News Digest — 10/25/23
IDF Strikes Syria After Rocket Attack On North
The Israel Defense Forces said it struck several Syrian military targets early Wednesday (25th) after rockets were fired from Syria toward Israeli communities in the Golan Heights.
The IDF said fighter jets hit “military infrastructure” belonging to the Syrian Arab Army and mortar launching sites.
Syrian state-run news agency SANA, citing a Syrian military source, said eight soldiers were killed and another seven were wounded in the overnight Israeli airstrike in the Daraa area.
The IDF said the strikes were carried out after two rockets were launched from Syria at northern Israel on Tuesday night (24th), setting off alarms in the Golan Heights communities of Neot Golan, Bnei Yehuda, and Givat Yoav.
According to the IDF, both projectiles landed in open areas, causing no injuries.
The IDF said it also responded with artillery shelling at the source of the fire in Syria.
On October 10, several mortars were launched from Syria at northern Israel, to which the IDF responded with artillery shelling.
Recent weeks have also seen several alleged Israeli airstrikes against Syria’s Damascus and Aleppo airports. Israel is believed to be stepping up efforts to prevent the shipment of advanced weapons from Iran to its various Middle East proxies, chief among them Hezbollah.
The rocket attack from Syria on Tuesday night (24th) came as skirmishes continued on the Lebanon border amid fears a new front could be opened as the military continues its war with Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip in the south.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group has fired dozens of anti-tank guided missiles, rockets and mortars at Israeli military positions and Israeli towns since the Oct. 7 Hamas onslaught. It also sent gunmen – some affiliated with Palestinian terror groups – to infiltrate northern Israel. Several drones have been intercepted over northern Israel.
Amid the repeated attacks from Lebanon, the military and Defense Ministry have been evacuating 42 border communities and the city of Kiryat Shmona. Many residents in northern towns have already evacuated southward amid the escalating attacks.
In recent days, the IDF has reported striking more than 30 terror cells in southern Lebanon.
The attacks so far remained limited in scope, amid threats from Israel that Lebanon will suffer if Hezbollah steps up its attacks.
At least six Israeli soldiers, 37 Hezbollah gunmen and six Palestinian gunmen have been killed in the exchanges. One Israeli civilian was killed in a Hezbollah attack, and four Lebanese civilians and a journalist were also reported killed by Israeli shelling.
The attacks from Lebanon have come as Israel is waging war in Gaza against Hamas after the terror group’s murderous assault on the country on Oct.7,in which it killed some 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped over 200 people and took them to the Strip.
IDF Kills At Least 10 Hamas Terrorists In Attempted Maritime Infiltration
At least ten Hamas terrorists were killed in waters off the shore of the southern Gaza border town of Zikim, after attempting to infiltrate into Israel, Israeli media reported on Tuesday evening (24th.)
The IDF stated on Tuesday night (24th) that a Hamas terror cell exited a tunnel along the coast of the Gaza Strip and attempted to infiltrate into Israel off the coast of Zikim.
The Navy, together with the Air Force and the northern brigade of the Gaza Division, struck the terrorists and stopped them from arriving at the coast.
The Air Force and the Navy also struck the tunnel entrance the terrorist exited from, also hitting a weapons storage warehouse used by the terrorists.
Sirens sounded across the Gaza border towns of Zikim, Netiv Haasara, and Karmia and residents were told to shelter as the IDF scanned the area for infiltrating Hamas ‘frogmen.’ The towns were given the all clear a little later in the evening.
In a Tuesday evening (24th) address, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that the terrorists used tunnels from the Gaza Strip to open water, in an attempt to infiltrate into Israel through the Mediterranean Sea.
According to reports, the IDF killed a handful of terrorists as they were swimming toward the beach in Zikim, while others were killed in scans of nearby areas which continued late into the night.
According to Israeli media, Zikim residents received a threatening phone call from a Qatari line, warning them of the terrorists’ impending arrival to the Gaza border town. Recordings of the conversations were reportedly transferred to Israeli police.
Israel’s Ambassador Demands Guterres Resign As UN Secretary-General
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan demanded that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres resign after Guterres claimed that Hamas’ massacre of over 1,400 Israelis “did not happen in a vacuum.”
“The UN Secretary-General , who shows understanding for the campaign of mass murder of children, women and the elderly, is not fit to lead the UN. I call on him to resign immediately. There is no justification or point in talking to those who show compassion for the most terrible atrocities committed against the citizens of Israel and the Jewish people. There are simply no words,” Erdan said.
Earlier, Erdan said: “The shocking speech by the UN Secretary-General at the Security Council meeting, while rockets are being fired at all of Israel, proved conclusively, beyond any doubt, that the Secretary-General is completely disconnected from the reality in our region and that he views the massacre committed by Nazi Hamas terrorists in a distorted and immoral manner. His statement that, ‘the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum,’ expressed an understanding for terrorism and murder. It’s really unfathomable. It’s truly sad that the head of an organization that arose after the Holocaust holds such horrible views. A tragedy.”
In a speech at a meeting of the UN Security Council on the Hamas war on Tuesday (24th), Guterres claimed that “it is important to also recognize the attack by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation. They have seen their lands steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence, their economies stifled, their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing.”
In response to Guterres’ speech, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen announced that he is boycotting the UN Secretary-General and will refuse to meet with him.
2 Hurt In Heavy Rocket Barrage On Central Israel
Red alert sirens were activated in Judea and Samaria and central Israel as the Hamas terror organization launched a heavy barrage of rockets from Gaza Tuesday afternoon (24th).
A 45-year-old man from Holon was struck by shrapnel and lightly injured, and in Be’er Ya’akov, a 40-year-old man was lightly injured after being struck in the head by shrapnel.
Among the communities in which sirens were activated were Lod in central Israel and Elkana in Samaria.
Following the initial barrage, further barrages were fired at central and southern Israel, with sirens activated in Be’er Sheva, Rosh HaAyin and many other communities.
A home was damaged by a rocket in the Judea and Samaria community of Alfei Menashe.
Magen David Adom (MDA) senior medic Raz Levy said: “When we arrived at the scene. We saw a lot of destruction inside the house and inside the yard. The three occupants of the house, a 70-year-old woman and 2 young men in their 20s, followed the instructions of the Home Front Command. As soon as the alarm sounded, they entered the protected area and waited there for 10 minutes. They were not injured and did not require medical attention. If they had not entered the protected area, this event could have ended in tragedy.”
Hamas claimed responsibility for the rockets, saying that it fired a heavy barrage toward the Tel Aviv area.
Security Source: When The Power Goes, Hamas Will Be Forced Out Of The Tunnels
Hamas fears that in the coming days, the Gaza Strip will run out of fuel and there will be no electricity, which will cause the ventilation systems in the tunnels dug under the enclave to shut down, a security official told Walla on Tuesday (24th).
“When the electricity runs out, the Hamas terrorists will be forced out of the tunnels into the open air,” he claimed.
“According to a calculation made by the security establishment, and an analysis of the humanitarian situation in terms of supplies in general and the amount of fuel in particular in the Gaza Strip, in a short time we will see Hamas come under great pressure,” said the source.
He also said that “what interests the Hamas leaders, commanders and activists is the fuel, NOT food and water. Why? Because most of its leadership and fighters are in tunnels deep underground. They need power to circulate air, operate the communication systems, and activate the rocket launchers.”
“They do everything by remote control. Without electricity and without fuel for the generators, they cannot hide in the tunnels. Every day that passes increases their distress. That is why Hamas is under great pressure when they run out of fuel – then we will see them come out.”
On Tuesday (24th) the UNRWA ‘refugee’ organization said that if fuel does not enter the Gaza Strip by Wednesday (25th), the organization would be forced to stop its activities in Gaza.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari responded to the allegations and said: “Hamas has 500,000 liters of fuel, go ask them.”
Who Says Hamas Does Not Represent the Palestinians? – Bassam Tawill
The US Administration’s assertion that Hamas is an insignificant group of terrorists who do not enjoy the support of many Palestinians contradicts the reality, which proves that Hamas actually does represent a significant portion of the Palestinians. This inconvenient reality is based on public opinion polls conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) and the results of elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council and university student councils and professional unions. It is also based on mass demonstrations and rallies in support of Hamas.
The most recent PSR poll,published in September, showed that if new presidential elections were held today, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh would win 58% of the vote, while Mahmoud Abbas would receive 37%. Hamas’ “armed struggle” (terrorism) against Israel was supported by 58% of the Palestinian public, the poll showed. Another PSR poll, published last June, found that 66% of Palestinians believe that Israel will not celebrate its 100th anniversary and 51% believe that the Palestinians people will be able to “recover Palestine in the future” (i.e., destroy Israel).
In 2021, Abbas canceled elections that he had called for the Palestinian Authority presidency and parliament after realizing that his Fatah faction was poised to lose to Hamas. The September PSR poll showed that 78% of Palestinians do not have faith in Abbas and want him to resign. Abbas has not condemned the atrocities committed by Hamas on Oct.7. Both Hamas and Abbas represent a majority of Palestinians whose goal is to murder Jews and destroy Israel. (Gatestone Institute)
Gaza’s Population Actively Abetted Hamas – Nadav Shragai
Some 20,000 Palestinian workers from Gaza used to enter Israel every day until the slaughter on Oct.7. They worked in the Israeli communities near the Gaza border, in Sderot, and in Ofakim, and some of them took detailed notes about their destinations: how many houses there were, how many family members lived in each house, whether they had a dog, where their cars were parked. They documented everything. And all of it went to Hamas.
The so-called “uninvolved” residents of Gaza, many thousands of them, “demonstrated” at the border fence on the eve of the massacre. They planted explosive charges along the fence and marked off the weak points. Their hearts seethed with hatred and entertained a dream – to replace us.
The “uninvolved” danced around the trucks that hauled away the abducted children, the old men and women, and the young men and women, crying “death to the Jews” and helping Hamas place them in hiding. “Uninvolved” mothers proclaimed that they were proud to send their children into battle in order to turn them into martyrs. “Uninvolved” teachers taught the children of Gaza that it’s a religious obligation to kill Jews.
Hamas and the Gazans are one and the same – in elections, in their hearts, in their actions, and in their assistance. Many of them knew about the war preparations, furthered them, and kept them secret. (Israel Hayom)
