Hamas starts a war. Will they survive?

[Donovan]

I don't trust any info that comes from Shitter.

 

[Synaesthesia]

It's a fucking horror show over there. Hamas supporters with all the unedited videos. The thugs are using the cellphones of the victims and posting the bullshit they're doing on the victims FB and Instagram accounts.

What a mess

 

[jack]

I don't trust any info that comes from Shitter.

I hated it before musk took it over. Now it's just an overflowing cesspool of hate. I rubbernecked on the weekend but got pretty grossed out.

My nickel says the ground war will start as soon as the next Sabbath passes .

Since it will be a Black Sabbath they should blast Ozzie at them the rest of the week.

Loudly!

 

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Hamas was 'laying a trap' for Israel by attacking, and is goading it to invade Gaza: Ex-MI6 chief​

• A former UK intel chief said Hamas "laid a trap" for Israel.
• He said the militant group was provoking Israel to invade Gaza.
• An invasion, he warned, would cost many lives and drive radicalization.

Attacks by the Hamas militant group were likely a ploy to lure Israel into a costly ground invasion of Gaza, the former head of Britain's MI6 spy agency said.

Alex Younger, who served as the head of the UK's foreign intelligence service from 2014 to 2020, gave his comments in an interview on the BBC's "The Today Podcast."

It came after Hamas fighters stormed into Israel and massacred whole villages — Israel has said more than 1,000 people were killed, including children and the elderly.

He said: "I absolutely understand and endorse Israel's right to defend themselves in the circumstances, and indeed to restore the credibility of those defenses, so that that sense of psychological safety can be restored to the people."

"But here's the thing, you shouldn't do what your enemy wants you to do," said Younger.

Israel launched waves of airstrikes on Gaza in the wake of the attacks, killing hundreds. It has massed troops on the border of the Gaza Strip and pledged to destroy Hamas in its entirety, but has yet to move in its troops.

"And it's really obvious now that Hamas are essentially laying a trap for Israel," said Younger.

"And [it] will be well pleased if Israel commits itself to an open-ended, full-scale ground invasion of Gaza because of the scale and intensity of conflict that that would entail, and the loss of innocent life that would inevitably follow and the radicalization that would engender, and the extent to which will put Israel's allies and partners in the region in an impossible position."

He said Hamas was likely surprised by how successful its mission had been, with militants successfully evading Israeli surveillance and breaking through Israel's high-tech border security before advancing around 30 kilometres into Israel.

A senior Hamas official said much the same thing.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to destroy Hamas in the wake of the attacks. But analysts say that in invading Gaza, the densely populated region the militant group has governed since 2007, the IDF would face fierce resistance from Hamas, which is embedded in a network of underground tunnels and bases. Such an attack would likely result in the loss of thousands of civilian lives.

There are fears the conflict could expand if Israel invades Gaza, and Iran-backed militia Hezbollah could launch attacks on Israel from Lebanon.

 

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Day of Jihad' Sparks Warnings for Americans to Stay Inside​

mericans are "armed" and will not be intimidated, commenters including Rep. Matt Gaetz have said, after a former Hamas chief called for a "Day of Jihad" by Muslim communities around the world on Friday, October 13.

Khaled Mashal, who now heads the militant group's diaspora office in Qatar, told Reuters on Wednesday that Muslims should "head to the squares and streets of the Arab and Islamic world on Friday" and hold mass protests in support of Palestinians as the conflict with Israel intensifies.

In a video posted on YouTube, but since removed, he also called for Muslims "to show anger" on Friday and "send a message of rage to Zionists and to America," according to a transcript posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Gaetz, a Florida Republican, reshared a post about Mashal's comments on X, adding: "FAFO [F*** around and find out]. Floridians are armed. We won't be intimidated."

Joey Mannarino, a conservative podcast host, took a more cautious tone, posting: "Do not leave your homes that day unless there is an emergency. Avoid public transit. Avoid airplanes. Avoid public events."

Jason Howerton, an X user with more than 108,000 followers, wrote: "Do not be paranoid. But absolutely be strapped."

Another social media user, who runs a firearms business in Tennessee, asked followers on X what weapons they would be carrying on Friday.

Salam Al-Marayati, president of U.S. nonprofit the Muslim Public Affairs Council, rejected Mashal's calls on Thursday, telling Newsweek: "Hamas is a terrorist organization and this is what you expect from them.

"We denounce their terrorist activities and definitely don't even consider their calls for more fighting to be heeded by any Muslim because the No 1 thing you must abide by in Islam is if you are in any fight, you should not target civilians."

Al-Marayati said those tactics were not only a violation of Islamic ethics, but were leading to rising death tolls on both sides.

"There's no military solution so the only one is a political one," he said. "People are not in the mood of hearing talks of diplomacy. When people are tired of killing each other and all resources are exhausted, we need to come up with a political solution. The sooner we can get to that, the better it is for all sides."

On October 7, Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian militant attack on Israel in history. Israel subsequently launched its heaviest ever airstrikes on Gaza. As of Thursday, at least 1,300 people had been killed in Israel, the Associated Press reported, citing the Israeli military. At least 1,350 people had been killed in Gaza, according to authorities there, the AP said. Militants are also holding an estimated 150 people taken hostage from Israel.

Al-Marayati said it is expected that people will cling to their narratives and only be concerned with the suffering on their side, adding that he doesn't believe that the Palestinian narrative is understood well by Americans.

"Terrorism is not the answer," he said. "Aside from being immoral, it only backfires to hurt the people more. We want to see our government in the U.S. be more open to the Palestinian side and find a solution."

Part of this dialogue is a promotion of more inter-faith dialogue and cooperation from different religious perspectives, he said.

"It's a long road ahead. With so much smoke and debris coming from the confrontation and war and more civilian suffering, it's hard to see [such conversations taking place]. But to me it's the only path we need to take moving forward."

Newsweek has reached out to other Muslim-led organizations in the U.S. for comment.

 

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By land, sea, air and online: How Hamas used the internet to terrorize Israel​

The attacks came by land, sea, air – and online.

Terror propaganda − violent videos and graphic images of kidnappings and murders of civilians and soldiers that flooded social media from the deadly cross-border incursion into Israel − was a key element in Hamas’ military campaign, said Graham Brookie, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.

Hamas streamed from the war zone “in closer to real-time than in past conflicts,” indicating that the online strategy “was an essential part of the overall planning for their attack on Israel” to take advantage of how hyperconnected Israel is with its widespread use of smartphones and social media, Brookie said.

Veterans of conflict zones on Brookie’s team tracking Hamas' digital footprint were struck by the ferocity and volume of the footage, the likes of which they had never seen, he said.

The effects could become more grave if Hamas makes good on a threat to broadcast executions of hostages, Brookie said. Some Hamas officials have since walked back the threat.

Terror propaganda campaign pulled from Islamic State playbook​

Spreading propaganda on social media networks – especially those with more lax moderation systems – is a low-cost and highly effective tactic that is increasingly being deployed by terrorist groups, said Colin P. Clarke, director of research at the Soufan Group, a global intelligence and security consultancy.

The videos and images from the deadly attacks posted by Hamas-affiliated accounts were shared by Hamas allies and unwitting participants around the globe, Clarke said.

The tactic is pulled from the playbooks of the Islamic State and al-Qaida, which experts said pioneered the viral form of psychological warfare by livestreaming beheadings and other graphic footage.

“This is the nature of asymmetric warfare – you've got to utilize tools that are going to make you seem bigger and more powerful than you are,” Clarke said. “For Hamas, it costs them nothing to videotape something and send it out there, and now everyone thinks that they're creeping around every corner.

Hamas exploits lax content moderation at Telegram, X​

Hamas fired off posts from official accounts on the encrypted messaging and social media app Telegram that ricocheted to X, formerly Twitter, and beyond.

Telegram – which allows messaging between users but also has a “Channel” function that works similarly to X – has a long history of being used by terrorists, among them the Islamic State, or ISIS. The platform, often labeled by extremism experts as “Terrorgram,” is increasingly embraced by domestic extremists in the U.S. in recent years because of its almost nonexistent moderation.

“As soon as something posts on Telegram, we see this crossflow of content to mainstream platforms, either intentionally or just through the oxygen of amplification,” Brookie said.

X, which gutted its trust and safety teams under new owner Elon Musk, was unprepared for the wave of terror propaganda that then spread to other social media platforms and messaging apps like WhatsApp.

This week, X said it was removing newly created Hamas-affiliated accounts and coordinating with industry peers “to try and prevent terrorist content from being distributed online.” It also recommended that people adjust their sensitive media settings if they don’t want to see disturbing content.

The U.K. summoned social media executives Wednesday to demand platforms remove violent content of the Hamas attacks on Israel.

Telegram and X did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

If social media sites continue to erode guardrails and safeguards, Clarke warned, what is happening today will get worse.

“This is just the facet of what’s called ‘fourth generation warfare,’ or ‘modern warfare’ in this era,” he said. “So, whatever the next conflict is, it doesn't really matter, you're going to see this on steroids.”

X profiting from Israel Hamas war disinformation and propaganda, report says​

Once propaganda and disinformation reaches X, the platform is allowing it to be shared and even monetized, a report from the Tech Transparency Project found.

The report, an advance copy of which was provided exclusively to USA TODAY, found several premium subscriber accounts – which pay a fee of $8 a month to the platform – sharing Hamas propaganda including violent and graphic images of the attacks on Israel.

According to the report, some video content appears to violate X’s “violent and hateful entities policy,” which prohibits promotion of terrorist organizations and their propaganda. It also appears to violate an X policy stating that the platform will remove accounts sharing content produced by terrorists, the report states.

Despite X’s announcement that it was working to remove Hamas-affiliated accounts, TTP researchers "found no evidence that X had restricted the accounts sharing the Hamas attack videos,” the report says. It also notes that in some cases, X ran advertisements in the comments under the video posts.

The TTP report found several instances of “verified” X users, some with more than 500,000 followers, spreading uncensored Hamas propaganda videos.

One clip posted to X shows bodycam footage of Hamas militants going room-to-room in an Israeli military base firing automatic weapons. Bloodied bodies lie on the ground in the video, which has been watched more than 60,000 times.

“It's been nearly 10 years since the Islamic State made heavy use of social media to amplify its propaganda and recruitment efforts. Although some platforms have improved at reducing the spread of Islamic State content, today we see Hamas deploying very similar tactics on X,” TTP director Katie A Paul told USA TODAY. “The company has monetized the spread of Hamas propaganda despite its clear violations of X policy. X needs to effectively enforce the rules it has on the books as the conflict continues.”

 

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Props to Donovan

 

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and then

 

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Hamas' Mohammed Deif, Mastermind of Israel's 9/11, Faces Last Stand in Gaza​

As the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) step up their assault on the Gaza Strip in the wake of the deadliest-ever Palestinian militant assault on Israel, the murky figure at the heart of Hamas' military wing may be getting ready to make his final stand.

Little is known for certain about Mohammed Deif. That's by design for Hamas' Al-Qassam Military Brigades supreme commander, whose nom de guerre means "guest" in an apparent reference to his frequently shifting location. Deif's elusiveness has allowed him to escape numerous Israeli attempts on his life. But having survived so long, a massive IDF incursion could bring a dramatic end to a bloody game of cat-and-mouse that's dragged on for more than three decades.

"I don't think that a man with his legacy, name and position, and immersed in the culture of steadfastness and martyrdom thinks of leaving his land and battlefield," Khaled Hroub, professor at Northwestern University in Qatar who has authored books on Hamas' inner workings, tells Newsweek.

"If a ground campaign takes place, and the Israelis managed to get to him, he will fight until the last drop of blood," Hroub adds.

Hamas is fighting to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamist Palestinian state and Deif's role has been pivotal, not least in masterminding the assault by land, air and sea on October 7 that left at least 1,300 dead in Israel, followed by crushing Israeli airstrikes on Gaza in which casualties are nearing 2,000.

Deif has already suffered various injuries in assassination attempts: reportedly losing an eye, part of his arm and his legs. He also lost his wife, 7-month-old son and 3-year-old daughter in an airstrike during the last total war in Gaza in 2014. New reports suggest the ongoing IDF campaign has now killed more relatives, including his brother and son, possibly indicating an intensified Israeli campaign to take him out once and for all.

But while Hroub said Deif's downfall may have short-term impacts on Hamas' military capabilities, he argued that achieving martyrdom status for a man so widely revered by his supporters—and reviled by detractors—could at the same time actually enhance Hamas' status and prestige.

"Deif could become a Palestinian Che Guevara," he said.

Such an image presents a unique challenge to Israel. What sets Deif apart from other senior Hamas leaders, such as Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar and political head Ismail Haniyeh, according to Yossi Kuperwasser, former head of the IDF Intelligence Corps' Research Division and director general of Ministry of Strategic Affairs, "is that he is a symbol more than anybody else."

Kupperwaser compares Deif to Iran's Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, Hezbollah military chief Imad Mughniyeh and 9/11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed of Al-Qaeda, telling Newsweek that, "even though we don't try to make him as such, he has become a myth." To many Israelis, he's their Osama bin Laden, the most readily identifiable face of 9/11.

While Soleimani was killed in a 2020 U.S. airstrike, bin Laden died during a 2011 U.S. raid, Mughniyeh was slain in a 2008 joint CIA-Mossad operation and Mohammed was captured in a joint U.S.-Pakistani sting in 2003, Deif remains on the run as Israel's most wanted man.

Avi Melamed, former Israeli intelligence official and senior adviser on Arab affairs, tells Newsweek it is currently in the IDF's interest not to focus on the hunt for Deif, potentially further feeding into his reputation as a "man of shadow" who still may ultimately get away.

"Israel's strategic objective is currently to destroy Hamas' military and organizational capacities. This is the move," Melamed says. "One person is not the story. We may get to them, we may never get to them, they may be buried somewhere that we'll never know about, it's irrelevant to a large extent."

"You don't need to further blow up the myth," Melamed adds. "He's a brutal murderer, he is a very dangerous and sophisticated person, bordering psychotic personality."

For a number of Hamas supporters, however, Deif's enigmatic capacity to wage war from the shadows has long helped fuel support for his cause. As Mkhaimar Abusada, chairman of the department of political science at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, tells Newsweek, "his presence is important to the military wing of Hamas, they admire him and are very inspired by his leadership."

Ayman al-Rafati, a researcher who serves on the board of directors at the Center for Regional Studies in Gaza, tells Newsweek that Deif "has become a symbol of the Palestinian resistance and has great popularity among Palestinians." Today, Deif "is considered an inspiration to the new generation of Palestinians everywhere in Palestine, as evidenced by the chants that always ring his name."

 

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Hamas Fighters' Orders: 'Kill as Many People as Possible'​

TEL AVIV—Written orders carried by Hamas fighters sent to attack Israeli towns and settlements last weekend contained the same chilling command: Kill as many people as possible.

Documents recovered from the bodies of dead militants at the sites of attacks that killed more than 1,300 Israelis point to a deliberate strategy to massacre civilians, Israeli officials said.

The similarity of the orders given to attack teams, along with videos posted by the attackers themselves, eyewitness testimony, and the scale of civilian killings in multiple locations—at least 1,000 in total—suggest that the massacre wasn’t a byproduct of the attack but a central objective.

A Hamas squad that attacked the farming community of Alumim in southern Israel, was directed to “achieve the highest level of human losses” and then take hostages, according to documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal and which an Israeli official said were authentic.

Orders carried by militants sent to attack Sa’ad, a 670-person collective farming community, instructed them to “to take control of the kibbutz, kill as many individuals as possible, and capture hostages until receiving further instructions.”

The documents are at odds with assertions by Hamas officials that militants had been told not to kill women and children. The group, designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., Israel and others, has blamed civilian deaths on armed Palestinians unaffiliated with Hamas who joined the attack.

“Hamas’s strategy behind this attack was very clear: they were on a mission to hurt and murder as many innocent civilians as possible,” said Tal Heinrich, a spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, referring to “maps and documents found on the bodies of Hamas terrorists.”

The documents and maps—retrieved in areas where attackers were killed by local defenders or Israeli soldiers—indicate that Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, had amassed significant intelligence about its targets and had developed detailed plans for assaulting them.

Rescue workers, soldiers and residents have collected a trove of such documents from the bodies of dead militants.

Israeli officials said they suspect that attackers who entered communities first tried to kill as many people as possible to limit the threat of a counterattack, then took hostage those who were still alive.
One striking similarity among the plans: Attackers were told to herd hostages into kibbutz dining halls before taking them back to Gaza, something that occurred in the town of Be’eri, where dozens of residents held in its dining facility were eventually rescued by Israeli troops.


The attackers dispatched to Sa’ad, another kibbutz nearby, carried maps showing its security fence and other defenses. Orders also noted the residents’ volunteer guard force was armed and could be reinforced by Israeli army units stationed nearby.


A map showed an aerial view of the kibbutz, identifying locations along the fence line where two teams of fighters were supposed to enter the kibbutz. The attack plan also warned militants that “guards are on regular shifts, and the kibbutz surveils the surrounding area via cameras.”

The dining hall could be a place for “holding hostages,” the plan said, adding that the medical clinic could serve as “a first aid center for friends and foes.”

In Kfar Aza, across the road from Sa’ad, around 70 fighters from Hamas killed dozens of members of the 700-strong community. Officials said they found the mutilated bodies of women and children scattered across the kibbutz. Some residents, Israeli soldiers said, had been decapitated.

In Alumim, down the road from Sa’ad, the local protection force fought back against dozens of Hamas attackers, and with military help, killed around 20, preventing deaths on the scale witnessed in other nearby communities, said Tzvika Blumstein, a manager of the kibbutz.

But the Hamas attackers did reach the dorms of Thai and Nepalese laborers working for the kibbutz, who lived closest to the breached areas. There, they immediately killed some of the workers in their beds, according to Blumstein.

Others were taken to a different location, had their hands bound before being executed, said Blumstein. In total, the Hamas attackers killed 16 workers living on the kibbutz. “It was a massacre,” said Blumstein.

The Journal on Wednesday also reported on a 14-page document labeled “top secret” in Arabic and dated June 15, 2023 that describes a plan for infiltrating Mefalsim, a kibbutz near Gaza, and taking residents hostage.

Two teams of five and a commander would carry out the operation on “Hour S, Day Y,” it reads. Maps and aerial pictures of the town were contained in the document, which says there were 1,000 “civilians” guarded by a volunteer security force.

Members of the assault team were designated to open holes in a security fence, while others were to provide “artillery” fire, the document says. Once inside, the force would take prisoners and hold them at the dining hall as hostages “for negotiations,” the plan reads.

Video of the attack from a surveillance camera near Mefalsim’s front gate shows that attackers began gunning down residents as soon as they arrived.

The video was posted Saturday by South First Responders, a group of emergency personnel working in southern Israel, and verified by the Journal. In the footage, a man dressed in a white shirt running on the sidewalk grabs his right arm and drops onto the pavement, blood leaking from his head.

Within minutes, armed fighters can be seen emerging from a wooded area in ones and twos. Several run over to him and shoot him again. Residents who have abandoned their cars to hide in the bushes are attacked with grenades. One is pulled from the bushes and repeatedly shot and bludgeoned.

 

[Charlemagne]

An animated short from ten years ago that pretty accurately sums up the situation there:


Or, if you don't watch the video, basically... neither Israel nor Palestine can claim to be the "true" original inhabitants of the Levant... since said inhabitants were wiped out by the Sumerians, who claimed it for themselves. Only for the Egyptians to steal it from them. Then the Assyrians stole it from the Egyptians. Then the Hebrews stole it from the Assyrians. Then the Babylonians stole it from the Hebrews. Then the Greeks stole it from the Babylonians, before falling into civil war when Alexander the Great died. Then Egypt came back for Round 2 and stole it from the Greeks. Then the Seleucids stole it from the Egyptians. Then the Hebrews came back for their own Round 2 and stole it from the Seleucids. Then the Romans stole it from the Hebrews. Then the Arabian Caliphate stole it from the Romans. Then the Seljuk Turks stole it from the Arabian Caliphate and put their own Caliphate in place. Then the French and German Crusaders stole it from the Seljuk Turks. Then Egypt went for Round 3 and stole it from the French and German Crusaders and put their own Caliphate in place. Then the Ottoman Turks stole it from Egypt. Then the Arabs stole it from the Ottoman Turks. Then the British stole it from the Arabs, and settled the region with Jewish Holocaust survivors, who were the descendants of the Hebrews. And then, well... you'll see who the real owner of the Levant is at the end.

 

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University of Wisconsin refuses to condemn pro-Hamas demonstrators chanting 'Glory to the murders!'​

A group of University of Wisconsin students participated in a demonstration on campus endorsing Hamas terrorists' attack against Israel, and the university declined to condemn the chants heard at the event.

The students were observed holding Palestinian flags in front of the university's library as one woman was heard shouting into a microphone, "Glory to the murders!" and "We will liberate the land — by any means necessary!"

According to Hillel International, roughly 5,200 Jewish students attend the University of Wisconsin, the sixth-most of any public university in the U.S.

The university described the chants celebrating Hamas' largest attack on Israel in decades as "respectful dialogue" that it allows on and off campus.

"The university is not able to restrict First Amendment protected speech, nor does a speaker, rally, or protest on campus constitute the university’s endorsement of the message," a spokesperson for the school said in a statement to the New York Post.

The spokesperson also purported that the demonstrators were chanting, "Glory to the martyrs." But the spokesperson did not dispute the chant that said, "We will liberate the land — by any means necessary!"

The school declined to comment when pressed by the Post on whether the use of the term "martyrs" was appropriate since the Hamas terrorists killed, kidnapped and raped Israeli civilians.

More than 3,600 people have been killed in the war in Israel since Hamas launched its attack last week, leading to retaliatory action from Israeli forces. Thousands more have been wounded, and many others have been taken hostage by Hamas and raped, tortured and murdered.

University Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin released a statement Wednesday condemning the "vicious terrorist attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians" that began on October 7. Mnookin's statement did not address Tuesday's protest.

"I mourn for those lost. I pray for those injured and abducted," she wrote. "And I fear the terrifying inevitability of a great many further deaths, of Israelis and Palestinians, of civilians and soldiers. I worry, too, that these devastating developments will fan the global flames of both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, making peace and justice in the region even more elusive."

"As a general matter, I am skeptical that those in roles like mine should frequently comment on global or world events," Mnookin added. "However, in this case, I recognize the grave degree of impact these events have had on so very many in our own community. It is for this reason that I write, even as I recognize that these or any words are inevitably inadequate in the face of such unspeakable tragedy."

The demonstration on Tuesday was one of several pro-Hamas protests at U.S. colleges and universities last week. Pro-Palestinian student groups at various institutions also released statements defending Hamas' attacks even as many of the universities themselves condemned the acts of terrorism.

 

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Israeli forces: Hamas in Gaza chief and his entire command team 'are in our sights'​

Hamas in Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar and his entire command team “are in our sights,” Israel Defense Forces international spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told journalists on Saturday.

Hecht spoke as the Israel Air Force killed Merad Abu Merad, Hamas’s head of aerial activity, in Gaza City, who it said was responsible for directing terrorists during the Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis in the western Negev.

The Israel Air Force also struck dozens of members and facilities of Hamas’s Nuhba elite terrorist commando unit that were involved in the assault on the south, in which at least 1,300 Israelis were murdered and over 130 kidnapped to the Strip, including young children and the elderly.

These are the graphic photos Israel released of burned babies to reveal horror of Hamas attack

The IDF Rabbinate Base at Camp Shura, south of Tel Aviv, is processing enormous numbers of bodies as the identification process continues from last Saturday’s massacre, Hecht said. “These are things no one should have to see or smell,” he stated. “This is a massacre that Israel will never forget.”

Israel released images on Friday of Hamas terrorists handling babies in the south after murdering their parents.
“Yahya Sinwar is the face of evil. He is the mastermind behind this, like [Osama] bin Laden was. He built his career on murdering Palestinians when he understood they were collaborators. That’s how he became known as the butcher of Khan Younis [in southern Gaza],” said Hecht.

“That man and his whole team are in our sights. We will get to that man,” he said, adding, “This could be [a] long [campaign].”

The IDF has been calling all Gazans to evacuate the north of the Strip, and showing them two evacuation corridors. It said two evacuation corridors would be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.

Hamas has ordered Gazan civilians to ignore Israel’s evacuation calls. The IDF has observed Hamas vehicles driving around Gaza as the terrorist regime tries to stop civilians from leaving for safety, in order to keep them as mass human shields near their terrorist bases.

“Hamas is responsible for the conditions of the civilians. We recommend that people don’t delay. Hundreds of thousands of Gazans are heading south but Hamas is stopping many of them,” said Hecht.



“The tragedy here is that Hamas is stopping the civilians moving south. We’re looking at it, it’s their responsibility. We have notified through you [the international media], leaflets, Palestinian media. Hamas is stopping them from moving,” he added.

He defined the goal of the Israeli war effort as ensuring that Hamas can never again have the ability to repeat the mass murder of Israelis, and as dismantling Hamas’s military capabilities.

Asked how the IDF will reach Hamas in southern Gaza, he replied, “Slowly but surely. Every target will have intelligence behind it

“We are focusing strikes on the Nuhba Unit and their assets. They were the spearhead,” said Hecht

Meanwhile, IDF tanks killed two Palestinian terrorists approaching Kibbutz Nahal Oz.

“We’re preparing for the next stages,” said Hecht. The IDF conducted small-scale raids near the border barrier, added. “Anyone coming near the border will be shot.”

Addressing the northern border, Hect said that the IDF is continuing to respond to events, adding that Hezbollah in Lebanon is “poking” at Israel.

The IDF’s Air Defense Array intercepted an aerial asset over Haifa on Friday night, while Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles at Israel earlier in the day, prompting an Israeli artillery response.

Hecht called on the international community to pressure Hezbollah against “dragging the region into war.” He said the IDF is investigating the death of a Reuters journalist in Lebanon from Israeli fire, describing the incident as tragic.

In Judea and Samaria, the IDF thwarted 10 terrorist attacks and apprehended 220 suspects, 130 of whom are Hamas members. “We’re closely following any nationalistic crime from our side too,” said Hecht.

The IDF confirmed on Saturday night that 279 of its soldiers have been killed since Oct. 7, and that 126 abductees are being held in Gaza.

“I am thinking about five-year-old Israeli girls in Gaza right now,” said Hecht.

Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired more than 5,500 rockets at Israel since Oct. 7, he added.