IDF Advances to ‘Next Stage’ in Gaza Anti-Terror Offensive, Eliminates PLO-Linked Terrorists in West Bank Raid
Israel’s Defense Minister Gallant: “We have completed taking over and clearing the western part of Gaza City and are now advancing to the next stage.”
After successfully wresting control over large parts of terrorist-held northern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is preparing to take on Islamic terror group Hamas in the south of the territory.
“Southern Command continues expanding its operational activities in additional neighborhoods in the area of the Gaza Strip and conducted operational activity in the areas of Zaytun and Jabalya in order to target terrorists and strike Hamas infrastructure,” the IDF disclosed in a statement on Saturday afternoon.
The military pivot to the south of the Hamas-controlled enclave is seen as the “next stage” in IDF’s Swords of Iron operation as ground offensive in Gaza entered its fourth week. “We have completed taking over and clearing the western part of Gaza City and are now advancing to the next stage,” Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced on Friday.
The UK daily Telegraph reported the widening of the Gaza ground operatio:
Israel has warned that it could continue its ground incursion into south Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of people have fled, as the north of the territory is now mostly under its control.
The Israeli military dropped leaflets over areas of Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, asking civilians to evacuate their homes and seek shelter elsewhere.
“We’re asking people to relocate. I know it’s not easy for many of them, but we don’t want to see civilians caught up in the crossfire,” Mark Regev, an aide to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told MSNBC in an interview overnight.
The IDF is conducting sweeping strikes on terrorist commanders and infrastructure in Gaza. The Israeli military in a statement on Saturday afternoon revealed that “over the past day, IDF fighter jets and helicopters struck dozens of terror targets in the Gaza Strip alongside terrorists and additional terror infrastructure, including operational command centers, launch posts, and weapon manufacturing laboratories.”
RPGs, mortar shells, and other weapons were found by IDF troops inside a kindergarten and an elementary school in northern Gaza.
Kindergartens should store toys, not deadly weapons. pic.twitter.com/OuPfJmfGYZ
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 18, 2023
Death toll from rave festival massacre rises to 350
The death toll from the Re’im music festival massacre carried out by Hamas terrorists has risen to over 350, Israel authorities confirmed. On October 7, Hamas terrorist infiltrators raped and slaughtered hundreds of young women, Israeli and foreign nationals, as part of their shock cross-border attack into Israel.
Many of these young women were taken as hostages and paraded as sick war trophies as thousands of euphoric Gazan residents spat on them and greeted the returning terrorists with chants of ‘Allahu Akbar.’
The i24NEWS reported:
Israel on Friday revised upward the death toll from the massacre at the Noval music festival, saying that “at least 350” people were murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7.
The trance music festival, which was attended by thousands of young people, was among the jihadists’ first targets; dozens were taken hostage.
Israeli emergency services earlier said some 260 bodies had been recovered from the site of the festival, but over a month of forensic research led to the toll to be revised.
Drone footage shows what is left of the site of the Supernova music festival in Re'im, Israel, where Hamas Islamist gunmen killed hundreds of civilians & abducted dozens on Oct. 7. pic.twitter.com/T0AmkrjtTa
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) October 9, 2023
IDF continues to strike Hezbollah terror targets
With Iran-sponsored terrorist group Hezbollah using Lebanese territory to fire missiles and shells into northern Israel, the IDF is responding with defensive strikes.
“Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for two more attacks on IDF forces in the eastern area of the upper Galilee,” the newspaper Israel Hayom reported Friday night. “IDF confirms airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon after mortar fire toward northern Israel”
The IDF struck Hezbollah terror targets.
Earlier today, IDF aircraft struck a number of Hezbollah terror infrastructures.
Furthermore, following the sirens sounded in northern Israel, a number of launches were identified from Lebanon toward Israeli territory.
IDF artillery is… pic.twitter.com/IqRIa2BMif
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) November 18, 2023
IDF detailed its response to the latest Hezbollah terror strikes in a press release on Saturday:
Earlier today, IDF aircraft struck a number of Hezbollah terror infrastructures.
Furthermore, following the sirens sounded in northern Israel, a number of launches were identified from Lebanon toward Israeli territory.
IDF artillery is striking the sources of the launches.
25 launches from Lebanon toward Northern Israel were identified a short while ago.
In response, IDF artillery is striking the sources of the launches and additional Hezbollah terrorist targets.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 18, 2023
IDF eliminates PLO-linked terrorist in West Bank
Israel’s war against terrorism is not limited to Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israeli military and security forces on Saturday targeted terrorists affiliated to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the West Bank.
Israeli security services eliminated several PLO-linked terrorists, including wanted-terrorist Muhammad Zahed, during a raid in the West Bank city of Nablus.
The slain terrorists were planning imminent attacks on Israel. “Five fighters in the armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party were killed early Saturday in a rare Israeli airstrike on the … West Bank,” the Telegraph reported.
IDF, Shin Bet: Terror cell planning ‘imminent attacks’ targeted in West Bank operation https://t.co/eJd1lkKtPm via @timesofisrael
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) November 18, 2023
It is worth noting that European Union and Western governments want the PLO-run Palestinian Authority (PA) to take over Gaza once Hamas is flushed out of Gaza. PLO-PA Authority-controlled cities, such as Jenin and Nablus, are terrorist strongholds often used to carry out attacks inside Israel and provide safe haven for terrorists.
The IDF revealed the details of the West Bank operation in a press release on Saturday morning:
In a joint IDF and ISA overnight counterterrorism activity in the Balata Camp, an IDF aircraft struck a hideout used by terrorists involved in planning imminent terror attacks against Israeli civilians and military targets.
The terrorists killed during the activity include Muhammad Zahed, resident of the camp, a prominent terrorist in the city of Nablus. Zahed was involved in shooting attacks in the area of Nablus and planned further terror activity.
One of the significant terror attacks he was involved in includes a shooting attack on April 2023 in Jerusalem, which wounded two Israeli civilians.
Zahed took part in the hostile terror activity in the Balata Camp and founded a terrorist cell composed of the camp’s youth, which he armed with explosives and weapons for terror activities against IDF soldiers entering the camp.
In the past, he carried out shooting attacks against IDF soldiers, sent terrorists to carry out terror attacks and rallied the camp against IDF forces. In addition, Zahed received weapons and funds to further terror attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers and began to produce explosives for the battalion.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
“Three in four Palestinians support Hamas’s massacre.”
https://www.jns.org/three-in-four-palestinians-support-hamass-massacre/
Check out the numbers. These people sure make it hard to feel sorry for them.
IMO the Israelis should use artillery where possible to respond as counter battery fire against rocket/mortar fire from inside Lebanon or the West Bank. Announce it in advance so no one is shocked and warn that if near a suspected/probable point of origin that indirect fire will be hitting those areas so that any ‘civilians’ know to beat feet if Hezbollah sets up a mortar/rocket.
This has two effects. First it offers ‘civilians’ opposed to Hezbollah the opportunity to take whatever actions they feel appropriate while offering the same opportunity to ‘civilians’ aligned with Hezbollah. IOW it removes the civilian casualties from the board for anyone with any sense; obviously the usual suspects will complain no matter what the IDF does so why not just ignore them entirely from the jump. Second it brings the population into the calculus. Artillery fire while accurate is not really a precision weapon it is an area weapon. By using it the civilians who don’t see themselves as involved will now face consequences wholly different than when using precision munitions like a smart bomb or rocket from an air strike. The ‘civilians’ will need to decide if their tacit approval of Hezbollah launching rockets and missiles at Israel is worth their own lives or the own homes. Maybe it will degrade support for Hezbollah. Worth a shot b/c what the IDF is doing now doesn’t seem to be halting or deterring attacks.
Worth a shot b/c what the IDF is doing now doesn’t seem to be halting or deterring attacks.
_____________________________________________________
has certainly curtailed the scale of the rocket attacks–israel appears to be prosecuting a war of attrition against the hamas / terrorists–slowly/methodically/consistently eliminating terrorists as they’re encountered while destroying infrastructure in the process and cutting off retreat(at least above ground) as they go and, most important of all, minimizing civilian/idf casualties as they proceed–not vastly different from the arvn/us efforts against the vc with their own network of tunnels / lairs–though tech has advanced since then(robots/drones in lieu of humans) would bet that there are israeli forces akin to the tunnel rats who are prepared / determined / brave enough to seek out the hamas bastards in person, hand to hand, and waste them
In the meantime, the terrible IDF:
“Israel moves aid into Al-Shifa, allows Gazan request to evacuate”
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-773860
Imagine how fast this would have been over if the Hamas Conventions were in effect.
West Bank? I think you mean Judea and Samaria.
Palestinian Authority….aka the coat and tie version of Hamas..
Netanyahu told Brandon to stuff it about letting the PA control Gaza after hostilities end. Good for him.
“Many of these young women were taken as hostages and paraded as sick war trophies as thousands of euphoric Gazan residents spat on them and greeted the returning terrorists with chants of ‘Allahu Akbar.’”
Napalm for those neighborhoods. In light of rape, murder, children, babies, what they did and how they did it, they deserve such.
May their euphoria come to an abrupt end.
That the PA is in charge of anything except extorting money from the UN and The West is laughable.
I am unsure of Israel’s claims of control, however. I thought the Hamas terrorists numbered near 40,000. Where are the bodies? Are they claiming control of the surface and if so then they are not actually in control of the territory until those tunnels and people in them are eliminated. Maybe they are planning on just sitting on top of them until those rats run out of air and food. Not a bad plan to destroy the entrances and let them starve to death.