Palestinian Jihad & Hamas lose 11 men in IDF terror tunnel blast which also sent a political message
To ward off demands from Washington, Cairo and Riyadh to back the Palestinian unity effort, Netanyahu chose to show them what was really going on in Gaza.
The IDF and Israeli intelligence certainly knew a terrorist tunnel was being dug in the Gaza Strip near Khan Younes some weeks ago. But they waited until it crossed over and had snaked almost a kilometer inside Israel up to a point near Kissufim before blowing it up on Monday, Oct. 30. The IDF must also have known that Jihad Islami, which Iran established as its Palestinian arm, was building it, rather than Hamas.
The Jihadis threatened retaliation after reporting 11 of their men killed, including two top commanders, and two Hamas operatives, and 15 were injured – most of them mortally. Israel and Hamas are both on high alert for potential escalation. Ahead of the operation, Israel positioned an Iron Dome battery outside the Gaza Strip in case it prompted rocket fire in reprisal. The army also closed off parts of the border region to entry.
The timing of the operation entailed a number of complicated considerations, DEBKAfile reports.
- The IDF waited for a government go-ahead, while watching two landmark events go forward without an Israeli response: (a) The Egyptian-brokered Hamas reconciliation with the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, and (b) Steps by Hamas to deepen the foothold of Iran and Hizballah in the Gaza Strip. Thus far, Hamas had been able to keep both tracks afloat without a collision or running into Israeli interference.
- A decision was awaited as to whether to hit the still-unfinished tunnel when it was deserted, or to wait for high terrorist officers to be trapped inside. The latter was seen as tantamount to hitting an Iranian/Hizballah target in Syria. The opportunity came up Monday, when a group of senior Jihad officers entered the tunnel, led by their central Gaza regional commander Arafat Abu Marshad and his lieutenant Hassan Abu Hasnin. Both were killed, along with a third jihadist Ahmed Khalil, and eight others, as well as two members of the Hamas naval commando unit, who tried to rescue the group that was trapped in the falling debris.
- There was more than one way to destroy the terror tunnel using the “innovative technology” cited by Prime Minster Binyamin Netanyahu. It was decided to target the eastern section that crossed into Israel by air. The Israeli Air Force has never before struck an enemy target on Israeli soil. However the government wanted to show the Americans and Egyptians that the IDF’s operation was not a wanton attack on Gaza but an act of national defense.
- Tuesday, Oct. 31, was the day set by Hamas for Palestinian Authority officials to move in and start taking over the border crossings to Israel and Egypt. After that date, Israel would have found it hard to destroy the tunnel, without laying itself open to the charge of endangering PA officials.
An entire legion of Trump Administration envoys has been crisscrossing the Middle East these days on various errands. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner left Riyadh Saturday after a visit in which he was accompanied by deputy national security adviser Dina Powell and special peace envoy Jason Greenblatt, who stayed on and arrived in Jerusalem Monday, Oct. 29 to brief Netanyahu on the talks the US envoys held in Riyadh as well as Cairo. Another American visitor to the Saudi capital was Treasury Secretary Seven Mnuchin. He landed in Jerusalem a day before Greenblatt and he too met Netanyahu.
Neither American nor Israeli officials are prepared to reveal the subjects of the US diplomatic shuttle. However, DEBKAfile’s sources have learned that Israel was asked not just to express public approval of the reconciliation process underway between the rival Palestinian factions under Egyptian auspices, but to embark on practical steps to this end.
Netanyahu tried to ward of the demand coming at him from Washington, Cairo and Riyadh, by showing them what was really going on in Gaza, under cover of their Palestinian peace effort. New terror tunnels were hardly compatible with peace diplomacy, he wanted them to see and he believed that rocket fire in reprisal was worth that risk.
Monday night, after counting their dead, the heads of the Palestinian terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip held an emergency meeting to decide on their response to the tunnel attack. Jihad Islami pushed hard for a declaration of war on Israel, while Hamas advised against giving Israel a chance to “blow up its reconciliation accord with the Palestinian Authority.” Its leaders were reluctant to jeopardize the landmark events due on Tuesday: A large Egyptian delegation was coming to the Gaza Strip to oversee the transfer of border crossings to the Palestinian Authority and also announce the establishment of an Egyptian consulate in Gaza City. A military clash could blow these events sky high.
I am smiling from heaven at the incompetence of my fellow muhrabin
Come and join me with the 72 virgins (raisins)…
72 recycled toothless old hags. Lucky hags. Enjoy eternity
You are so right
You are a wise and wonderful lad, Mr. Kalb
Goats, easier to reach no need to stand on a bucket.
And as usual Netanyahu gets no “thank you” for facilitating the whole thing
“And as usual Netanyahu gets no “thank you” for facilitating the whole thing”
Some of us are thanking him here——–right?
So, here is my take on it:
Congratulations to PM Netanyahu and the IAF for a job well done in protecting the security of the Israeli people!
Now, I wonder if this story will even be covered by the left-wing news media!
Thank You Bibi, get some.
well done IDF
Good for You Israel !!!
I vote that the Jihadists should declare war at their meeting, which is the least they can do for the insolence of having their attack plan attacked. Talk about chutzpah ! Those horrible Jewish Israeli Imperialistic Colonialist Capitalist Communists !
Wouldn’t it have been easier to capture them in one swoop ..ie bomb the part behind them after they were well into Israeli territory? Then parade them…as it looks like they were staging a meeting….then get some concessions for their return…just sayin..
What a brilliant political move by Prime Minister Netanyahu, and what a precise, effective maneuver by the mighty IDF. Well done, Sons of Jacob, well done indeed!
So “islamic jihad” threatens “retaliation”? Pfft. Those are mighty big words from worms who crawl in the ground to attack innocent children.
Didn’t IAF (ISIS Air force) strike the stolen Egyptian armored vehicle on Israeli soil? Fake news
All Jews see you and will find you before you can hurt anyone. Never again. you think we forgot stupid?
gee, you’re right, you are a troll!
“Didn’t IAF (ISIS Air force) strike the stolen Egyptian armored vehicle on Israeli soil? Fake news”
Fake post, who ever you are!
Idiot
Pigs with strapped explosives were released into the terror tunnel. converting the terrorists into nonkosher bacon with a flash of global warming
Jihadists are hysterical, they want to die as martyrs but they get mad when you kill them. I guess they are mad because they couldn’t murder any Yahudis before they went to visit their 72 virgins. Terribly sad for them. Let them declare war on Israel. Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad will do the greatest dance of lies yet and the Eurotrash will only be too happy to swallow them up. Hamas leaders are probably stupid enough to allow Iran to get a foot hold into Gaza. Gaza will become even a worse hell hole for its beleaguered populace that is not on the payroll or has access to the underground city where the leaders hide and live without wanting for anything.
Re the 72 virgins: If So, they are better off than their 12 morrocan cousins who needed rabies shots after raping a female donkey. הוא יהיה פרא אדם ויחיה בין אחיו. שום דבר משתנה באלפיים שנה.
so far, this is the first good thing to come out of the terrorists’ “reconciliation” – hamas has something to lose from another flare-up, and tries to muzzle islamic jihad.
(and it’s good to know that the new “technical solution” was effective.)
THERE WILL NEVER BE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST UNTIL JESUS CHRIST RETURNS WITH THE ROD OF IRON !!!
“THERE WILL NEVER BE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST UNTIL JESUS CHRIST RETURNS WITH THE ROD OF IRON !!!”
He didn’t fair too well the first time against the Roman authorities in Jerusalem!
By design…
someone could help with their 72yr-old Virgin.
maybe the men inside tunnel get busy with each other to get hard-on , so the 72yr-old Virgin can get it quickly.
the tunnels can not take camels in – not cammel-proof.
the goats get scared inside tunnels & attack back the men.
better for the men inside tunnel to get busy by themselves.
REVENGE THREATENED AGAINST THE ISRAELIS————nothing new here.
I guess the Israelis are not supposed to destroy any terror tunnels planned to be used for attacks against them————and if they do, well, the terrorists will seek revenge by attacking them!
The Chevra Kadisha of Israel should send a bill to Gaza, for the burials.
Great job Bibi and the IAF/ keep up the good work and God bless!!
American people is waking up.
https://youtu.be/LbkQddEDPs0
Who cares?
A job well done by the IDF & a strong message was sent. The question is, will the Americans get it?
To ward off demands from Washington, Cairo and Riyadh to back the Palestinian unity effort, Netanyahu chose to show them what was really going on in Gaza.
They should have used carbon monoxide or something that would have ensured that there would have been no survivors. Bravo Israel! A job well done.
Thank you state of Israel and thank you IDF, I hope soon you will wipe out hezbollah from the existence
To all Jews in Israel and around the world:
Please know and remember that TRUE Christians are praying for you and your leaders for the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to protect you all and give you insight and wisdom re: your many enemies around the world–He will not let you fall (Ps. 121).
We also pray that you–and even all your enemies–will turn your hearts to Israel’s one true Messiah–Jesus the Christ. He, like the Passover Lamb, came the first time to be sacrificed for the sins of all; but He, the Son of David, will return a second time in power and glory to judge both the enemies of Israel and all who reject Him. Jews who are alive at His coming will “look on Him whom they pierced and mourn and weep for Him as an only son….”.
Praying for the peace of Israel…..to the God of Israel be the glory forever!
As quoted from Friend of Israel’s post:
“Jews who are alive at His coming will “look on Him whom they pierced and mourn and weep for Him as an only son….”.
Just to shed some accuracy on all of this, it was the Roman authorities who “pierced” the Rabbi Jesus, not the Jewish people!
The Romans executed the Rabbi Jesus because his followers were publicly proclaiming him “King of the Jews” and, as anyone who objectively studied history knows, Roman Empire policy was very clear: “you have no King but Caesar”!———–OR ELSE!
Using nails (instead of only ropes) was the Romans’ method of cruel execution done only in cases where they needed to get rid of someone quickly, as in the case of the Rabbi Jesus, before riots would break out in protest, as would have been the case during the Passover celebration in Jerusalem.
Bagel