Eurasia Press & News
The military is preparing to execute a wide-ranging offensive against the Hamas terrorist organization, including coordinated attacks from air, sea, and land.
IDF Chief Spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari signaled on Saturday night that the fateful moment of the IDF’s counter-invasion of Gaza continues to draw closer.
The military is preparing to execute a wide-ranging offensive against the Hamas terrorist organization, including coordinated attacks from air, sea, and land, said the IDF.
Ali Qadi led the inhumane, barbaric October 7 massacre of civilians in Israel. We just eliminated him. All Hamas terrorists will meet the same fate.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 14, 2023“IDF battalions and soldiers are deployed throughout the country and are ready to elevate their readiness for the upcoming stages of the war, with a strong emphasis on significant ground operations,” the IDF said.
Earlier in the weekend, the IDF started executing minor, narrow, quick in-and-out invasions into Gaza to collect intelligence about Gaza’s defense preparations as well as to use a well-known psychological warfare tactic to confuse Hamas about when its actual significant ground invasion will begin, versus just another more minor operation.
IDF to step up air strikes
On Saturday night, National Security Council Chief Tzahi Hanegbi stressed that the goal was to eradicate Hamas so that it could neither attack Israel nor govern the Gaza Strip. This is a change from previous efforts when the goal was to deter Hamas but leave it in power.
Listen in as an IDF Spokesperson @jconricus provides a situational update as the war against Hamas continues. https://t.co/UeIUKgRJGu
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) October 14, 2023“There will be no Hamas in Gaza when we are done,” said Hanegbi.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday night, “We will eliminate Hamas.”
The IDF is backed by a robust team of reservists and extensive logistical support to move to the next stage.
The Ground Forces and the Technology and Logistics Directorate are working to prepare the IDF for an expanded conflict. The IDF said on Saturday that this includes establishing advanced logistics centers to rapidly tailor the combat units’ equipment to their needs.
The army said that the necessary equipment for the battle had been delivered to the forces, and all that was left was for the various units of the Technology and Logistics Directorate to get all the gear ready for the soldiers.
The IDF said its soldiers have conducted recent battles against terrorists to protect the Gaza corridor and acted “with determination and resolve to regain control” of Israeli territory, including “capturing many weapons that were in the possession of the terrorists, while also evacuating injured individuals.”
The IDF Saturday announcement came only hours after Netanyahu visited southern Israel, where he toured Kibbutz Be’eri and Kfar Aza.
“Are you ready for the next stage?” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked soldiers during his visit. “The next stage is coming.”
Around midday Saturday, the IDF’s formal deadline for Gazans to evacuate passed.
There were wild estimates about potentially 500,000 Palestinians having fled Northern Gaza following a warning from the IDF on Friday.
However, there were estimates that another 500,000 Palestinian civilians were not evacuating.
The IDF said that Hamas was physically preventing civilians from leaving, providing videos of Hamas blocking certain roads for fleeing by car.
Various reports showed Hamas trying to scare civilians from leaving.
Yet, there were reports that some hospitals were willing to evacuate, but only if the IDF provided them with an orderly evacuation plan regarding routes and timing.
Overall, it was unclear who might be refusing to evacuate out of fear regarding the evacuation details and who was being forced to stay to serve as a human shield for Hamas.
Meanwhile, the UN said Israel’s request to evacuate one million Gazans from Northern Gaza was physically and logistically impossible.
It also needed to be clarified if Egypt would permit a large influx of refugees into the Sinai.
Multifrontal war
When asked about negotiations around providing humanitarian aid for the Palestinians, Hanegbi said on Saturday that they were checking out various opportunities, some of which had surfaced in the media already, including with Qatar.
“The IDF calls on all residents of Gaza City to evacuate their homes, move south for their protection, and settle in the area south of the Gaza River,” an IDF statement read Thursday. “This evacuation is for your safety. Returning to Gaza City after a notification confirming [safety] will be possible. Do not approach the border fence with the State of Israel.”
“We didn’t put those civilians there,” another IDF spokesperson, Jonathan Conricus, said in an English briefing on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday morning. “They are not our enemy. We are not trying to kill or injure any civilians. We are fighting against Hamas. That needs to be abundantly clear. We are targeting their infrastructure – wherever it is.”
“We appreciate the tens of thousands who have left in the last hours,” Hagar said. “Anyone who chooses not to leave puts their family in danger.”
Further, on Saturday, the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) eliminated Ali Qadi, the “Nukhba Force” commander who led the Hamas massacre on October 7, which killed around 1,300 Israelis.
IDF aircraft, with the intelligence guidance of the Shin Bet and AMAN (Military Intelligence Directorate), targeted the terrorists. In 2005, Qadi was arrested following the kidnapping and murder of Israelis and was later released as part of the Gilad Shalit exchange deal.
It also eliminated dozens of Hamas terrorists, including many from Qadi’s Nukhba Force.
In addition, it said Saturday morning that the IDF assassinated Merad Abu Merad, who was the head of the Hamas aerial system. He was primarily responsible for directing terrorists during the massacre.
The announcement came shortly after an earlier briefing from Hagari, who told the press that the IDF had struck down 1,000 strategic Hamas locations in Gaza since Operation Swords of Iron started.
Despite the IDF’s constant air strikes on Gaza, Hamas managed to continue significant rocket fire on Israel throughout the weekend on the Gaza corridor, Ashkelon, Ashdod and even on Saturday on the Tel Aviv and center of the country areas.
Hagari also threatened Hezbollah on Saturday night, saying, “We know Hezbollah very well. They know our power very well,” should they decide to start a bigger fight in the North.
He stressed that the army was strong and could manage Hezbollah in the North and terrorism emanating from the West Bank.
On Saturday morning, Hezbollah fighters fired an anti-tank missile at Israeli troops. It also sent drones into Israel and fired surface-to-air missiles at an Israeli aircraft, which the IDF quickly intercepted. Later, the organization launched 30 mortar shells toward Israeli territory, with some crossing into Israel. The IDF responded in that incident, too, targeting the source of the firing and by late afternoon, the army was continuing to operate within Lebanese territory.
מצורף תיעוד מחיסול חוליית המחבלים שניסתה לחדור לשטח ישראל מלבנון הבוקר pic.twitter.com/bNtE0khDxT
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) October 14, 2023During the later attack, the IDF said that a group of militants was detected, suspected of intending to launch an anti-tank missile towards Israel. An aircraft targeted the group.
The IDF also foiled a cell of Palestinian terrorists that operated under Hezbollah’s direction and tried to infiltrate Israel via Lebanon, an army spokesperson said.
Two terrorists were reportedly killed in the altercations.
Also, on Saturday, the IDF announced an incident where a senior reserve officer was killed by friendly fire.
According to the IDF, the officer was killed when he and another IDF unit were both pursuing a suspicious Palestinian attacker near Immatin Village from opposite directions, and he was hit by gunfire targeted at the Palestinian, with the firing unit not realizing he was coming to the scene.
In the West Bank, the IDF has arrested more than 230 Hamas operatives since Operation Swords of Iron started, the military updated on Saturday morning.
The focus of the arrests has been on Hamas operatives, as well as instigators of terrorism.
