Israel Destroys Hamas’s Main Weapons Manufacturing Site, Uncovers New Vast Tunnel Network
The IDF: Destroyed Hamas weapons factories were “connected to a tunnel route hundreds of kilometers long.”
The Israeli military dealt a major blow on Thursday to the terror group Hamas by destroying its main weapons manufacturing site in Gaza.
This vast web of rocket and weapons manufacturing factories, hidden inside civilian buildings in central Gaza, was connected through a massive network of underground tunnels. The dozens of terrorist-run factories were “connected to a tunnel route hundreds of kilometers long,” the Israel Defense Forces revealed Thursday.
These tunnels were being used to supply weapons and ammunition to Hamas’s terrorist fighting force across Gaza. “Using the tunnel network, weapons were transported throughout the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli military said.
The IDF says it has completed demolishing Hamas’s main rocket and weapons manufacturing zone in central Gaza.
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) January 18, 2024
It also located a tunnel route stretching hundreds of kilometers. Using the tunnel network, weapons were transported throughout the Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/k6L6TRRCfp
The IDF revealed the details of the operation in a statement on Thursday evening:
The 36th Division, in cooperation with soldiers of the Yahalom and Shaldag units, exposed and destroyed the heart of Hamas’ weapons manufacturing industry near the Salah Al-Din Road in the Gaza Strip. The area consists of weapons factories and lathes, both above and below ground, that were used to produce ammunition and weapons for Hamas operatives.
The soldiers located dozens of tunnel shafts connected to a tunnel route hundreds of kilometers long, including a tunnel shaft in the residence of a senior official in Hamas’ weapons production unit. The tunnels were divided into areas used for the production of rockets and weapons. Using the tunnel network, weapons were transported throughout the Gaza Strip. (…)
The Hamas terrorists embedded this infrastructure in and near civilian buildings and government institutions, further proving Hamas’ cynical use of the civilian population. The soldiers located terrorist funds in safes, propaganda materials, maps and weapons in the area.
The IDF says it has completed demolishing Hamas's main rocket and weapons manufacturing zone in central Gaza along with a large tunnel network underneath it.
— Israel War Room (@IsraelWarRoom) January 18, 2024
Dozens of tunnel shafts were destroyed in the area of Salah a-Din Road in central Gaza, which connected to hundreds of… pic.twitter.com/z6Cm2XQUMu
As the ground offensive in Gaza enters its twelfth week, the Israeli soldiers were bringing the fight to the remnants of Hamas’s terrorist leadership and fighting force — much of which is concentrated in southern Gaza.
The Israeli military had ‘completed the dismantling of Hamas’ in the north and was now shifting the focus to central and southern Gaza, IDF Chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi announced Saturday.
“IDF operations in the Gaza Strip against terrorist operatives and infrastructure are continuing; over the past day approximately 60 terrorists were killed,” the IDF revealed on Thursday.
The heaviest fighting against the Hamas terrorists was taking place in the southern terrorist str0nghold of Khan Yunis. “In Khan Yunis, approximately 40 terrorists were killed over the past day by IDF troops operating in the area. Following IDF intelligence,” the military added.
Troops of the Givati Brigade raided a main stronghold belonging to Hamas's South Khan Younis Battalion, the military says.
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 18, 2024
The IDF says at the captured "Shuhada Outpost," as well as the offices of the Hamas battalion commander, troops seized many firearms and recovered… pic.twitter.com/CtLhyKZYDu
The IDF soldiers were now engaging the enemy in the “southernmost” parts of Gaza, the Israeli media confirmed Thursday evening.
The Israeli TV channel i24NEWS reported the military progress:
In Khan Yunis, the Givati Brigade is said to be fighting in the southernmost area that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ground troops have operated in so far.
Israeli soldiers have reportedly killed dozens of terrorists in close-quarters combat as well as with the help of tank fire and air support.
The Givati Brigade’s soldiers conducted a targeted raid on the “Martyrs’ Outpost”, belonging to the Southern Battalion of Hamas’ Khan Yunis Brigade, and the offices of the Battalion Commander and other Hamas military commanders,” read the IDF statement.
The IDF is said to have located weapons and intelligence documents, including dozens of hand grenades, AK-47s, ammunition, excavation equipment, launchers, RPG missiles, explosives, and combat management documents. “The battalion compound included a training area for both open and urban warfare, alongside operational offices used by Hamas terrorists of the Khan Yunis Brigade.”
The Hamas terrorists continued to use Gaza hospitals to fire rockets and mortars at Israeli troops as the IDF undertook every possible step to minimize civilian casualties.
The IDF says it recorded video of rockets being launched by Hamas within the premises of the Saad Bin Abi Waqas school in northern Jabalya. This footage offers additional evidence of Hamas' cynical use of civilian infrastructure to carry out its attacks against Israeli civilians. pic.twitter.com/mVkmMQ1ZPV
— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) January 18, 2024
Israel arrests more Hamas terrorists in West Bank raid
The Israeli security forces arrested more Hamas terrorists operating under the watch of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in a West Bank raid. Israeli soldiers searched hundreds of Palestinian homes, recovering large amounts of weapons and explosives.
The anti-terror raid highlights the terrorist threat lurking in the PLO-Fatah-run West Bank — a body largely regarded by the Biden administration and Western governments as the key player to govern Gaza once the IDF wipes out Hamas.
The Jerusalem Post reported the counterterrorism raid:
Israeli security forces arrested 15 terror suspects and killed eight more in a 35-hour raid of Tulkarm in the West Bank, the IDF said in a Thursday statement.
Reservist forces, along with Shin Bet, YAMAS, and Border Police, uncovered dozens of explosive devices hidden underneath roads across the West Bank.
As part of the 35-hour raid, which continued into Thursday evening, Israeli forces scanned through hundreds of buildings in Tulkarm and located countless weaponry and other military equipment, the IDF said.
During the operation, IDF trmaioops encountered and clashed with armed terrorists, who hurled explosives at the forces, the Israeli military said.
Some of the armed terrorists were killed by targeted aerial strikes conducted by the forces.
An extensive arrest operation in Tulkarm, Judea and Samaria. So far about 300 terrorists have been arrested. pic.twitter.com/oZE7kSJxil
— Olia (@oliaklein) January 17, 2024
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Do we think any of the extensive tunnels will end up running under Israel to the West Bank?
And I think IDF needs to collapse every single tunnel, regardless of how it impacts buildings – of any sort – above them.
Including the ones that go into Egypt.
Egypt and the other Arab Nations have refused to take “even one” Gazan so just OPEN the TUNNELS leading TO Egypt and herd the Gazans into it! Let them “emerge” in Egypt just like the weapons “emerge” into Gaza!
Honestly, the entire area should be razed! Just blow it all up, bulldoze the rubble into a giant WALL between Gaza and Egypt and Gaza and Lebanon! They should leave a mile clearing between the walls and the borders, establish GUARD POSTS on top of the walls, and SHOOT TO KILL anyone attempting to cross! They could excavate a large trench and fill it with some of the debris! In a decade or so Israel could re-establish communities in the FORMER “gaza” and rename it Biden Kibbutz!!
I continue to be amazed by the vast quantities of ordnance the IDF continue to uncover, and yet the remaining Hamas terrorists seem to have no shortage of arms and munitions. One question that needs to be answered is how did so much ordnance get into Gaza when Israel had Gaza surrounded except for one border. Who was turning a blind eye towards the smuggling of ordnance into Gaza?
Can you say “UNWRA”?
And “tunnels”?
A fair bit comes from tunnels that penetrate into the Sinai in Egypt. The Egyptians claim that they are vigilant in trying to stop arms smuggling into Gaza, but yes, the Gazooks seem to have lots of guns ‘n ammo.
I think some comes via shore landings. The Israelis try to stop that but they aren’t 100%.
I think a fair bit comes right through the Egyptian crossing. The Egyptians may say they are vigilant, but remember that Arabs engage in taqiya (lying to the infidel).
I’m agnostic on the Egyptian government’s desire to stop the smuggling. But a chain link fence is only as strong as its weakest link, in this case the individual soldiers tasked with keeping the weapons out. And weakneass includes incompetence, apathy, laziness, corruption, family ties and political or religious sympathy.
Total blockade for 5 years would probably fix the problem.
The only civilians in Gaza are the Israeli prisoners. The Palestinians indoctrinate their children from birth to hate Jews and Americans. The Palestinians allow rocket sights to be set up at hospitals and schools by Hamas.
Their children under 4-5 probably could be salvaged, above that age I doubt they can.
“Give me the child for the first seven years and I will give you the man.”
Jesuit maxim widely attributed to Ignatius Loyola; according to Three Myths, by A. Beichman et al. (1981), p. 48, this saying was “attributed to him (perhaps mischievously) by Voltaire.”
It seem to me that Israel will have to take over the West Bank in order to have some peace.
I’d say it would be a good and proper use of a lot of those Munitions if they use them to collapse those tunnels.
It would be fitting to herd terrorists into the tunnels and seal them, Thousands of years from now archeologists is could learn from them .and that they meant to the rest of humanity.
I want to see a report analyzing how many hundreds of billions of dollars the Arab Muslim “Palestinians” and their leadership — who are always complaining about their alleged poverty, misery, oppression, etc.; entirely self-inflicted conditions — have squandered on building terror infrastructure and buying weapons and material with which to wage war against Israel.
Let’s see the useful idiot, European dhimmis and American Dhimmi-crats address the “Palestinians’ ” unyielding devotion to waging “holy war” terrorism, as commanded by their religious doctrines.
Every rational person knows full-well that if the “Palestinians” had ceased their jihadist belligerence decades ago, and, had sincerely committed to using foreign aid money to build civilian infrastructure and industry, Gaza would be a mini-Singapore, today.
It is beyond evil and stupid for dhimmis and Dhimmi-crats to assign blame for the “Palestinians’ ” self-inflicted statehood sabotage and innumerable societal miseries — all predictable end results of their supremacist, totalitarian and pathology-laden ideology of “Submission” — on Jews. Put the blame where it fairly and rationally belongs — on the shoulders of Muslims who are incapable of living peacefully alongside non-Muslims.
And, the vile and stupid Biden Administration, and, the rest of the Dhimmi-crats, believes that a “Palestinian” state run by corrupt, terrorism-supporting dictator, Abbas and his Fatah party, is the alleged “solution” to the problem of unyielding Muslim supremacist “holy war” waged against Jews and Christians.
The “Palestinians” have been handed all the ingredients to create a successful state, on a silver platter, and, have had decades to implement such a state. It should be obvious by now that the “Palestinians” have chosen, and, will always choose, terrorism over peaceful co-existence with non-Muslims, every single time. These reprobates are following the explicit commands of their “religion of peace.”
I pray the little redheads and parents are alive…
https://redstate.com/smoosieq/2024/01/18/happy-birthday-kfir-n2168879
Glad the IDF is still making headway
Sooner or later the idiotic Biden is going to have to step in and help the Israelis with supplies of all the weapons they are using rapidly. Money won’t do the trick because production of the weapons they need comes from the US. It will show the world where he stands and if he waffles, he should be impeached.
I trust the Israelis are not destroying the weapons and explosives they’re finding. They can use these stores as their own are spent down or worn out.
I get it. Muzzies think their tunnel system is their version of israel’s iron dome. But what can they do down there? Store ammo? I don’t see much tactical advantage.
Hide hostages. Shelter upper echelons. Move vehicles underground to send arms, munitions and combatants to ambush the IDF. More uses than superglue.
Part of the problem is things are fungible. It’s near impossible to restrict so much that people above starvation can’t provision shenanigans.
See what is got up to in any prison, or in wartime prison camp. See what is got up to among the desperately poor, or back in the day before the industrial revolution. See the export restrictions expanded under the Reagan administration, and left more or less in place.
Most curious to me is how far they’ll go with declaring forbidden knowledge. You gotta know things to make rockets from structural mild steel and household cleaners.
Under guise off preventing harm, they render people too ignorant to understand what is going on, as wind farms burn themselves out, Teslas hibernate through the Winter, the folly of electrifying everything to reduce impact is taken as gospel, and don’t get me started on what permitted the the misdirections of the ‘rona.
It will take years to destroy the tunnel system. I wonder how much of the tunnel system was booby-trapped, and how the Israelis dealt with the booby traps. I get the impression that booby traps haven’t killed a lot of IDF troops.
IDF troops have been killed by booby traps. When possible the IDF uses robot dogs to clear the tunnels but nothing is fool proof.
I expect the IDF to be competent enough in their planning to have as part of the end game the flooding of all tunnels (even if it causes sinkholes, collapses buildings, contaminates ground water ect) or some other method to make the tunnels unusable and un-rebuildable for a long time. I wouldn’t expect them to make known what those plans are so as to avoid pressure to not do it.