As Rafah operation enters its tenth day, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) advanced further into the Hamas stronghold. After cutting off Rafah from Egypt early in the operation, the Israeli tanks were now “pushing into built-up areas,” the BBC noted Thursday, suggesting the IDF was moving towards the terrorist-held city center.
Israel is taking great care to minimize civilian casualties as it moves to eliminate Hamas’s terrorist leadership and fighting force hiding in Rafah. Around 600,000 civilians have been evacuate since IDF launched the offensive on May 6, “including 150,000 people in the past 48 hours,” the UK broadcaster noted.
The IDF ground operation, which began in late October, deprived Hamas of its control over most of Gaza, forcing its terrorist leadership to withdrew to the southernmost city of Rafah. Estimated four battalion-size terrorist formations were hiding in the city‘s urban landscape.
Israel military vowed to eliminate Hamas’s battalions in Rafah, as well as its remanet fighting force attempting to regroups elsewhere in Gaza, particularly in the northern city of Jabaliya.
“We are currently in the process of increasing the pressure in Gaza,” IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said in a statement release Wednesday night.
“We are striking widely and strongly in the north of the Gaza Strip in Jabaliya. And once again we see there attempts [by Hamas] to hold on and rebuild, therefore we need to deal with this again, and prove that we will return each time,” the military chief added.
Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday pledged to send more troops into Rafah.
The ongoing “operation will continue with additional forces which will invade,” Gallant said. The Israeli military will ensure that “the faucet to Hamas is closed,” the defense minister added, referring to weapons and supplies from Egyptian border getting into Rafah though tunnels.
Despite Biden administration’s to the Rafah offensive, Jerusalem was determined to take the terror stronghold in multiple phases, Israeli news reports suggest.
The Times of Israel reported defense minister’s remarks:
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, following an assessment on the Gaza border, near Rafah, says more troops will be deployed to the city in the southern Gaza Strip as the military presses on with an operation against Hamas there. (…)“This operation will continue with additional forces that will enter [the area]. Several tunnels in the area have been destroyed by our forces and more tunnels will be destroyed soon,” Gallant says in remarks provided by his office. (…)“This operation will intensify and Hamas is not an organization that can regenerate itself now. It has no reserves, it has no ability to manufacture weapons, it has no supplies, it has no munitions, it has no ability to properly treat terrorists who are injured, and this means that we are wearing it down,” Gallant adds.The IDF expects the Israeli government to approve widening the offensive in Rafah, as it has done so far in stages.
In a tragic incident reported Thursday, five IDF soldiers were killed and several others injured in friendly fire when Israeli tanks mistakenly fired on troops operating in northern Gaza.
“Two IDF tanks killed five IDF soldiers and wounded seven more in a friendly fire incident on Wednesday when they fired on a forward IDF battalion headquarters in Jabalya in northern Gaza. The IDF cleared for publication on Thursday,” the Jerusalem Post reported. “The tanks were said to be under extreme pressure from dozens of rocket-propelled grenade attacks in the area.”
Iran-backed Hezbollah continues to escalate on Israel’s northern border. The terror group on Thursday fired a massive barrage of rockets and drones from southern Lebanon.
“Approximately 40 launches were identified crossing from Lebanon toward the Golan Height,” the IDF confirmed Thursday.
At least two Hezbollah drones hit an air defense facility used for operating high-altitude radar blimps. The site was located 21 miles from the Lebanon border. “Hezbollah managed to hit a sensitive military facility in the Lower Galilee with an explosive drone on Wednesday evening,” The Times of Israel reported citing IDF sources. “The second explosive drone struck the facility, and the damage was being assessed by the military.”
The news outlet described the drone attack as “Hezbollah’s deepest strike” since the conflict reignited on October 7.
Israel carried out airstrikes in retaliation to Hezbollah’s latest aggression. “In response to the launches and following the identification of their origin, IAF fighter jets struck one of the military posts from which they were fired,” the IDF disclosed in a statement Thursday. “Moreover, earlier today, the IDF struck a Hezbollah military structure in which terrorists were operating in the area of Ayta ash Shab, as well as an additional military structure in the area of Halta.”
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