IDF TRICKED Hamas into believing a ground invasion was underway... then obliterated tunnel network knowing militants would be hiding underground waiting to ambush tanks The Israel Defence Forces managed to trick Hamas into believing a ground invasion was underway last night and then obliterated their tunnel network knowing militants would be hiding underground waiting to ambush tanks and soldiers, reports in Israel claim.
There was confusion when the IDF said shortly after midnight that ground forces were 'attacking in Gaza', and later suggested that boots were on the ground. A spokesman later retracted that statement - saying that military operations were conducted along the border, but no Israeli troops had crossed it.
However, the announcement was apparently a well-planned ploy to get Hamas to send its fighters into its underground tunnel system beneath Gaza City, before bombarding the area, in the hope of eliminating large numbers of militants in one fell swoop.
Soldiers and tanks with drones equipped with night vision lay in wait for survivors as they surfaced, hitting them with aerial and ground fire. Snipers and missile units were also waiting for them on the ground.
Helicopters, jets, gun boats and artillery pounded northern and eastern parts of Gaza with more than 1,000 bombs and shells overnight Thursday as the IDF said it had carried out a 'complex' operation to destroy Hamas tunnels underneath Gaza City, which the military refers to as 'the Metro'.
Neither Israel nor Hamas has yet announced how much of the network was destroyed overnight, but initial estimates said a large number of fighters were buried as the IDF collapsed the tunnel system on their heads, Israel National News reported.
The death toll currently stands at 119 Palestinians killed, including 31 children and 19 women, with 830 wounded. Nine Israelis have been killed, including one soldier and a six-year-old boy.
In response, Hamas fired 220 rockets from Gaza at cities in Israel overnight, the IDF said, and was joined by three rockets fired from Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon - though all of them fell short.
Attacks continued this morning, with Israeli jets striking what the IDF called underground rocket sites in Gaza City and Hamas watchtowers. Meanwhile sirens sounded on the Israeli side of the border as Hamas attacked with suicide drones, while several Israeli troops were injured in a knife attack near the West Bank city of Ofra.
Elsewhere, more street clashes took place overnight in the mixed Israeli-Arab city of Lod, with a synagogue burned to the ground. A 19-year-old IDF solider was also badly beaten in the Tel Aviv suburb of Jaffa and a Jewish family were attacked inside their car in Umm al-Fahm.
Far-right Jewish groups were also calling for attacks on Arabs and their businesses in the cities of Be'er Sheva and Ramle, according to Israeli news site Ynet.
Despite the rapidly escalating violence and amid calls for urgent deescalation from world leaders, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed today that there would be no let-up in attacks.
'I said we would extract a very heavy price from Hamas. We are doing that, and we will continue to do that with heavy force,' he said.
After the air strikes were launched, some 500 artillery shells — some flares and some explosive — along with 50 tank shells were fired in a follow-up attack.
More airstrikes took place this morning, with the IDF saying it is targeting underground rocket launchers and Hamas observation posts.
The IDF also said 220 rockets were fired by Hamas in response to the overnight attacks, with targets including the cities of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Beersheba and Yavne.
Two women, aged 50 and 80, died overnight from injuries sustained while trying to take shelter from rockets, Israeli media reported. A 60-year-old man was also seriously hurt after a rocket struck Ashkelon.
Rocket sirens continued to sound in Ashkelon and other cities near the Gaza strip this morning, with the IDF saying more than 2,000 rockets have now been fired in less than five days.
Three rockets were also fired from southern Lebanon towards northern Israel, Israeli security forces said, but were not heading towards populated areas and fell short into the Mediterranean off Israel's north coast.
Hezbollah, a militant group allied with Hamas, denied being responsible for the attack - saying instead that it was carried out by a rogue pro-Palestinian group as a show of solidarity.
Fears of an all-out war escalated in the early hours of Friday morning as the military said just after midnight that air and ground forces were 'attacking' the Hamas-run enclave. Rocket barrages from Gaza swiftly followed.
IDF spokesmen then appeared to confirm to multiple journalists that boots were on the ground in Gaza, before an urgent clarification was issued saying that no troops had crossed the border and apologising for the earlier mistake which was blamed on 'internal communication issues'.
Residents in northern Gaza, near the Israeli frontier, said they had seen no sign of Israeli ground forces inside the enclave but reported heavy artillery fire and dozens of air strikes.
Hamas military spokesman Abu Obeida said the group was not afraid of a ground invasion, saying the move would be a chance 'to increase our catch' of dead or captive soldiers.
Attempts to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis have so far floundered, with Israel refusing calls for a ceasefire put forward by an Egyptian delegation which had travelled to the country to try and negotiate. The delegation has now returned to Cairo, Russian news agency TASS reported today.
French President Emmanuel Macron, tweeting in French, English, Hebrew and Arabic, joined calls for calm, saying the 'spiral of violence must stop'.
Meanwhile Germany's Angela Merkel struck a different tone, describing rocket attacks from Gaza as 'terrorism' and saying her government supports 'Israel's right to self-defence against these attacks'.
Mr Merkel also hit out at protesters who she said had burned Israeli flags outside synagogues, adding: 'Anyone who attacks a synagogue or defiles Jewish symbols shows that for them it is not about criticizing a state or the policies of a government, but about aggression and hate towards a religion and the people who belong to it.'
The United Nations Security Council has confirmed that it will convene to discuss the rapidly worsening situation, but will not meet until Sunday.
Palestinians living outside Gaza City, near the northern and eastern frontiers with Israel, fled the intense artillery bombardment Friday.
Families arrived at the U.N.-run schools in the city in pick-up trucks, on donkeys and by foot, hauling pillows and pans, blankets and bread.
'We were planning to leave our homes at night, but Israeli jets bombarded us so we had to wait until the morning,' said Hedaia Maarouf, who fled with her extended family of 19 people, including 13 children.
'We were terrified for our children, who were screaming and shaking.'
In the northern Gaza Strip, Rafat Tanani, his pregnant wife and four children were killed after an Israeli warplane reduced a building to rubble, residents said.
'It was a massacre,' said Sadallah Tanani, a relative. 'My feelings are indescribable.'
Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said tanks stationed near the border fired 50 rounds.
It was part of a large operation that also involved airstrikes and was aimed at destroying tunnels beneath Gaza City used by militants to evade surveillance and airstrikes, which the military refers to as 'the Metro.' Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9578141/Israel-steps-attacks-Gaza-heavy-bombing-overnight.html 1 Like |
