just before it was ready to invade in force to maximize the impact of the shock and disorganization on the Shejaia Hamas forces.



In Shejaia, the IDF hurled large infantry forces at Hamas along with massive air strikes and also succeeded in destroying significant positions and command centers.


In addition, the IDF also attacked parts of Jabalya and Beit Hanun in northern Gaza which had not been entirely cleared, though those areas were already more under IDF control than Shejaia, which the IDF only started to attack recently.



The IDF also ramped up its attacks on Hamas in central Gaza, which began recently.



Several hundred Hamas terrorists were killed on Sunday, marking one of the deadliest days for Hamas forces, and bringing the number of its dead to around 6,000 with thousands more wounded.



Hamas is now estimated to maintain around 20,000 remaining potential fighters from its original 30,000.The IDF has said less about the estimated 10,000 Islamic Jihad forces, though there though there have been accounts of attacks against this terror group as well.



Based on the combined attacks, IDF Southern Command Chief Maj.-Gen. Yaron Finkleman said, “we are in the heart of Jabalya, the heart of Shejaia, and as of last night, the heart of Khan Younis. We are in the most intense day since the start of the invasion – in terms of the number of killed terrorists, the number of battles, and the volume of fire brought to bear by ground and air forces. We intend to continue to attack and to deepen our achievements.”



Civilians from Khan Yunis had been directed to evacuate further south to Rafah as well as to a safe area west of Khan Yunis.



IDF closing in on Yahya Sinwar

IDF Chief-of-staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi on Tuesday hinted that by penetrating to the center of Khan Yunis the IDF is closing in on Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar.



He said that the IDF has encircled southern Gaza and Khan Yunis, where multiple top officials have said Sinwar is hiding, though there is still no precise timeline for capturing or killing him.



“We are attacking the center of gravity” of Hamas and “we are asked frequently about the destruction in Gaza. Hamas is the address. Sinwar is the address.”



Halevi added that Hamas has systematically abused civilian locations for terrorism, and yet the IDF is still trying hard to mitigate any harm to civilians. “Whoever thought that the IDF would not know how to renew the war was mistaken, and Hamas is feeling that a lot.”



The IDF chief flagged that a large number of senior Hamas officials have been killed in recent days, beyond the dozen or so Hamas battalion commanders killed during two months of war.



Also, Halevi said that Hezbollah is trying to hide how badly the IDF attacks on it have damaged its forces.Meanwhile, the IDF has been planning to pump seawater into the Hamas tunnel network in Gaza for weeks, The Wall Street Journal has recently reported and The Jerusalem Post was told weeks ago.



Five large pumps were assembled north of the Shati refugee camp last month, each one capable of pumping thousands of cubic meters of seawater into the tunnels.



The Post had been told by top defense officials that this was one of many ploys the IDF hoped to utilize to destroy Hamas’s vast tunnel network, but due to the structure of the tunnels, it is unclear how useful flooding the tunnels will be.



Israel informed US officials that they were considering this option last month and needed to weigh its feasibility and environmental factors against military necessity.



Some US officials expressed concern about the plan while others supported it.



The process could take weeks and therefore could allow Hamas fighters to evacuate, potentially taking the hostages with them. However, it isn’t clear whether Israel would procrastinate until all estimated 137 remaining hostages are returned.



Environmental concerns

One other major concern is the environmental impact of pumping seawater into the ground. Seawater seeping into the soil can poison already semi-salinated aquifers deep in the ground and seriously destabilize the surface.



Salinated soil would make it extremely difficult to grow crops. There are also concerns that substances stored in the tunnels could seep into the soil further contaminating the area.



Former US officials told The Wall Street Journal that the plan would perhaps bring global condemnation, but they conceded it might be one of the few ways to permanently disable the tunnels.



Egypt flooded Hamas tunnels with seawater in 2015, which led to complaints from farmers in Rafah that it had damaged their crops.



Militaries typically use dogs and robots to clear tunnels. However, the effectiveness of flooding the tunnels may prove too lucrative an option for the IDF, saving them time, money, and manpower.

link

[shalom]

TV7 Israel News - Sword of Iron, Israel at War - Day 61 - UPDATE 06.12.23

[shalom]

IDF finds one of the largest Gaza weapons stockpiles ever near school, hospital

In addition to seizing thousands of munitions, the IDF struck approximately 250 targets over the previous 24 hours.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF

DECEMBER 6, 2023 09:17

Updated: DECEMBER 6, 2023 20:19


The IDF engaged hundreds of Hamas terrorists and terror targets and discovered one of the largest weapons stockpiles ever found in the Gaza Strip over the past twenty-four hours the military said on Wednesday.



The IDF said that it had found one of the largest weapons stockpiles in the history of its operations in Gaza, an arsenal containing hundreds of missiles, launchers, long-range rockets, anti-tank missiles, UAVs, and explosives.



The massive weapons cache was located near a hospital and a school, the IDF reported.

The terror munitions were discovered by the 50th battalion of the 460th brigade. The IDF said that some of the munitions were detonated on site while others were sent for further investigation.



The IDF seizes one of the largest weapons stockpiles ever discovered in the Gaza Strip. December 6, 2023. (Credit: IDF)
Video at link


The IDF stated that all of the ordnance was found in the vicinity of densely populated civilian areas, citing the discovery as "further evidence of the cynical use that the Hamas terrorist organization makes of the residents of the Gaza Strip as human shields."



Also, over the last day, the Israel Air Force hit around 250 targets in Gaza, the IDF stated. Troops on the ground worked to locate weapons; Hamas infrastructure, including subterranean structures; and explosive devices.



Additionally, IDF troops directed an IAF strike on two Hamas rocket launchers which had been used to rain rockets down on central Israel on Tuesday.



IDF operates in central Gaza
Video at link


Israeli troops also directed an airstrike in the Deir al-Balah area in central Gaza.



The IDF conducts activities in the Gaza Strip. December 6, 2023. (Credit: IDF)

These airstrikes successfully eliminated both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists and destroyed a number of terrorist-controlled infrastructure.



Israeli troops also hit a terror cell conducting its operations next to a school in northern Gaza, the army said.



The IDF then proceeded to target a subterranean structure in the area of the school. In another local school, troops found more weapons and ammunition.







Soldiers in the Nahal Brigade fought in close combat with terrorists in the Jabalya neighborhood in the northern Gaza Strip, eliminating several terrorists, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said on Wednesday.







The soldiers also found sniper rifles, explosives, anti-tank missiles, rockets, tunnel openings, and swastikas in a school and a mosque in the neighborhood. Rocket launchers were found near the school as well.


link

[shalom]

Israel is preparing to flood the Hamas tunnel network in Gaza

Some US officials expressed concern about the plan while others support it.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF, YONAH JEREMY BOB

DECEMBER 5, 2023 01:19

Updated: DECEMBER 5, 2023 17:36


The IDF has been planning to pump seawater into the Hamas tunnel network in Gaza for weeks, the Wall Street Journal has reported and the Jerusalem Post was told weeks ago.



Five large pumps have been assembled north of the al-Shati refugee camp during the last month, with each one capable of pumping thousands of cubic meters of seawater into the tunnels.



The Post had been told by top defense officials that this was one of a series of methods which the IDF hoped to use to destroy and neutralize Hamas's vast tunnel network.



Israel informed US officials that they were considering this option last month and needed to weigh feasibility and environmental factors against military necessity.



Due to the nature and structure of the tunnels, it is unclear whether the method will be a cure-all for the tunnel threat, or will be useful, but will remain just one of a series of important tactics,



The process could take weeks and therefore could allow Hamas's fighters to evacuate, potentially taking the hostages with them. However, it isn't clear whether Israel would wait until all hostages are returned.


The environmental impact

One of the major concerns over this plan is the environmental impact of pumping seawater into the ground.



Sea water seeping into the soil is a major cause for concern as it can poison already semi-salinated aquifers deep in the ground as well as making the surface extremely unstable.



Fears are that seawater would salinate Gaza's soil, making it extremely difficult to grow crops. There are also concerns that substances stored in the tunnels could also seep into the soil further contaminating the area.



Former US officials told the Wall Street Journal that the plan would perhaps bring global condemnation, but they conceded it might be one of the few ways to permanently disable the tunnels.



Egypt flooded Hamas tunnels with seawater in 2015, which led to complaints from farmers in Rafah that it had damaged their crops.



Militaries typically use dogs and robots to clear tunnels, however, the effectiveness of flooding the tunnels may prove too lucrative an option for the IDF, saving them time, money, and manpower.


link

[shalom]

TV7 Israel News - Sword of Iron, Israel at War - Day 62 - UPDATE 07.12.23

[OmegaMan]

Israel JUST FLOODED The Largest Tunnel!

[OmegaMan]

Israel JUST CAPTURED Important Leaders In The Westbank!

[shalom]

TV7 Israel News - Sword of Iron, Israel at War - Day 63 - UPDATE 8.12.23

[shalom]

TV7 Israel News - Sword of Iron, Israel at War - Day 64 - UPDATE 9.12.23

[J.J.Gibbs]

Hamas Warns It Could Kill All Hostages Unless Israel Meets Demands

JOEL B. POLLAK
10 Dec 2023

A Hamas spokesman suggested Sunday that the terror organization could kill all of the presumed 137 hostages in its custody if Israel does not accede to its demands.



Abu Obeida, a familiar spokesman for Hamas who had not been seen for several weeks, released a video in which he made the threat clear.



“Neither the fascist enemy and its arrogant leadership… nor its supporters… can take their prisoners alive without an exchange and negotiation and meeting the demands of the resistance,” he said, according to the Times of Israel.



It is not clear if Hamas would deliver on that threat. The hostages are the only leverage that Hamas has over Israel, and it uses them as human shields. The Hamas leaders in exile — in luxurious accommodation in Doha, Qatar — would also likely to preserve the hostages alive to ensure that Israel negotiates with them, rather than killing them (as it has promised to do, eventually).



Hamas has tried to use the deaths of individual hostages to deter Israeli military action before. In the latest example, it claimed that Sahar Baruch, 25, a hostage from Kibbutz Be’eri, had been killed in an Israeli rescue attempt. Israel said that Baruch was murdered by Hamas and that the rescue attempt killed several terrorists but found no hostages in the location that was raided.



The new threat could be a sign that Israel’s military pressure is working, forcing Hamas to make sensational threats to survive.


link

[J.J.Gibbs]

Netanyahu to Hamas Terrorists: ‘Don’t Die for Sinwar. Surrender — Now’


JOEL B. POLLAK
10 Dec 2023

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a message to Hamas terrorists who are still fighting the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), hiding underground, or holding Israeli hostages: surrender — now.



In a statement, Netanyahu said that the remaining holdouts should not die for the sake of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza:



In the past few days, dozens of Hamas terrorists have surrendered to our forces. They are laying down their weapons and turning themselves in to our heroic soldiers.



This will take time. The war is still ongoing but it is the beginning of the end of Hamas.



I say to the Hamas terrorists: It’s over. Don’t die for Sinwar. Surrender – now!


Israel also released a video of a former Hamas communications minister Yousef al-Mansi blaming Sinwar for the war as the Times of Israel noted:



“I have not seen anyone in the Gaza Strip who supports Sinwar, nobody likes Sinwar. There are people who, day and night, pray that God will free us from him,” he says.



Al-Mansi says Sinwar has “delusions of grandeur,” and that he “feels like he is above everyone else. Acts only as he thinks. He makes decisions without consulting anyone.”



The former Hamas minister says the October 7 attacks are “the opposite of Islam.”



Israel said on Friday that large numbers of Hamas terrorists have been surrendering, amid the emergence of photos and videos of mass arrests of men who had stripped to their underwear. One video showed a man putting down a rifle atop a pile of other weapons.



Israel’s Army Radio said that a significant proportion — 40 of 100 — of those arrested in at least one location, in Khan Younis were terrorists. The rest were found to be civilians and were released.



On Sunday, IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that the photos and videos had been unauthorized, amid controversy over their circulation. He said that the practice of ordering detainees to strip was to avoid the risk of explosive suicide belts, common among Palestinian terrorists.



National security minister Tzachi Hanegbi gave a slightly different version of events, according to the Times of Israel, saying that the photographs had been taken with the permission of the military, but he added that they would be stopped.



Hagari also said that Israel would punish any misbehavior by soldiers, after video emerged of a soldier vandalizing a store in Gaza.



On the northern front, tensions continued to rise between Israel and Hezollah in southern Lebanon. Six Israeli soldiers were wounded by a Hezbollah drone that was not shot down by the Iron Dome system, and Israel struck several Hezbollah positions.



Israel has maintained a policy of not firing at Hezbollah until fired upon; it is indisputable that Hezbollah fired the first shot between the two sides, and also that it is violating United Nations Security Council Resolution 1707, which bars it from the territory south of the Litani River to the border with Israel.


link

[shalom]

TV7 Israel News - Sword of Iron, Israel at War - Day 65 - UPDATE 10.12.23

[shalom]

TV7 Israel News - Sword of Iron, Israel at War - Day 66 - UPDATE 11.12.23

[shalom]

TV7 Israel News - Sword of Iron, Israel at War - Day 67 - UPDATE 12.12.23

[shalom]

IDF begins pumping seawater into Hamas tunnels in Gaza -WSJ

In 2015, Egypt flooded tunnels between the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula with seawater.

By REUTERS, JERUSALEM POST STAFF

DECEMBER 12, 2023 21:20

Updated: DECEMBER 12, 2023 21:30


The IDF has begun pumping seawater into Hamas' tunnel complex in Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday citing unnamed US officials, adding that the process would likely take weeks.



Some Biden administration officials have said the process could help destroy the tunnels, where Israel believes the terrorist group is hiding hostages, fighters and munitions, the Journal reported. Other officials have expressed concerns the seawater would endanger Gaza's fresh water supply, the newspaper reported.



The flooding process began after the IDF added two pumps to five pumps which had been installed for the purpose of flooding the tunnels last month, the US officials told the Journal. The first five large pumps had been assembled north of the al-Shati refugee camp during the last month, with each one capable of pumping thousands of cubic meters of seawater into the tunnels.



In 2015, Egypt flooded tunnels between the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula with seawater, sparking complaints that the method damaged the soil in the area.


Unclear how well the flooding method will work


Due to the nature and structure of the tunnels, it is unclear whether the method will be a cure-all for the tunnel threat, or will be useful, but will remain just one of a series of important tactics.



The process could take weeks and therefore could allow Hamas's fighters to evacuate, potentially taking the hostages with them. However, it isn't clear whether Israel would wait until all hostages are returned.

link