Israel Expands Gaza Operation as Netanyahu Tells Hamas Terrorists to “Surrender or Die”
Prime Minister Netanyahu: “All Hamas terrorists, from first to last, face death. They have two options only: surrender or die.”
As the ground offensive against the terror group Hamas enters its eighth week, the Israeli military is expanding its operations to central Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) revealed on Thursday.
“Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Thursday afternoon announced the expansion of its war activity to the central Gaza Strip, after completing significant operations in the southern and western parts of Gaza City,” the Israeli TV channel i24NEWS reports.
IDF: The Commander of the Southern Command, MG Yaron Finkelman: "We are in an additional significant phase of strikes in new areas [of the Gaza Strip]." pic.twitter.com/bvVvy25cso
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) December 20, 2023
The IDF made the decision public as President Joe Biden’s administration continues to mount pressure on Israel to ‘wind down’ the Gaza military operation. The announcement suggests that the “military senses the end is near and is trying to cement achievements before cease-fire declared,” the Israeli news website Ynet commented.
A ceasefire at this stage, as urged by the Biden White House, might keep Hamas in control of Gaza and sow the seeds of future terrorist attacks on Israel.
The announcement comes as the Israeli military clears the Hamas stronghold of Jabalya after weeks of bitter fighting. “The IDF has finished dismantling Hamas’s three battalions of terror forces in the Jabalya area of northern Gaza, killing over 1,000 of Hamas’s forces and arresting 500 terrorists, the IDF stated earlier in the week,” the Jerusalem Post reported Thursday evening. “Additionally, 3,000 non-combatant individuals associated with Hamas were arrested.”
🇮🇱-The IDF says it has expanded its ground operations in the central Gaza Strip, with the 99th Division carrying out an operation in areas south of Gaza City.
According to the IDF, the 99th Division maneuvered into new areas of central Gaza, to establish “operational control”… pic.twitter.com/sNvs8XUWHX
— Michael Weingardt (@Michael_Wgd) December 21, 2023
The Times of Israel reported other military developments in Gaza:
The Israel Defense Forces says it has expanded its ground operations in the central Gaza Strip, with the 99th Division carrying out an operation in areas south of Gaza City.
According to the IDF, the 99th Division maneuvered into new areas of central Gaza, to establish “operational control” between Gaza City and the so-called central camps — the refugee camps of central Gaza.
It says that during the operation, the division’s 179th Reserve Armored Brigade and 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade killed members of Hamas’s Nuseirat battalion and destroyed the terror group’s infrastructure, including tunnels and weapon depots.
Amid the operation, it says an airstrike was carried out against a Hamas cell firing RPGs from a municipal building.
Meanwhile, the IDF says the division’s Yiftah Brigade continued working to clear the western neighborhoods of Gaza City of Hamas infrastructure.
As IDF continues to clear Gaza of terrorists, more and more evidence emerges of Hamas hiding weapons in residential neighborhoods, including concealing deadly weaponry and explosives in kindergartens and children’s bedrooms.
In the northern Gaza locality of “Bakshi, soldiers from the Yiftah (11th) Brigade operated to clear out the neighborhoods west of Gaza City. During the raids, troops located many weapons, some of which were hidden in children’s dolls and under children’s beds,” the Israeli broadcaster Arutz Sheva reported.
Here’s what IDF troops found in a school in Jabalya following the evacuation of civilians while conducting searches in the area.
This is not the first time Hamas exploited its own people as shields to conceal their terrorist activity. pic.twitter.com/MiN7ptSXaZ
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 21, 2023
Netanyahu defies Biden WH pressure, says Gaza op to ‘continue until Hamas destroyed’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far resisted the pressure from Washington, declaring on Wednesday that the IDF operation in Gaza “will continue until Hamas is destroyed” and all hostages are brought home. The Hamas terrorists have two options: either “surrender or die,” he said.
The British newspaper Guardian reported the Israeli PM’s remarks:
“We’re continuing the war to the end,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday. “It will continue until Hamas is destroyed – until victory, until all the goals we set are met: destroying Hamas, releasing our hostages and removing the threat from Gaza.”
“Anyone who thinks we’ll stop is unmoored from reality,” the prime minister added. “We’re raining fire on Hamas, hellfire. All Hamas terrorists, from first to last, face death. They have two options only: surrender or die.”
https://twitter.com/IsraeliPM/status/1737502179919909306
Iran steps up spying operations against Israel
The Iranian regime, which armed and trained Hamas terrorists for the October 7 massacre, is stepping up spying operations against Israel — offering cash for surveillance on sensitive sites. Israeli security services foiled the recruitment bid after a tip-off from citizens. The revelations highlight Tehran’s intention of carrying out further terrorist and hostile acts on Israel’s soil.
The UK daily Telegraph reported:
Iran is attempting to recruit Israeli spies using social media, Israel’s Shin Bet security service has said.
The agency said Iranian operatives had offered Israeli civilians cash to take photographs of sensitive sites and verify addresses.
They posed as estate agents, people interested in marketing drones, couriers and users of online dating sites but were foiled after members of the public informed police, Shin Bet said.
Their proposed missions, while “seen as apparently not relating to security aspects … are definitely intended to serve the Iranians and enrich the intelligence in their possession”, it added.
“Its purpose is to assist Hamas in its war and to damage Israel’s national resilience and war effort, sowing demoralisation and deepening social divisions,” Shin Bet said.
It added Iranian spies have “greatly intensified” their espionage, sabotage and disinformation efforts since the war in Gaza began.
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Comments
Iran should be given something else to think about, such as tit for tat destruction of the hydro and water revivors’. Water is one thing people cannot live without. This would cause an instant crisis, something around 800 targets. How many would it take to wipe Iran’s collective smirk?
Unconditional surrender.
I’m thinking Hamas has done fucked up their October atrocity.
I do not believe they thought the old Jews would go as far and as hard as they have in the face of the world demanding Jews die faster and easier.
It’s utterly refreshing 😂
Yeah, Hamas is definitely at the Find Out stage.
None of them have read Six Days at Entebbe.
I’m presuming Iran is targeting ARAB-Israeli citizens and not Jewish-Israeli citizens, right? I want to believe that there aren’t any Jews in Israel dumb enough to help Iran as that would be like the cow walking himself to the butcher shop.
The vile Biden Administration’s putting pressure on Israel to “wrap up” military operations is simply evil and despicable.
Why do Muslim supremacists, terrorists, fanatics and Islamofascists deserve special treatment as enemies in war, after committing genocidal murders and sadistic atrocities and barbarism? Perhaps the reprobates in the Biden Administration can attempt to explain why Muslim thugs are somehow deserving of such deference?
The despicable Biden and his lackeys’ machinations undermining Israel are all the more galling, given that the hostages haven’t been released. But, regardless of the hostage situation, the evil Hamas Islamofascist death cult must be destroyed.
Biden needs Michigan.
What percentage of Gazan buildings have been more or less flattened? 🙂 🙂
Not enough. See “Carthage, destruction of”,
Subotai Bahadur
My very thought.
I like Netanyahu v.2 better than the previous versions.
Dear Mr netanyahu, embrace the power of and. Even if they surrender, they should die
I bet Hamas are feeling sorry for themselves now, but not at all for their actions. This has to continue until they are much sorrier.
I’m reminded of the Marines clearing out fanatical Japanese soldiers from caves on Pacific islands in WWII.
The technique was called ‘Blowtorch and Corkscrew” and didn’t feature much surrender by the enemy.
“…continues to mount pressure on Israel to ‘wind down’ the Gaza military operation.”
No.
It isn’t a “military operation”, it’s a war. Israel declared war.
Hamas is the government in Gaza and aggressor against Israel, breaching the border in a long-planned, armed operation killing Israeli citizens. Not mentioning the thousand-plus rocket barrage around the same time. (Different from the low baseline of explosive rockets lobbed into Israel, like background radiation.)
Israel declared war on Hamas, the government of Gaza, after that government gave them Casus Belli.
Hamas can surrender on terms acceptable to Israel, or it goes on until Israel decides they’re done. That’s part of what “war” means.
Dark Brandon is just responding to how Israel’s War on Hamas is stirring up his party’s lock step. And why wouldn’t he? Everything this administration does is based on maintaining the party’s lock step. And they’ll do literally anything.
Surrender? Why are they even talking about that? How much do you want to bet Brandon&Co are publicly starting to talk about ceasefire, two states etc and privately telling Bibi to get it done much like every Arab country not called Iran?
“Nearly 40,000 buildings, or about 18 percent of all pre-conflict structures have been damaged or destroyed in the Gaza Strip”
Well, that is good news but shows there is a lot more work to do.
“104 mosques have been razed”
A good start..
“Over half of jobs lost”
Fruits of Gazans nature.
Gazans have no regrets or empathy for the harm they caused.