IDF Withdraws From Southern Gaza – Capitulation to Biden or Lead Up To Offensive on Rafah Hamas Stronghold?
YNET News: “Now, only a few hundred soldiers are left in the enclave, compared to the peak of 30,000-40,000 …. during the height of the ground operation.”
Israel on Sunday withdrew all troops from southern Gaza as it says it is preparing for an offensive on the last-standing Hamas stronghold of Rafah.
“Sunday before dawn, the IDF withdrew most of the remaining forces from the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli news website YNET reported. “Now, only a few hundred soldiers are left in the enclave, compared to the peak of 30,000-40,000 (about 20 brigades) during the height of the ground operation.”
The troop withdrawal in the south is seen as a move to facilitate civilian evacuation from Rafah ahead of an operation — a demand pressed by the Biden administration. A “consideration contributing to the move is the desire to leave space for the masses of displaced Gazans who will need to leave Rafah if and when a comprehensive raid is conducted there,” the news website noted.
In recent media appearances, President Joe Biden drew a ‘red line” on Israeli military entering Rafah. The administration threated to slow down the much-needed arms delivery and abandoned Israel at the United Nations by abstaining from a Secutiry Council vote targeting Israel.
Israel was committed to the goal of destroying Hamas in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured. “Hamas hopes that internal and external pressure will force Israel to surrender to its extreme demands. That won’t happen,” Netanyahu said Sunday as he marked six months since the October 7.
According to the IDF, the withdrawal does not indicate letting up in the military operation against Hamas which began in response to the October 7 massacre. “The war in Gaza continues, and we are far from stopping,” Herzi Halevi, IDF chief of the general staff, said in a statement Sunday.
The IDF chief also vowed to bring back remaining hostages believed to be held as human shields by Hamas leadership in Rafah. “The return of the hostages is an urgent and important goal. We are working to return all the hostages, as quickly as possible,” he added.
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced the details of the withdrawal, the Jerusalem Post reported:
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday that the IDF withdrew from Khan Yunis after Hamas ceased to function in the area, adding that the troops left in preparation for a coming Rafah operation.
While speaking at the IDF’s Southern Command base, he stated, “The withdrawal of the troops from Khan Yunis was carried out after Hamas ceased to function as a military organization in the city, the forces left to prepare for the operation in Rafah.”
The defense minister said this in light of a situational assessment held at the IDF’s Southern Command with the Director General of the Defense Ministry, Major General (res.) Eyal Zamir, commander Major General Yaron Finkelman, and other staff officers. (…)
At the end of the assessment, Gallant said: “I have now completed a situational assessment at the Southern Command, and troops are on their way out of Khan Yunis. The achievements of the 98th Division and its units are extremely impressive—eliminating terrorists, destroying enemy targets, warehouses, weapons, underground, headquarters, and communication rooms—all these things were carried out in a very impressive way. Thus, Hamas stopped functioning as a military organization throughout the Gaza Strip.”
The defense minister also said, “The troops are exiting and preparing for their next missions. We saw examples of such missions in the Shifa operation and their coming mission in the Rafah area,” Gallant said at a meeting with military officials, according to a statement from his office.
Israeli air force hits rocket launch sites in southern Gaza
The Israeli military continued to target Hamas terrorists operating in southern Gaza. “IAF fighter jets conducted a number of strikes over the last few days on three Hamas rocket launch posts embedded inside a humanitarian area in western Khan Yunis,” the IDF disclosed in a statement on Sunday.
“Before the strike, the IDF confirmed the evacuation of civilians and precisely struck the launchers. No uninvolved civilians were harmed by the strikes,” the IDF added. “This is another example of Hamas’ exploitation of humanitarian compounds and areas for its terrorist activities and its use of the civilian population as a human shield.”
Hamas rocket launch posts were found embedded inside a humanitarian area in western Khan Yunis.
The IDF confirmed the evacuation of civilians before IAF fighter jets precisely struck the 3 rocket launch posts.
This is just another example of Hamas’ exploitation of the civilian… pic.twitter.com/NVkRL3UawK
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) April 8, 2024
IDF, emergency services holds ‘large’ drill in northern Israel
With the threat of Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed terrorist groups looming along the Syrian and Lebanese borders, the IDF and Israeli emergency services are holding a large-scale drill in the area.
The Israeli military, Magen David Adom (MDA) — equivalent of the Red Cross in Israel, firefighters and other emergency services conducted a “large exercise drill” near the coast and the Western Galilee area in northern Israel, media reports say.
“IDF, MDA, police, firefighters and municipal services are carrying out readiness drills for ’emergency preparedness’ while rockets and airstrikes continue to be fired across Israeli-Lebanese border,” the Israeli TV channel i24NEWS reported Sunday.
IDF airstrike eliminates Hezbollah’s Radwan terror commander
Meanwhile, the IDF continues to hit Hezbollah’s terrorist buildup in southern Lebanon.
On Sunday night, IAF fighter jets struck and eliminated Ali Ahmed Hassin, the commander of the Hezbollah terrorist organization’s Radwan Forces in the Hajir region. pic.twitter.com/A8G39KAJqs
— Israel National News – Arutz Sheva (@ArutzSheva_En) April 8, 2024
An Israeli airstrike eliminated Ali Ahmed Hassin, the commander of Radwan forces, Hezbollah’s Iranian-trained terrorist unit, the Times of Israel reported:
The IDF says it eliminated a senior field commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force in an airstrike in southern Lebanon overnight.
Ali Ahmed Hassin, according to the IDF, held a rank equivalent to a brigade commander, and was charged with attacks on northern Israel’s Ramim Ridge, an area that has come under repeated rocket, missile, and drone attacks amid the war.
“As part of his role, he was responsible for the planning and execution of terror attacks in the Ramim Ridge area against the Israeli home front,” the IDF says.
https://twitter.com/JoeTruzman/status/1777318151254159865?t=T5nepPfrVTtZh5AuP2ROsA&s=19
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Comments
If Israel knuckled under to Biden, it just nails down the idea that they’re nothing more than a client state.
I am wondering if Biden told Bibi that the USA would further empower Iran if Israel didn’t back down. Giving Iran money and intel to “balance” out Israel. Isn’t that really part of what BHH)/FJB/Rice/Garrett want?
A risky threat, since he wouldn’t be able to hide this from the American public, who is already sick to death of Democrats lavishing money on thugs who scream “Death to America.”
Americans in general, yes. People who vote for Democrat corruptocrats like Biden, no, not at all.
I agree, but, I don’t think that’s what they’ve done. This is a strategic feint.
Israel has to depopulate Gaza in order to survive, but the question is how? There is nowhere on Earth that will accept Gaza Palestinians, so my guess is Israel needs to do something sneaky and plausibly deniable. Something like water borne and body fluid transmitted, highly virulent viruses. Something that will burn through the Gaza Strip, but won’t spread around the world.
You are one sick puppy. Go see a veterinarian.
And what magical virus is this that affects only a tiny stripof land and won’t spread beyond its borders?
How about they just round them up and put them into camps? I know “gonzo” and others would love to see that done to the “muzzie” population here in the USA regardless of their citizenship, so why not start there, right?
They are a client state in that they can’t produce the munitions they need.
They can. Israeli ingenuity knows no bounds. As their history has amply demonstrated. But, it will take time and a lot of money to create their own supply chain.
They can’t do it now, so MewCat is correct. And the reason they can’t do it now is because the USA deliberately made them dependent on it for supplies, precisely so it can have this sort of control over them.
I’m sorry but as long as there is one Muslim left, Israel will never be safe
You are utterly insane. Batshit crazy. More than 24.1% of the world’s population is Muslim, with an estimated total of approximately 1.9 billion. So Israel should kill 1.9 billion people? You are more senile and mentally deranged than even Joe Biden.
Straw man argument, he said no such thing.
And quit upvoting yourself.
“as long as there is one Muslim left, Israel will never be safe”
Yeah that’s one nuanced point of view there that needs careful consideration of context doesn’t it. It’s almost comical the level of batshit insanity this crowd will circle the wagons around and defend.
You are one seriously deranged individual.
If this is a feint to prepare for a devastating offensive in Rafah, it’s a bold move. I don’t think Israel would retreat, so close to its objective. This is a move calculated to deceive the goose-stepping, Islamofascist thugs of Hamas, I believe, while letting them believe that Israel is capitulating to vile Biden and international pressure.
“All warfare is deception.”
— Sun-Tzu
no, Joe put out the word that either back off or pay your own way
We’ll see. I believe that Israeli leadership (Netanyahu, at a minimum) understands that the U.S., under Dhimmi-crat leadership, is no longer an ally. A sea change in Israel’s reliance on U.S. diplomatic cover and armaments/munitions/materiel, is under way, I think. Israel will not sacrifice its people’s safety and security to aid the vile Dhimmi-crats’ quest to obsequiously kowtow to, pander to and show deference to domestic, genocide-supporting, Muslim supremacists and Islamofascists in Michigan and elsewhere. I could be wrong, but, this is my view of how events are playing out/will play out.
Israel is well over due putting the safety of its people first, especially as no one else values the life of Jews….not even Jews who vote Democrat value their own lives, and those of their fellow Jews (and we know this because the lot continue to refuse to leave the Democrat kibbutz).
First there is no alternative diplomatic cover, the Czech Republic and Hungary just don’t have the influence of the United States or a veto.
Second do you have any idea how long it takes to establish military industry?
Even if it pays for itself in exports (who is Israel going to export to by the way? This will be expensive no matter what) it takes a lot of time to set up even the simplest things.
Israel would be wise to make itself less reliant because of the possibility of another Biden or Biden winning re-election but it is out of the realm of possibility for them to have it done in time to have an impact on their current war, or the potential Hezbollah war.
I believe this is a sad day; that the IDF realizes the remaining hostages are either dead or beyond Hamas’ ability to reacquire. This sounds like a 6 month deadline to rescue the hostage before killing Hamas takes priority.
I think they’re are going in to Rafah and eff Biden.
Keep calm and destroy hamas.
IMO Netanyahu can not politically survive getting a lot of Israeli soldiers killed and neither getting the remaining hostages back alive nor destroying Hamas military capabilities. It will only be worse next time.
Israel has no choice but to continue into Rafah and destroy Hamas. If not then not only will there be repetitions of the Oct 7 attack but increasing attacks by Hezbollah and other Iran proxies.
Continuous war without a victory puts Israel’s survivability at stake. If the global powers can force Israel to capitulate then there will be no safe haven for Jews anywhere on earth. I don’t see Israel allowing that even if they have to stand alone as they did in ’48. They have probably already started producing their own ammunition and much of the military supplies that they get from the US.
Demand return of All hostages, dead or alive THEN talk.
If alive, we will limit retaliation.
If dead, prepare for destruction.
Hamas can’t comply. Those few captives (calling them hostages is a misnomer) who still live have almost certainly been used as currency. They could be in almost anyone’s custody now, in almost any country around the world, although the greatest likelihood is that they are still somewhere in the Middle East.
Israel hasn’t the will to stop the ceaseless atrocities committed by the Iranian stooges in Gaza and the PA. If I hear about how moral the IDF is one more time I will throw up. The only way to end this is to make the consequences to the 10/7 atrocities so horrific that the Arabs remaining in Gaza will only talk about it in whispers for generations.
Yes and no. You need to understand that the ideology of Hamas is one of a death cult. They worship death and have had a generation of Gazans to brainwash in to worshipping death even more than was worshipped by Palestinian culture before they came to power nearly 2 decades ago.
The left also worships the same god of death and they get off on civilians being killed by the IDF while fighting Hamas.
It is a no win situation but it seems Israel has finally learnt the lesson that no one in the world gives a flying fuck about Jews dying.
Biden can’t even win consistently at tic-tac-toe, while Israel is playing 3D chess.
So, most of a cease fire, without a negotiated cease fire. Then with the whole world watching, we get to see what Hamas & friends do.
Now, I wouldn’t suggest an actual false-flag operation, or agents provocateur from Israel — they’re not the Feebs, after all. They won’t have to.
given an opportunity, the Hamas goblins won’t be able to stop themselves from doing some hideous thing. This won’t persuade any hard-cores, but the game is really played between the 40 yard lines.
Watch what the IDF does-the time for talking to two legged animals over. 44,000 tents were not purchased for a camping trip