Everyone agrees that the Israeli Air Force has considerably intensified its attacks on the Gaza Strip. But while Israel claims that they hit hundreds of “terrorist targets” including the death of hundreds of militiamen, Hamas denounces the death of hundreds of Palestinians in “indiscriminate bombings” in recent days marked by the tense and long wait for the ground offensive.
The testimony of the Israeli Yoheved Lifshitz (85), released after being kidnapped in the jihadist attack on October 7, reveals her terrible personal experience but also a decisive element today, and even more so, in a few days: the enormous network of Hamas tunnels that seem oblivious to the blockade and bombs that hit the Palestinian enclave. The “Gaza Metro” serves as a refuge and circulation route for its leaders and armed wing, a warehouse for their projectiles, a command and communication room, a hiding place for the kidnapped people and, finally, a weapon to respond to the land incursion.
“Let’s be clear, the Army is prepared for the (land) maneuver and we will make the decision together with the Government based on the essence and timing of the next stage. There are tactical and strategic considerations that give us more time to improve and be still more prepared,” warned the head of the Army, Herzi Halevi. What happened on October 7 with the murder of 1,400 people, he stressed, “had never happened in Israel and will require a profound change in the security reality.”
Finally, he confirmed the increase in the offensive: “This is a war imposed by Hamas that they already regret. We attack without pause, day and night, by land, air and sea. We hit specific targets, we kill terrorists, “We destroy infrastructure and collect Intelligence for the next stage.”
The Israeli punishment of the fundamentalist group is causing another, much more severe one, to Gaza under the worst bombing in decades. According to data from the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, almost 5,800 Palestinians have died in 18 days of offensive, including 704 in just 24 hours. Without entering into the important aspect of how many are civilians and how many are militias, which today in the midst of war is impossible to contrast independently and accurately, the deadly toll is far from that known in the four major escalations between Israel and Hamas since 2008.
According to Gaza authorities, more than 60% of the dead are concentrated in Gaza City and other parts of the northern Strip, whose inhabitants Israel once again asked them to go to the south of Wadi Gaza. “As we have been repeating for many days, we ask you to evacuate, especially in Gaza City, so as not to risk your lives,” the Army said, accusing Hamas of trying to prevent it. Hamas, which says it is fighting “a new expulsion of Palestinians,” said one of the attacks took place near the Al Wafa hospital in Gaza City.
According to the UN, Israel has tripled its attacks. Its Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) says 35 of its staff were killed in bombings this month. “We cry and we remember them. They are not just figures. They are our friends and our colleagues. Many were educators in our schools. UNRWA mourns this enormous loss,” he announced on the social network cease its activities this Wednesday if fuel did not enter.
“The Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza does not have electricity due to fuel shortages,” Hamas denounced yesterday, what it called a “crime against humanity.” According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the lack of fuel has led six hospitals to close and two others to cease critical services. The UN demands that Israel allow not only the water, food and medicines that have arrived every day since Saturday in trucks from Rafah (Egypt) but also fuel.
“The world must demand that Hamas return the fuel it stole from UNRWA since it needs it for its terrorist infrastructure and to give it to the inhabitants and hospitals,” replies the Army, which tonight announced the neutralization of several militiamen who tried to penetrate from the sea ??to Zikim beach.
As the pressure it comes under in Gaza increases, Hamas is putting more pressure abroad. “We ask the Arab and Islamic countries and the UN to assume their responsibility and take a position to stop the aggression. We ask them to break relations with Israel, expel its ambassadors and boycott it,” declared the leader of Hamas in Lebanon, Ossama Hamdan. that conditioned the release of more kidnapped people to the entry of fuel.
Israel asked Gazans for information on the whereabouts of the 220 kidnapped in the hands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in exchange for protection and financial compensation. Since the start of the war, the armed wing of Hamas has released two American women (through the Qatari channel) and two other Israeli women (through the Egyptian channel). One of them, Lifshitz, yesterday recounted the “hell” she went through and how she was violently taken by motorcycle from her abduction in Kibbutz Nir Oz to a tunnel in Gaza. “A crowd attacked our houses. They beat people and kidnapped others like me. They didn’t care if we were young or old,” he recalled, adding that in the depths of Gaza Hamas guards treated him correctly and friendly.
Israel suffered an unprecedented attack when it was going through an unprecedented situation. Before 7-O, the judicial reform plan launched in January by the new Government had divided the country in a dangerous way with effects on cohesion and security. Military Intelligence warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “enemies detect the greatest point of weakness in Israel and its deterrence in decades.” In addition, Netanyahu announced the resignation of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after he publicly called for the legislative initiative to be stopped because the situation threatened national security. Massive street protests and pressure from the US stopped the dismissal, but since then trust has not been recovered between the two main leaders directing the war against Hamas.
The reservists who left their service in protest of the judicial project did not hesitate for a second to put on their uniform again given the dimensions of the brutal Hamas attack. The war has united Israel but leads it to one of the most momentous moments in its history.
