Hamas chief in Gaza Yahya Sinwar made a mistake and sealed Hamas’s fate in the Strip, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said today, adding that “if [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah makes a mistake, he will determine Lebanon’s fate.”
This would have dramatic repercussions for Lebanon, Gallant warned.
During a security assessment held at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, Gallant stated, “During the day today there were difficult battles in Gaza. We completed the encirclement of Gaza City days ago and have entered built-up areas, fighting against terrorists.”
IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the army was continuing to carry out brigade-sized raids aided by Israel Air Force strikes.
“The terrorists are encountering the focused power of the IDF,” said Gallant. “Many terrorists have been killed.”
Hamas battalions are being dismantled one after the other in Gaza City, he said. “Their battalion structure is eroding, and 12 Hamas battalion commanders have been eliminated. Field terrorists being killed.”
Hamas’s leadership is responsible for the mass murder attack on the western Negev that began on Oct. 7, “and will reach them all,” said Gallant. “I tell Gazan civilians if you get to the leadership before us, it’ll make the Gaza war shorter.”
Turning to the northern arena, Gallant said, “We have no desire to reach war with Hezbollah.” He added, however, that the military can switch from its defensive posture to offense if needed.
Earlier today, Hezbollah in Lebanon fired two short-range Burkan rockets that carry very large warheads at IDF bases. There were no injuries.
The IDF responded with airstrikes in Southern Lebanon on rocket storage sites, “military” compounds and terrorist infrastructure, Hagari said.
“Hezbollah who claimed to be Lebanon’s defender ends up being the defender of Hamas-ISIS and endangers Southern Lebanon. We won’t let them use human shields just as we don’t allow Hamas in Gaza [to do so],” he said.
The families of 241 hostages held captive by terrorists in Gaza have been notified, as have the families of 345 slain soldiers, said Hagari.
The great majority of the IDF soldiers killed in action died before the ground operation in Gaza began.
Responding to a question about American pressure for temporary humanitarian ceasefires, Gallant said that the United States and Israel agree on the core objective of eliminating Hamas from Gaza, as reflected by comments by visiting Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday. Other discussions are “nuances,” the minister said.
“We have many days of combat that won’t end in a day or a week. The forces know how to perform their mission. The process continues step after step with much power and professionalism. At the end of the war, there will be no more Hamas in Gaza. Israel will have full freedom of operation to act against any [terrorist] who raises his head in Gaza,” Gallant said.
Earlier today, Hamas terrorists attacked IDF troops who operated to open the Salah al-Din humanitarian route for the evacuation of civilians southwards, said the military. There were no IDF injuries.
Also, intelligence the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) obtained by questioning suspects led to IAF’s jets striking terrorist infrastructure located on the roof of a building and an adjacent tunnel shaft in the northern Gaza Strip.
The IDF also conducted what it described as a “targeted raid” in the southern Gaza Strip. The operation was a focused effort involving combat engineers and tank units led by the Gaza Division. The mission’s primary objectives were to conduct reconnaissance on structures in the area and to neutralize any hidden explosive threats.
During this operation, forces encountered a group of Hamas terrorists emerging from a tunnel, the army said. In the ensuing engagement, the IDF killed the enemy operatives.
During a visit to the 36th Armored Division’s staging area near Gaza on Friday, Gallant reviewed plans for continuing the ground operation and received reports on the elimination of terrorist squads and terrorist infrastructure.
“This is a determined, decisive operation with very strong cooperation between the ground and air forces, the sea-based firepower systems, from the air and in general, in the direction of their targets,” he said.
The IDF is striking terrorists at all ranks, from those fighting in the field to the commander level. The IDF’s operation is leading to the exposure of tunnels, to the exit of terrorists out of the tunnels and to the major strikes they suffered, Gallant said.
On Friday night, soldiers from the 13th Battalion of the Golani Infantry Brigade and the 188th Armored Brigade’s 53rd Battalion fought with a number of terrorist squads inside the Gaza Strip. The terrorists fired anti-tank missiles and activated a number of IEDs. The soldiers fought a lengthy battle with the terrorists and killed terrorists attempting to climb onto the soldiers’ vehicles, the military said.
In tandem, the forces on the ground directed aircraft and artillery strikes. The terrorists were killed and the danger to the troops was eliminated.
Also on Friday, the IAF and Shin Bet killed the commander of Hamas’s Sabra Tel al-Hawa Battalion, Mustafa Dalul, who since the beginning of the war took a central part in managing the combat against IDF troops in the Gaza Strip, said the military.
“In recent years, Dalul held a number of positions in the Hamas battalion and brigade of Gaza City,” it stated.
“In addition, IDF fighter jets and artillery, directed by ground troops, killed a number of terrorists who operated against the ground troops. During searches in the area of Beit Hanoun [in the northeastern edge of the Strip], the troops located weapons, intelligence material, an AK-47 rifle, submachine gun, magazines, grenades, explosive devices, RPG, communication means and maps,” the army said.
Overnight on Friday, IAF fighter jets struck terrorist infrastructure and killed Hamas terrorists. In parallel, the Israel Navy, directed by ground troops, struck a number of buildings from which shots were fired at soldiers and anti-tank missile launchers.
On Friday, the IDF said that in recent days, soldiers from the Infantry, Combat Engineering and Armored Corps under the command of the Givati Infantry Brigade have taken control of a military stronghold belonging to Hamas in northern Gaza.
After having taken control of the terrorist stronghold, IDF soldiers conducted extensive searches and located intelligence information that included operational orders belonging to Hamas. This also included operational maps, means of communication, command and control tables and personal details of Hamas commanders and terrorists. JNS
TODAY, I AM A JEW by Catherine Ford
FROM: SATURDAY’S CALGARY HERALD
REPRINTED IN: TODAY’S MONTREAL GAZETTE
Received by e-mail: 03/22/2002
He was slaughtered far away from Jerusalem or Ramallah.
But Daniel Pearl’s death and mutilation in Pakistan, because he was an American, but most importantly because he was a Jew, has done what no other act of barbarism accomplished.
The Wall Street Journal writer’s death turned my heart to stone.
Even this week’s peace overtures from Saudi Arabia are no longer enough.
Not after yet another Jew has been humiliated, slaughtered, and his remains debased.
There is an apocryphal Second World War story during the German occupation of Denmark:
When the Nazis ordered all Jews to wear a yellow star, so did King Christian X.
And he encouraged all of his subjects to do the same.
That Queen Margrethe II says it didn’t happen doesn’t in any way debase the symbolism.
The myth continues because bravery and defiance in the face of hatred is always inspiring.
Today, those who hate Jews are able to do so because too many Gentiles will not stand up and be counted as the Danish myth proposes. Too many non-Jews tacitly accept racism and discrimination.
No more. Today, I proudly echo Pearl’s last words:
I am a Jew. I join my husband, his family, our friends, and my colleagues who are Jews.
I am a Jew because I can no longer accept the excuses made for anti-Semitism.
I no longer accept the lies that hatred on the part of Arab countries and hatred shown the Jews in the West is something individual and isolated. It is not.
Our silence for long years has encouraged Holocaust deniers, revisionists, baiters and haters to spread their poison.
I used to think there was a middle ground, that especially when the question of Israel arose, that both “sides” were equally at fault. No more.
I can’t agree with the actions of Ariel Sharon’s government, in its eye-for-an-eye, death-for-death retaliation against the Palestinians, but my disgust for anti-Semites and Israel-deniers who populate Israel’s Arab neighbours is worse.
For as far back as I can remember, the “solution” to the crises in the Middle East has been to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians and Arab countries. Yet, the proposal by Saudi Arabia that Israel to return Gaza and the West Bank in exchange for peace is not enough, even in the unlikely event the Sharon government would agree.
The West has a role and a responsibility in this conflict to affirm, publicly, our support for Israel and to demand others do the same. Only then will negotiations have any chance of success.
I don’t mean mealy mouthed political niceties, I mean insisting Israel’s neighbours such as Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Iraq, and all the Arab countries accept Israel or accept the consequences.
There are few countries in the Middle East that share our civilized values and democratic principles as closely as Israel does. It is time to stand up and be counted in more than words.
We have the power and the moral responsibility to do so, and it doesn’t need to be with bombs, even if we want to expand the so-called “axes of evil.” We have a far greater hammer. We have the economic clout to impose sanctions. All we need is the will.
The time for playing nice with killers is over. The time for “understanding” the plight of the Palestinians is past. It’s now time to affirm on the world stage the inherent right of Israel to exist in peace. Israel’s neighbours must accept their responsibility in fomenting hatred and open their borders to the displaced Palestinians. For nearly 50 years these countries have done nothing to alleviate the suffering of their kith and kin.
They have allowed terrorists, anarchists, dictators and religious fanatics to flourish within their borders. It’s not necessary to bomb Iraq or any of them into submission. Sanctions are more devastating. No truck; no trade. No immigration. No visas. No money or goods.
Bombing promotes self-pity and lets the evil-doers blame the United States for their sorry plight. Bombs are easy. They require no sacrifice on the part of the West other than money to pay for material. How much more devastating to shun them.
If we are committed to Israel, we have to show we mean it, and if that means less oil for SUVs because we refuse to trade honour for comfort, too bad.
It is time for all of us to stand up and say: I am a Jew.