As Israeli military strikes terrorist targets in Gaza for the second day, more details about Saturday’s shock terror attack are being uncovered. New revelations show Iran’s direct involvement in the multi-pronged terror offensive.
The Iranian fingerprints were visible from the beginning of the terrorist operation, with top regime officials and lawmakers cheering the gruesome act of terrorism that left at least 900 Israelis dead and 2000 wounded. Around 130 Israelis hostages — including women, children and elderly, are thought to be in Hamas’ captivity.
Senior Iranian military officials were personally involved in the planning, and ordered Hamas to launch the attack at a recent meeting in Lebanon, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
Iran’s green-light for the terror attack came just weeks after the Biden White House released $6 billion as part of a hostage ransom deal — despite warnings that this will only finance terrorism and incentivize more hostage-taking.
The WSJ reports:
Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas’s Saturday surprise attack on Israel and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday, according to senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Iran-backed militant group.Officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had worked with Hamas since August to devise the air, land and sea incursions—the most significant breach of Israel’s borders since the 1973 Yom Kippur War—those people said.Details of the operation were refined during several meetings in Beirut attended by IRGC officers and representatives of four Iran-backed militant groups, including Hamas, which holds power in Gaza, and Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group and political faction in Lebanon, they said. (…)A direct Iranian role would take Tehran’s long-running conflict with Israel out of the shadows, raising the risk of broader conflict in the Middle East. Senior Israeli security officials have pledged to strike at Iran’s leadership if Tehran is found responsible for killing Israelis.
According to European media reports on Monday, Iranian President Ebrahim spoke to the top leaders of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihad — both Iran-funded terrorist groups based in Gaza. A senior Iranian regime spokesman has already congratulated the Palestinian terrorists for Saturday’s deadly attacks.
“After a major attack on Israel by Islamist Hamas, Iranian President Raisi spoke with the group’s chief, [Ismail] Haniyeh. In a separate phone call, Raisi also spoke with the leader of the militant Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization, according to the Iranian news agency ISNA,” the Belgian public broadcaster Belgische Rundfunk reported.
On Monday, the Reuters reported growing criticism of Biden’s multi-billion deal with Iran, world’s biggest sponsor of terrorism and Hamas’s biggest backer:
In August, details were made public of a complicated agreement that President Joe Biden approved. Five U.S. citizens detained by Tehran were allowed to leave the country in exchange for the transfer of $6 billion in Iranian funds that had been frozen in South Korea. (…)Allowing Iran access to those funds under any circumstances improves its budget situation, freeing up money that would be used to use elsewhere, Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate, said.”Let’s be honest with the American people and understand that Hamas knows, and Iran knows they’re moving money around as we speak, because they know $6 billion is going to be released. That’s the reality,” she said.
Two days after the first terrorist infiltrators breached the border fence, Hamas continues to send killing squads into Israel.
“The Hamas naval force has attempted to launch several attacks during the ongoing fighting, sending terrorists via the sea to infiltrate into Israel. The Navy has said it has killed dozens of Hamas terrorists during attempts to carry out attacks from the sea,” The Times of Israel reported Monday.
On Monday, Hamas continued to fire rockets aimed at towns and cities across Israel. The Israeli TV channel i24News reported “Heavy barrage of Gaza rockets rains down on Jerusalem area, Tel Aviv suburbs.”
“Several rocket impacts in southern Israeli cities, reports of casualties and heavy damage,” the TV channel added.
The news website Ynet reported the IDF counter-terror operation on Monday morning:
The IDF said all border area communities have been cleared of terrorists after heavy fighting there since Saturday, with more infiltrations reported in the days following. According to the military, some 300,000 reservists have already been called up to join the fighting. (…)The IDF said early on Monday that troops were still engaged in gunfights in six locations along the Gaza border and that some 80 terrorists have been apprehended. The military also released the names of a further 16 fatalities.The Israeli Air Force carried a series of massive airstrikes on the Gaza Strip overnight Monday, on 800 Hamas targets, dropping hundreds of tons of bombs on terrorist infrastructure throughout the Palestinian enclave after a Hamas invasion of Israel left hundreds dead and thousands wounded.he strikes are focused mainly on Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighborhood, which has been a focal point of Hamas activity. Gaza’s Beit Hanoun was also reportedly facing heavy bombardments.Footage published by the AFP news agency shows a strong explosion followed by secondary blasts, likely resulting from weaponry that was presumably located at the impacted site.The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said these air raids dealt a “significant blow” to Hamas’s capabilities. According to a statement, the IDF attacked a building housing Hamas operatives and several operational headquarters of the terrorist organization, including a headquarters spanning three floors and another affiliated with a senior figure in Hamas’s naval force, Mohammad Kashta.https://twitter.com/IDF/status/1711138315628372110
Following thread uses satellite and drone imagery to analyze how Hamas terrorists massacred hundreds at a music festival in southern Israel. Israeli rescuers have so far recovered 260 dead bodies from the site:
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY