Israel threatens unprovoked war on the Gaza Strip

[Falcon29]

Israeli plans for war

The IDF will not be dragged into conflict with Hamas, but will initiate any conflict with the group, the officer said.

“We won’t follow in the enemy’s footsteps,” he added.

The IDF has therefore drawn up an extensive battle plan for its troops, including “details and defining characteristics” of the enemy battalions.

“We have a plan to overwhelm the military branch of Hamas. Every one of our battalions will fight on its way to a destination, will kill as many Hamas operatives as possible and will harm the organization’s infrastructure as much as possible,” he said.

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IDF: Next conflict with Hamas will take place on Israel's terms | The Times of Israel

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This is worrying, Israeli army is openly stating it plans to attack the Palestinian enclave in the near future without provocation. This is likely to take place right before or during US elections period. It's against international law to start a conflict for no reason, but with US legal backing, that won't matter. Therefore if Israel proceeds with violence, it is putting many
Palestinian civilians at risk, but will also encourage Middle Eastern youth into joining militant groups as they see they have no security either way.

Ignore the content in the article, it is largely false. And is used to demonize Palestinian parties. But, the overall gist of these articles published all over Israeli media is to give warning to the international community that it is preparing to attack due to 'growing strength' of Palestinian parties. Which firstly, military development absolutely does not permit military action against another nation. Otherwise the whole world would be at war now just because every nation is increasing lethality and accuracy of weapons.

Second, Palestinian parties do not pose any serious threat to Israel. Israel sees these offensives as opportunities to test weapons, make money for military industry, further destruct Gaza infrastructure to keep the population at brink of collapse. In hopes, just like in the West Bank, that Palestinians see their only option is to flee their land.

 

[Falcon29]

Israeli bulldozers, accompanied by drones, level land in Gaza

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Several Israeli bulldozers entered into the southern Gaza Strip early Thursday and leveled land near the borderline, locals said.

Witnesses told Ma'an that four Israeli military bulldozers entered dozens of meters into the eastern Rafah district and leveled lands near the border fence.

They added that Israeli drones were flying above the area at the time. No shooting was reported.

An Israeli army spokesperson said they were looking into the reports.

Locals have reported incursions into the Rafah district by Israeli bulldozers and drones on a near-daily basis in the past ten days.

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Israeli bulldozers, accompanied by drones, level land in Gaza

 

[explorerx7]

The US endorses any actions by the Israelis whether justified or not and in the same breath, they seek to sanction other countries for sometimes seemingly minor infringements. I am not rooting for or against the Palestineans...all I am saying there should be a level playing field when it comes to dealing with infringements of International Law.

 

[Corzhens]

I don't see an end to this protracted war between the Israelis and Palestinians. The root of the problem is historic but now it is more of territorial in nature. That's why it is heartening to sometimes read articles about friendship between Palestinians and Israelis, showing the true color of those people that they are also human who can care for one another. I think it is only their governments that are so avid with the war.

And with the current issue, even if Israel routs Palestine, they have to annihilate all the Palestinians to end the war otherwise the violence is not worth it.

 

[Falcon29]

Israeli army shells Gaza watchtowers after mortar rounds fired at soldiers

GAZA (Ma’an) -- Israeli tanks stationed along the border of the besieged Gaza Strip shelled two watchtowers reportedly used by the Hamas movement on Wednesday, eyewitnesses told Ma’an, after the Palestinian movement reportedly fired a mortar at Israeli troops.

Shells fell on the Shujayya neighborhood of Gaza City in the eastern Gaza Strip, destroying a watchtower reportedly used by Hamas’ military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

Following the shelling, Gaza’s Ministry of Education evacuated the nearby Subhi Abu Karsh and Beit Dajan schools.

Israeli artillery also shelled another watchtower early on Wednesday on a reported Hamas training site east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, witnesses said.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that mortar rounds landed near Israeli forces patrolling along the border-area fence near the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning, without causing any injuries.

She added that Israeli forces then responded, aiming at the source of the mortar rounds.

The spokesperson said she was looking into reports of Israeli shelling in Shujayya.

Senior Hamas leader Musheer al-Masri told Ma’an that the Israeli attacks on Wednesday were "dangerous developments and an obvious breach of the ceasefire in Gaza," referring to the official halt of hostilities after the devastating Israeli offensive on the besieged Palestinian territory in 2014.

"The Israeli occupation should avoid testing the Palestinian resistance' tolerance," al-Masri said, adding that "the enemy should realize that the toll would be in proportion to the Israeli crimes."
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http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771397

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Israeli forces are NOT 'near' the border fence, rather a few hundred meters inside Palestinian territory. Which is why mortars were fired at them.

 

[Falcon29]

Updates:

-Palestinian Authorities in Gaza evacuate two schools of students near the border due to Israeli artillery fire

-Israeli artillery shell fired in 'Shejaiyeh' neighborhood in Eastern Gaza(5:58 PM GMT 3)
(Shell hits room of building in area, catching fire, no injuries)

-2nd Israeli shell fired at 'Corner of Apple's' town in Eastern Gaza (5:59 PM)

-Israeli army declares 'Nahal Oz' a closed military zone

-Palestinian armed wing fires rocket, 3 mortars at Israeli forces in Nahal Oz after 2 Israeli shells fired(6:10 PM)

-Israeli forces cross Palestinian border in southern Gaza(City of Rafah), Palestinian armed wings fire warning mortars as last warning to back away(6:28 PM)

-Explosive device goes off after Israeli armor crosses border automatically setting it off in city of Rafah(6:29 PM)

Army declares Nahal Oz area a closed military zone
The Israeli army has declared the area around the community of Nahal Oz a closed military zone, after several incidents of cross-border fire with Gaza.

At least two mortars were fired at troops operating in the area of the kibbutz, which sits less than a kilometer from the Gaza border.

As Gaza tensions escalate, Hamas warns Israel 'not to test us' | The Times of Israel
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[Falcon29]

Updates:

-Hamas: If these violations continue, it will bring about a response from all Palestinian factions

-Fire breaks out in Israeli military base in Nahal Oz after Palestinian mortar fire(6:38 PM)

-Israeli artillery shells fired at Palestinian border guard site in southern Gaza(6:39 PM)

-Israeli shell lands in 'Hove of Apples' town in Eastern Gaza, no injuries(6:40 PM)

-Israeli airstrike hits location in southern Gaza, east of Rafah city(7:53 PM)
(Location: Palestinian international airport)

-New Israeli air strikes targeting southern Gaza(7:59 PM)

-Palestinian armed wing fires mortar into Israeli 'Sufa' military base east of southern Gaza(8:02 PM)

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Situation in danger of escalating, Israel did not end incursions into Palestinian territory, Palestinians decided today to fire warning mortars. Which led to Israeli shelling/aerial attacks. Which is going to lead to a Palestinian response due to Israeli stubbornness to keep violating the truce deal which eliminated all and any buffer zones.

 

[remnant]

The Israeli military will never be able to vanquish the will and determination of the Palestinian people. Such provocations create a fatalistic population and creates conditions for jihadists elsewhere to rally the masses behind their cause to swell their ranks. The US being the dishonest broker it is in the Middle East continues to shoot itself in the foot with expensive defence outlays which can be saved by a simple restructuring of its foreign policy.

 

[Falcon29]

Video of recent air strikes:
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Updates:

-Renewal of Israeli air strikes on non-operating Palestinian international airport in southern Gaza(8:18 PM)

-Hamas armed wing to make statement around incidents on the border, soon....
(Hamas armed wing states that it sees recent incidents as a new Israeli operation that violates the 2014 agreement, calls on Israel to withdraw from Palestinian territory, which Israel still considers as buffer zone, and that it won't permit this operation to go on, states Israeli armed forces are 200 meters in Palestinian territory in the northeast, and 300 meters in the south east)

 

[Falcon29]

Hamas says truce reached with Israel to end fighting along Gaza border

Hamas late Wednesday said that it has reached understandings with the Israeli military regarding a cessation of hostilities on the Gaza frontier.

The Palestinian Islamist group claimed that Egypt mediated a truce with Israel after 24 hours of escalation and tit-for-tat attacks, Arab press reports said.

According to the terms of the understandings, the IDF will withdraw some of its troops while halting all operations along the security fence that separates Gaza from Israel.
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Hamas says truce reached with Israel to end fighting along Gaza border - Breaking News - Jerusalem Post

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Correction: Israel reached understanding with Hamas, Hamas did not violate the truce and demanded Israel end all military activity around and in the border areas, which it has agreed to do according to this report.

Nevertheless, Hamas should be careful and not trust this truce. Israel agreed to such a truce in 2012, only to start launching strikes the next morning. Palestinians should be on alert for any surprise attacks.

 

[Jaeger]

The truce won't last very long

 

[Falcon29]

The truce won't last very long

That's what I'm thinking as well, the truce conditions are too broad. If operations are done right on the border, with minor incursions, it could still fan more clashes. Israel will keep conducting digging operations around the border, if they halt them completely than that would embarrass Netanyahu's party, as just a day or two ago he posed with the media on the border with Gaza.

The rest is related to current negotiations with US to reach a new aid package. Israel won't enter a campaign during this time, and likely looking for extra funds for missile defense batteries/research. Once it has more funding, it will probably get more aggressive. Let's hope not though.

The only well played part here was Hamas doing the shelling and openly taking responsibility for it. As it hints to Israel the seriousness of the situation.

 

[Falcon29]

As usual, Egypt and Israel lied, Israel did not pull out anything, and now there is a 57 year old Palestinian killed along with continued shelling in the north/southern-eastern parts of Gaza. Israel did not end the operations on the buffer zones, and they were shelled with warning fire over and over again, and started shelling in response as well as conducting air strikes. Israel told us they were planning to conduct war soon, and now we see it:

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Hamas's mortar fire should be done to kill now.

 

[Falcon29]

Funeral processions for 57 year old woman killed from Israeli bombardment:

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Tensions escalate in Gaza as Israeli shelling kills Palestinian woman

GAZA (Ma’an) -- Tensions continued to escalate in the besieged Gaza Strip on Thursday, with reports of one Palestinian woman killed by Israeli shelling, as Israeli forces said airstrikes were in response to Palestinian resistance groups targeting its troops with mortar rounds.

Medical sources told Ma'an that a Palestinian woman in her fifties, identified as Jana Aytah al-Amur, was killed by Israeli shelling on Thursday evening in the al-Fakhari area east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip. An Israeli army spokesperson said they could not confirm the case.

Medical sources also said that an Israeli airstrike injured a Palestinian woman, identified as 21-year-old Khazima al-Farra, in the al-Rayyan area in eastern Rafah.

Witnesses told Ma'an that Israeli F-16 jets launched several rockets in the southern Gaza Strip at around 5 p.m., hitting agricultural land in the Abu al-Rus area in eastern Rafah.

An Israeli army statement issued at 5:48 p.m. read: "In response to the ongoing attacks against Israeli forces, IAF (Israeli airforce) aircraft targeted four Hamas military posts in the southern Gaza Strip."

An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed to Ma'an that at least eight alleged Hamas locations had been targeted by airstrikes since Wednesday night. They added that they were unaware of airstrikes occurring after 6 p.m.

Four Palestinians, including three children, were injured earlier in the day when Israeli forces carried out several airstrikes across the small Palestinian territory, one of which hit a metal workshop in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood southeast of Gaza City. The strike injured 65-year-old Hassan Hassanien and three children from the family, who were all taken to the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=771402

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