BREAKING....Thread 8...Israel At War...OPERATION SWORDS OF IRON

[Elderberry]

i24NEWS English
@i24NEWS_EN·

'We have been witnessing, for the last 75 days, low-intensity conflict with Hezbollah, well it has changed. This is now a high-intensity conflict with Hezbollah' Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah breaks down the change on Israel's northern front

https://twitter.com/i24NEWS_EN/status/1737810356578156961

[mystery-ak]

Hamas Cuts Off Hostage Negotiations; Refuses to Talk Under Fire

The Palestinian Hamas terrorist group has cut off negotiations with Israel, demanding a lull in fighting before any more talks. Israel, which is closing in on Hamas leaders in Gaza, refused that demand.

https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2023/12/21/hamas-cuts-off-hostage-negotiations-refuses-to-talk-under-fire/

[mountaineer]

Hamas wants a lull in the fighting? What a joke. Maybe they should stop pounding Israel with missiles.

https://twitter.com/Ostrov_A/status/1737800305360740613

[mystery-ak]

Hamas: No Hostage Exchange Negotiations Unless Israel Ends War
Ed Morrissey 9:21 AM on December 21, 2023

Well, that’s that. Under pressure from the US and other allies as well as the families of the remaining hostages, Israel offered a one-week operational pause to exchange more Palestinian prisoners to free the remaining Israelis. That offered a longer pause than the first deal, and a potential framework for other discussions.

Instead, Hamas insisted on a formal cease-fire, release of all imprisoned Palestinians, and increased aid just to open negotiations:

    The hostage negotiations were set to include, for the first time, representatives of Hamas ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has also said that Israel must implement a cease-fire before negotiations could start. Islamic Jihad also demands that Israel free all of its thousands of Palestinian prisoners in return for the over 100 hostages remaining in Gaza.

    Fighters belonging to Islamic Jihad, which like Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., also participated in the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel and took hostages.

    In the offer rejected by Hamas, Israel sought the release of 40 hostages, including all the remaining women and children and elderly male hostages who need urgent medical treatment, the Egyptian officials said. In return, the Israeli military would pause its ground and air operations in Gaza for a week and allow further humanitarian aid to enter the enclave, the Egyptian officials said.

more
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2023/12/21/hamas-no-hostage-exchange-negotiations-unless-israel-ends-war-n600499

[Right_in_Virginia]

Blinken: Ending Israel-Hamas war ‘as quickly as possible’ top priority for US in 2024
Times of Israel, Dec 20, 2023

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that bringing the Israel-Hamas war to an end “as quickly as possible” is a top priority for the Biden administration in the year ahead.

The goal was listed as the number four priority set by Blinken for 2024 during a year-end press conference. Supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia, combating China and coalition building are priorities listed ahead of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which in previous years was even lower down the Biden administration’s list of priorities.

“It’s clear that this conflict needs to move — will move — to a lower intensity phase,” Blinken said. “We expect to see, and want to see, a shift to more targeted operations, with a smaller number of forces that are really focused on dealing with the leadership of Hamas, the tunnel network and a few other different things.”

As that happens, you’ll see the harm done to civilians decrease significantly,” the US secretary of state added.

The Biden administration has intensified its rhetoric on the need for Israel to wind down high-intensity fighting in Gaza while being careful not to publicly set a timeline for when this must happen. Privately, visiting Biden Administration officials have told Israel that they expect the phasing to lower intensity fighting to begin in January, two US and Israeli officials told The Times of Israel.

He reiterated that the US will continue to engage with Israel in order to minimize harm to civilians, secure the release of all hostages, prevent the conflict from spreading and move toward a “durable, lasting peace.”

Blinken has stressed the Biden administration’s support for the establishment of a Palestinian state in each of the dozen-plus phone calls he has held with counterparts around the world in recent days, according to readouts issued by his office.

The US has viewed Hamas’s potential eradication in Gaza as an opportunity to reunite the Strip and the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority, in what could pave a path toward a two-state solution. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the rest of the Israeli government are deeply opposed to the idea, but Jerusalem is increasingly reliant on support from the US, especially as it seeks to prevent the opening of a second front with Hezbollah in Lebanon.

More:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/blinken-ending-israel-hamas-war-as-quickly-as-possible-top-priority-for-us-in-2024/

[Right_in_Virginia]

Times of Israel Updates
UPDATED 2MIN AGO

IDF says troops gained full control over Gaza City’s flashpoint Shejaiya neighborhood

[Right_in_Virginia]

Fighting terrorism did not mean Israel had to ‘flatten Gaza’, says Emmanuel Macron
The Guardian, Dec 20, 2023

Emmanuel Macron has said that Israel’s goal of fighting terrorism did not mean it had to “flatten Gaza”, referring to its response to Hamas’s attack on 7 October.

“We cannot let the idea take root that an efficient fight against terrorism implies to flatten Gaza or attack civilian populations indiscriminately,” Macron told the France 5 broadcaster.

The French president called on Israel “to stop this response because it is not appropriate, because all lives are worth the same and we defend them”.

While acknowledging “Israel’s right to defend itself and fight terror”, Macron said France called for the protection of civilians and “a truce leading to a humanitarian ceasefire”.


More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/20/fighting-terrorism-did-not-mean-israel-had-to-flatten-gaza-says-emmanuel-macron

[mystery-ak]

WATCH: IDF Destroys Tunnels Underneath ‘Elite Quarter’ of Gaza City

Joel B. Pollak 21 Dec 2023

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) destroyed a tunnel network Thursday used by the “elite” leaders of Hamas in the area of Shejaiya, in Gaza City, in northern Gaza.

The underground detonation, set by the combat engineers of the Yahalom (“Diamond”) unit, set off explosions underneath several city blocks.

The IDF said in a statement:

    Last night (Wednesday), the IDF exposed the terrorist infrastructure embedded in Hamas’ “Elite Quarter” in Gaza City, including a large network of strategic underground tunnels which connect hideouts, and bureaus belonging to Hamas’ senior military and political leadership. Today (Thursday), the network of tunnels was destroyed in a controlled manner.

As Breitbart News reported on Wednesday, the IDF found the tunnel network after clearing Hamas terrorists out of the area around “Palestine Square,” where terrorists and Hamas supporters had jeered Israeli hostages on their capture and release.

The tunnels extended from the homes and offices of senior Hamas leaders and their aides, and consisted of several levels, with sophisticated construction that included underground elevators and blast doors to repel potential attacks and deflect explosions.

According to the Times of Israel, the IDF said Thursday that it had gained full control of Shejaiya, where Hamas terrorists had fought Israeli soldiers for several days. Nine elite Golani soldiers had been killed last week in a Hamas ambush there; it was also the neighborhood where three Israeli hostages were accidentally killed by the IDF after escaping their Hamas captors.

The detonation of the tunnel network is a significant moment for the Yahalom unit, which has lost several members in Gaza. Yahalom engineers are exposed to booby-trapped tunnels and must also fight Hamas soldiers it encounters near the tunnels.

Hamas said Thursday that it would not negotiate with Israel for the release of the roughly 128 hostages still in its custody unless Israel agrees to a permanent ceasefire. It has rejected a pause that would allow Israel to resume fighting after hostage exchanges.

video at link
https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2023/12/21/watch-idf-destroys-tunnels-underneath-elite-quarter-of-gaza-city/

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/i24NEWS_EN/status/1737896197270929650

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/i24NEWS_EN/status/1737891471003472347

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/i24NEWS_EN/status/1737877275289284664

[Right_in_Virginia]

ICYMI---- This article  presents information on how vast and technologically advanced these tunnels are .......

If the generals are counting tunnels, it suggests things are not going well’
Times of Israel, Dec 19, 2023

This week, the Israel Defense Forces publicized what it said was the biggest Hamas terror tunnel uncovered to date, built under the stewardship of Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar’s brother Muhammad in the northern Gaza Strip, near the Erez Crossing into Israel.

The IDF didn’t specify if and how the tunnel was utilized during Hamas’s October 7 massacre, when its terrorists slaughtered 1,200 people in southern Israel. But since it extends some four kilometers, from the northern part of the Jabaliya refugee camp to 300 meters (less than a thousand feet) short of the border, it is not unreasonable to deduce that it played a part.

From its large northern opening, dozens of motorcycles or all-terrain vehicles could emerge quickly. With a group that size and that close to the border fence, IDF observation posts and patrols would be too late and too overwhelmed to prevent an attack.

Israel has known for years about Hamas’s Gaza underworld, including its vast tunnel networks, but largely chose not to carry out cross-border operations to demolish them. This was both a consequence of a policy of containing Hamas, and because sending ground troops into Gaza requires complex military considerations and great risk to soldiers’ lives. The political echelons avoided this at almost all costs, until October 7.

The tunnel exposed this week is known colloquially as a “stem.” The IDF didn’t publish footage of its “branches,” but they exist. The massive tunnel system consists of a main shaft that descends to a depth of 50 meters, with “branches” coming off the sides and exit shafts located in schools and other buildings.

More:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/if-the-generals-are-counting-tunnels-it-suggests-things-are-not-going-well/

[DefiantMassRINO]

If Hamas has money for tunnels and rockets, they have money for food, water, shelter, hospitals, and schools ... they just chose to spend the money on destroying Israel instead of building a more peaceful and prosperous Gaza.

 

Damn, Hamas buiilds better tunnels than Bechtel.  Boston should have hired them for the Big Dig.

[mountaineer]

Emmanuel Macron has said that Israel’s goal of fighting terrorism did not mean it had to “flatten Gaza”

Merde.

[DefiantMassRINO]

What did Hamas excpect after they carried out the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust?

Israel has to flatten Gaza because Hamas does not fight out in the open using rules of engagement. 

Hamas is an irregular terrorist army that embeds itself among civilians calculating that Western powers would lack the resolve to risk substantial civilian casualties necessary to significantly degrade Hamas.  Hamas miscalculated - October 7th was too successful; Israel could not allow Gaza to remain a threat to Israeli civilians.

This could all end now if Iran's proxy, Hamas, surrendered and released the hostages.

[DCPatriot]

What did Hamas excpect after they carried out the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust?

Israel has to flatten Gaza because Hamas does not fight out in the open using rules of engagement. 

Hamas is an irregular terrorist army that embeds itself among civilians calculating that Western powers would lack the resolve to risk substantial civilian casualties necessary to significantly degrade Hamas.  Hamas miscalculated - October 7th was too successful; Israel could not allow Gaza to remain a threat to Israeli civilians.

This could all end now if Iran's proxy, Hamas, surrendered and released the hostages.

Word!   

[berdie]

What did Hamas excpect after they carried out the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust?

Israel has to flatten Gaza because Hamas does not fight out in the open using rules of engagement. 

Hamas is an irregular terrorist army that embeds itself among civilians calculating that Western powers would lack the resolve to risk substantial civilian casualties necessary to significantly degrade Hamas.  Hamas miscalculated - October 7th was too successful; Israel could not allow Gaza to remain a threat to Israeli civilians.

This could all end now if Iran's proxy, Hamas, surrendered and released the hostages.

Exactly.

[libertybele]

What did Hamas excpect after they carried out the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust?

Israel has to flatten Gaza because Hamas does not fight out in the open using rules of engagement. 

Hamas is an irregular terrorist army that embeds itself among civilians calculating that Western powers would lack the resolve to risk substantial civilian casualties necessary to significantly degrade Hamas.  Hamas miscalculated - October 7th was too successful; Israel could not allow Gaza to remain a threat to Israeli civilians.

This could all end now if Iran's proxy, Hamas, surrendered and released the hostages.

My hunch is the hostages that they claim that they have are likely dead or so battered and in such horrific shape that they can't release them.

[Right_in_Virginia]

This could all end now if Iran's proxy, Hamas, surrendered and released the hostages.

Are you sure about that?  It seems history has proven that between Israel and Palestine any end is but a lull in the fightng  --- with Israel's enemies growing stronger.

[DCPatriot]

Are you sure about that?  It seems history has proven that between Israel and Palestine any end is but a lull in the fightng  --- with Israel's enemies growing stronger.

Not sure if "stronger" is the word.  "Larger" perhaps.

I'm 110% behind Israel flattening the entire Gaza Strip.  Even if they surrender.

"NEVER AGAIN" means never again!

[Hoodat]

"NEVER AGAIN" means never again!

Exactly.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Not sure if "stronger" is the word.  "Larger" perhaps.

Looking at the tunnels that have been built and the advance from sending glorified firecrackers as rockets to steel rockets with range to hit Jerusalem points to strength more than size, IMO.

[DCPatriot]

Exactly.

They could have made Gaza Strip a Paradise!

Instead they used it to help them kill Jews. 

[Right_in_Virginia]

I'm 110% behind Israel flattening the entire Gaza Strip.  Even if they surrender.  "NEVER AGAIN" means never again!

I get that, and understand it @DCPatriot    I simply do not see it as a solution ----- if Israeli safety and security is the goal.

[Right_in_Virginia]

They could have made Gaza Strip a Paradise!

When and how was this?