TERROR HAS A PRICE!!!
The IDF operation at the terror base known also as Al Shifa hospital is over.

IDF forces retreated and the mob are now flocking to behold the damage and destruction.

Psychopaths that used patients and medical crew as human shields were eliminated.

Weapons and ammunition that could be enough for a whole battalion were found.

Hundreds of terrorists were killed and more than 500 arrested WITHOUT A SINGLE CASUALTY FROM AMONG THE PATIENTS AND/OR MEDICAL STAFF

A NEW STANDARD OF WARFARE:
ISRAEL HAS CREATED A NEW STANDARD FOR URBAN WARFARE. WHY WILL NO ONE ADMIT IT?

Colnel John Spencer is chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute (MWI) at West Point, codirector of MWI's Urban Warfare Project and host of the "Urban Warfare Project Podcast." He served for 25 years as an infantry soldier, which included two combat tours in Iraq.
He is the author of the book "Connected Soldiers: Life, Leadership, and Social Connection in Modern War" and co-author of "Understanding Urban Warfare."


The Israel Defense Forces conducted an operation at al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip to root out Hamas terrorists recently, once again taking unique precautions as it entered the facility to protect the innocent; Israeli media reported that doctors accompanied the forces to help Palestinian patients if needed. They were also reported to be carrying food, water and medical supplies for the civilians inside.

None of this meant anything to Israel's critics, of course, who immediately pounced. The critics, as usual, didn't call out Hamas for using protected facilities like hospitals for its military activity. Nor did they mention the efforts of the IDF to minimize civilian casualties.

In their criticism, Israel's opponents are erasing a remarkable, historic new standard Israel has set. In my long career studying and advising on urban warfare for the U.S. military, I've never known an army to take such measures to attend to the enemy's civilian population, especially while simultaneously combating the enemy in the very same buildings.

In fact, by my analysis, Israel has implemented more precautions to prevent civilian harm than any military in history—above and beyond what international law requires and more than the U.S. did in its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The international community, and increasingly the United States, barely acknowledges these measures while repeatedly excoriating the IDF for not doing enough to protect civilians—even as it confronts a ruthless terror organization holding its citizens hostage.

Instead, the U.S. and its allies should be studying how they can apply the IDF's tactics for protecting civilians, despite the fact that these militaries would almost certainly be extremely reluctant to employ these techniques because of how it would disadvantage them in any fight with an urban terrorist army like Hamas.

The predominant Western theory of executing wars, called maneuver warfare, seeks to shatter an enemy morally and physically with surprising, overwhelming force and speed, striking at the political and military centers of gravity so that the enemy is destroyed or surrenders quickly.

This was the case in the invasions of Panama in 1989, Afghanistan in 2001, Iraq in 2003 and the failed illegal attempt by Russia to take Ukraine in 2022. In all these cases, no warning or time was given to evacuate cities.

In many ways, Israel has had to abandon this established playbook in order to prevent civilian harm.
The IDF has telegraphed almost every move ahead of time so civilians can relocate, nearly always ceding the element of surprise. This has allowed Hamas to reposition its senior leaders (and the Israel hostages) as needed through the dense urban terrain of Gaza and the miles of underground tunnels it's built.

Hamas fighters, who unlike the IDF don't wear uniforms, have also taken the opportunity to blend into civilian populations as they evacuate.
The net effect is that Hamas succeeds in its strategy of creating Palestinian suffering and images of destruction to build international pressure on Israel to stop its operations, therefore ensuring Hamas' survival.

Israel gave warning, in some cases for weeks, for civilians to evacuate the major urban areas of northern Gaza before it launched its ground campaign in the fall. The IDF reported dropping over 7 million flyers, but it also deployed technologies never used anywhere in the world, as I witness firsthand on a recent trip to Gaza and southern Israel.

Israel has made over 70,000 direct phones calls, sent over 13 million text messages and left over 15 million pre-recorded voicemails to notify civilians that they should leave combat areas, where they should go, and what route they should take.
They deployed drones with speakers and dropped giant speakers by parachute that began broadcasting for civilians to leave combat areas once they hit the ground.
They announced and conducted daily pauses of all operations to allow any civilians left in combat areas to evacuate.

These measures were effective. Israel was able to evacuate upwards of 85 percent of the urban areas in northern Gaza before the heaviest fighting began.
This is actually consistent with my research on urban warfare history that shows that no matter the effort, about 10 percent of populations stay.

As the war raged on, Israel began giving out its military maps to civilians so they could conduct localized evacuations. This, too, has never been done in war.

During my recent visit to Khan Yunis, Gaza, and the IDF civilian harm mitigation unit in southern Israel, I observed as the army began using these maps to communicate each day where the IDF would be operating so civilians in other areas would stay out of harm's way.

I saw that the IDF even tracked the population in real time down to a few-block radius using drone and satellite imagery and cell phone presence and building damage assessments to avoid hitting civilians.
The New York Times reported in January that the daily civilian death toll had more than halved in the previous month and was down almost two-thirds from its peak.

Of course, the true number of Gaza civilian deaths is unknown. The current Hamas-supplied estimate of over 31,000 does not acknowledge a single combatant death (nor any deaths due to the misfiring of its own rockets or other friendly fire).

The IDF estimates it has killed about 13,000 Hamas operatives, a number I believe credible partly because I believe the armed forces of a democratic American ally over a terrorist regime, but also because of the size of Hamas fighters assigned to areas that were cleared and having observed the weapons used, the state of Hamas' tunnels and other aspects of the combat.

That would mean some 18,000 civilians have died in Gaza, a ratio of roughly 1 combatant to 1.5 civilians. Given Hamas' likely inflation of the death count, the real figure could be closer to 1 to 1. Either way, the number would be historically low for modern urban warfare.

The UN, EU and other sources estimate that civilians usually account for 80 percent to 90 percent of casualties, or a 1:9 ratio, in modern war (though this does mix all types of wars). In the 2016-2017 Battle of Mosul, a battle supervised by the U.S. that used the world's most powerful airpower resources, some 10,000 civilians were killed compared to roughly 4,000 ISIS terrorists.

And yet, analysts who should know better are still engaging in condemnation of the IDF based on the level of destruction that's still occurred—destruction that is unavoidable against an enemy that embeds in a vast tunnel system under civilian sites in dense urban terrain. This effects-based condemnation or criticism is not how the laws of war work, or violations determined. These and other analysts say the destruction and civilian causalities must either stop or be avoided in an alternative form of warfare.

Ironically, the careful approach Israel has taken may have actually led to more destruction; since the IDF giving warnings and conducting evacuations help Hamas survive, it ultimately prolongs the war and, with it, its devastation.

Israel has not created a gold standard in civilian harm mitigation in war. That implies there is a standard in civilian casualties in war that is acceptable or not acceptable; that zero civilian deaths in war is remotely possible and should be the goal; that there is a set civilian-to-combatant ratio in war no matter the context or tactics of the enemy. But all available evidence shows that Israel has followed the laws of war, legal obligations, best practices in civilian harm mitigation and still found a way to reduce civilian casualties to historically low levels.

Those calling for Israel to find an alternative to inflicting civilian casualties to lower amounts (like zero) should be honest that this alternative would leave the Israeli hostages in captivity and allow Hamas to survive the war. The alternative to a nation's survival cannot be a path to extinction.

DEVIL TOOK OVER ME':
DURING AN INTERROGATION BY A IDF INTELLIGENCE officer, THE PIJ naval operative describes in graphic details the SEXUAL violence committed and the murder of civilians

A terrorist from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) admitted to raping an Israeli woman and murdering civilians during the Hamas-led October 7 attack, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) disclosed on Thursday with a video of the interrogation.

"The devil took over me, I laid her down, started undressing her and did what I did,” Manar Mahmoud Muhammad Kasem, a PIJ operative in its naval forces, told the intelligence officer from the IDF’s Unit 504.


Kasem was caught during an IDF operation at Shifa hospital in Gaza, along with hundreds of other PIJ and Hamas terrorists who had retaken the compound and its surrounding believing the Israeli forces were no longer fighting in the area.

During the investigation by the IDF’s Intelligence Directorate, Kasem first described his role in PIJ as well as how he was called to take part in the October 7 attack, from where he breached the fence into Israel, as well as how he was armed with a gun and two grenades, and described in precise detail the atrocities committed.

After another terrorist on his jeep was hit in the head, Kasem said out of fear he entered the Kibbutz and the first house he found, describing how a woman was frightened when she saw him, and while she was calling out for help he threw her on to a sofa and that’s when he said, "The devil took over me.”

When asked what exactly he did, Kasem replied, “I slept with her.” And the IDF intelligence officer asked for a clarification on what he meant, since they did not “sleep.”

“I raped her,” Kasem admitted, saying the woman tried to push him away.

Toward the end of the interrogation, Kasem heard gunshots and attempted to leave the Kibbutz but ran into men on the way that were not in army uniforms and shot at them, hitting at least one who fell to the ground, then he threw one of his grenades.

SEXUALLY ASSAULTED AND TOTURED BY HAMAS!:
AMIT SOUSSANA TELLS ALL ABOUT ABDUCTION ON OCTOBER 7, SEXUAL ASSAULT AND TORTURE

Returned hostage Amit Soussana provided The New York Times a first in-depth interview about the sexual violence and torture she went through in Gaza, following her abduction during the Hamas-led October 7 attack on southern Israel.

“He came towards me and shoved the gun at my forehead,” Soussana, a lawyer, recalled. “Then he, with the gun pointed at me, forced me to commit a sexual act on him."

During eight hours of interviews with The New York Times, in mid-March, Soussana  provided the most in-depth view into her life and the horrors she experienced since October 7.

The report included interviews with doctors who treated the former hostages as soon as she returned from Gaza, as well as the medical records, videos, text messages and photographs.

Soussana, 40, was abducted from her home on October 7 by at least 10 men who had beaten her and dragged her into Gaza. Days later, a guard started asking about her sex life.

She was chained by her left ankle, held in a child's bedroom, and sometimes the guard would sit beside her on the bed, lift her shirt and touch her. He also repeatedly asked about her period and when it would end.

About a week later, the captor named Muhammad unlocked the chain and took her to the bathroom. Once she was undressed and washing herself, he returned with a pistol, forced her to remove a towel she had wrapped herself in, groped her and then hit her.

He took her to bedroom, described as a child's room filled with SpongeBob SquarePants images, and that's when Soussana said she was forced to commit the sexual act.

The New York Times reported that extensive details of the sexual and other violence were provided during the interview, adding that the personal account of Soussana was consistent with what she told two doctors and a social worker less than 24 hours after she was freed on November 30. 

While the exact details were documented both in the medical file and as part of the interview, NYT agreed not to disclose the specifics. In an incident of torture, Soussana said a group of captors "suspended her across the gap between two couches and beat her."

The United Nations sent its own team to investigate the claims, and in a report spanning 24 pages, it was stated that there are "reasonable grounds to believe" that Hamas terrorists committed sexual violence at multiple locations during the assault, as well as credible information indicating other forms of sexual violence, such as genital mutilation and sexualized torture.

ISRAELI President Isaac Herzog added to the report, saying "Amit Soussana speaks for all those who cannot speak. She speaks for all the victims of Hamas’ despicable sexual crimes and abuse. She speaks for all women everywhere."

"The whole world has the moral duty to stand with Amit - and all the victims - in condemning Hamas’s brutal terror, and in demanding the immediate return of all the hostages," the president concluded.