News Digest — 4/9/24
IAF Airstrike Takes Out Head Of Hamas’ Emergency Bureau In Central Gaza
IAF fighter jets eliminated the chair of Hamas’ Emergency Bureau in the Central Camps in Gaza on Monday night (8th), the IDF announced on Tuesday (9th).
The terrorist, Hatem Alramery, was killed in a strike with intel provided by the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate.
Alramery served as an operative in the al-Qassam Brigades, working on projectile launches within the Maghazi Battalion of the Central Camps.
Israeli forces also eliminated another terrorist in central Gaza, who directly participated in the October 7 massacre from the Khan Yunis area.
IDF’s Nahal Brigade’s combat team also eliminated a number of terrorists in short-range battles using aircraft and sniper fire. The IAF also destroyed military buildings used by Hamas, which included locations of rocket launching positions.
An underground shaft was also struck, where launchers were detected that fired towards the Re’im kibbutz on Sunday (7th).
Meanwhile, Hamas said on Tuesday (9th) that Israel’s proposal received from Qatari and Egyptian mediators did not meet any of the demands of Palestinian factions.
An official from the terrorist organization told Reuters on Monday (8th) that the group rejected the ceasefire proposal by Israel that was made at talks in Cairo. However, other officials from the group stated the proposal is still under review.
In First, IDF Say Ship-Mounted Iron Dome Downs “Suspicious” Target Over Eilat
A ship-mounted version of the Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted an apparent drone that entered Israeli airspace near the southernmost city of Eilat before midnight on Monday (8th), the military said, in what marked the first-ever operational use of the system.
The advanced model of the Iron Dome, known as C-Dome, is deployed to the Navy’s Sa’ar 8-class corvettes. It was declared operational in November 2022.
Drone infiltration sirens had sounded in Eilat after a “suspicious aerial target” entered Israeli airspace, the Israel Defense Forces said.
The IDF said the Navy tracked the target before successfully shooting it down with the C-Dome system, marking its first operational use.
According to the IDF, the suspected drone had flown into Israeli airspace from the eastern direction. In recent weeks there have been several drone attacks on the Eilat area carried out by an Iran-backed group in Iraq.
Beachgoers in Eilat filmed the moment of the interception over the southern city, Clips posted to social media showed two interceptor missiles being launched from the Sa’ar 6-class corvette.
Iran-backed groups, including Yemen’s Houthis, the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, and a group in Syria linked to Lebanon’s Hezbollah have attacked Eilat numerous times since October 7th.
In November, a school in Eilat was hit by a drone launched from Syria; in March a cruise missile fired from Yemen struck an open area north of the city, earlier this month, a drone launched from Iraq struck a Navy hangar in the Eilat Bay; and also this month, a drone struck an open area in Jordan near southern Israel’s Ramon Airport.
The C-Dome, much like the ground version of the Iron Dome – is capable of downing rockets, cruise missiles, and drones, according to Israel’s Defense Ministry.
The Navy’s Sa’ar 6-class corvettes are normally tasked with guarding the natural gas platforms off Israel’s coast as well as its shipping lanes.
Amid repeated wartime cruise missile, drone, and ballistic missile attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, the Navy announced in December that it had also deployed the INS “Magen” Sa’ar 6-class corvette to the Red Sea for the first time.
Netanyahu: ‘There’s A Date Set For Rafah Operation’
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented Monday evening (8th) on reports of progress in the talks in Cairo and said that military action in Rafah is necessary in order to achieve victory in the war.
“Today I received a detailed report on the talks in Cairo … we are working around the clock to achieve our goals, primarily the release of all our hostages and achieving a complete victory over Hamas,” Netanyahu said.
He added: “This victory requires entry into Rafah and the elimination of the terrorist battalions there. It will happen – there’s a date set.”
According to a publication in the Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, as part of the deal the war will stop for six weeks, during which 40 hostages will be released. In the past, Hamas refused a similar offer and has not yet responded to the current offer.
Hamas continues to hold over 130 Israeli hostages. According to some reports, over 30 of the hostages have been killed. Under the proposal, Hamas would not release more than two-thirds of the hostages it still holds captive.
At the same time, the proposal increased the number of displaced persons who would be allowed to return to the northern Gaza Strip from 2,000 to 6,000. Another dispute regarding the displaced is Israel’s demand to check everyone who returns to the northern Gaza Strip to ensure that terrorist operatives are not among them, a demand that Hamas refuses.
Poll: Israelis Want To Continue War In Gaza Until Hamas Is Eliminated
The vast majority of Israelis still want to keep the war going until the Hamas terrorist organization is completely destroyed, a poll commissioned by Channel 14 showed Sunday (7th).
Fully 83% of the public thinks the fighting should continue until nothing is left of the terror organization and all the hostages are returned.
Hamas and other terrorists invaded Israel on October 7, 2023, massacring 1,200 including infants and the elderly, and taking 253 people hostage, among them the bodies of those they murdered.
Although 134 hostages remain in Gaza, the Israeli government believes that only 60-70 are still alive. Recent negotiations for the release of 40 female, sick, elderly and child abductees have failed due to “delusional” Hamas demands that include the total withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza.
The definitive support for the war came despite the drop in confidence reflected in the answer to whether Israel can win it. A significantly lesser majority of 70% answered positively, while 27% responded in the negative.
The poll also found that a large plurality (49%) of the public thinks that the most important lesson that the country must learn from the war is that a change of the overall perception regarding the security of the country is necessary.
While not further defined in the survey, it is commonly accepted that the entrenched perception that Hamas was deterred into keeping the border quiet by Israel’s military might and the practical need to keep afloat economically by having a large number of Gazans work in Israel was the major reason for the success of the Hamas attack.
When asked who was most responsible for the October 7 debacle, 42% equally blamed the political, military and intelligence echelons, 40% held the military/intelligence sector solely accountable and 17% pointed a finger at the politicians.
Israel Strikes Hamas Launchers Embedded In Khan Yunis Humanitarian Area
The Israeli Air force (IAF) fighter jets conducted multiple strikes over the last few days on three Hamas rocket launch posts, the IDF said Monday (8th).
The posts were discovered using direct operational identifications in a designated humanitarian area in western Khan Yunis.
Allegedly, they were used to carry out attacks towards southern Israel throughout the recent months of fighting.
Prior to the attack, the IDF verified the evacuation of civilians and accurately targeted the launchers.
The military added that Hamas’ use of rocket launchers embedded in a humanitarian area was further proof of the terror organization’s exploitation of civil populations and humanitarian compounds and areas.
On Sunday (7th), three rocket launches were identified from the area of Khan Yunis, targeting communities near the Gaza Strip. Thankfully the launches fell in open areas.
The Launches came as Israel media reported that the IDF had halted its invasion of the Gaza Strip and withdrew all but one IDF battalion from Khan Yunis.
Israeli Aid Group Mobilizes In Taiwan After Fatal Earthquake
SmartAID, an Israeli-based tech aid charity, is helping restore vital phone and Internet connections after a deadly earthquake hit Taiwan last week.
At least 10 people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured after the 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Hualien County on Taiwan’s mountainous eastern coast on April 3. Another 700 people were trapped in wreckage.
The earthquake is the strongest to hit Taiwan, an island with a history of earthquakes, in almost 25 years. It was the same magnitude as a 1999 earthquake that claimed over 2,400 lives.
SmartAID has a local team that was already stationed in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei – which is now a nine-hour drive away from Hualien after landslides caused road closures – and is flying out more people from Israel.
The charity’s first priority is to provide power and communications for the 91,000 households hit by outages on the island 100 miles off the south-east coast of China.
“Our focus right now is telecommunications and electricity,” said Shachar Zahavi, who co-founded SmartAID in 2019 to provide a swift response and the innovative use of technology to those in need during times of crisis.
The charity is working closely with local partners in Taiwan to see if it can integrate solar power units and telecommunications systems to address the widespread power outages. Matters have been made worse by the closure of major highways due to rockfalls and landslides.
SmartAID won’t be sending search and rescue teams as they often do in such disasters, because the Taiwanese government has its own well-equipped personnel.
“In this case we’re acting in more of an advisory role on specific issues, but the main thing they’ve been asking is how they can get electricity, get online and get communications.”
He said the disaster was not on the same scale as Turkey, when a February 2023 quake killed over 53,000. On that occasion SmartAID sent 25 staff members.
SmartAID has been active in Australia, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, the Philippines, Peru, Brazil, and India. It has also been helping in Ukraine since Russia invaded two years ago, in Morocco where an earthquake killed over 2,000 last September, and in Hawaii, which was recently devastated by wildfires.
When U.S. Troops Kill Aid Workers, It’s “Friendly Fire.” When Israel Does It, It’s A “War Crime” – Richard Littlejohn
In March 2003, my old friend ITN correspondent Terry Lloyd was killed in Iraq. A subsequent inquest ruled that Terry had been unlawfully killed by American troops. But no one at the time demanded that the American-led coalition – which included 46,000 British military personnel – withdraw immediately from Iraq, allowing Saddam Hussein to remain in power. An estimated 300,000 Iraqi civilians were killed after the 2003 Anglo-American invasion, but I don’t recall anyone credibly accusing the British or U.S. governments of committing “genocide.”
In 2011, a NATO-led bombing campaign in Libya, enthusiastically endorsed by then Prime Minister David Cameron, claimed countless innocent lives. Yet today, Lord Cameron is condemning Israel over its actions in Gaza.
When British or U.S. troops accidently kill innocent civilians, journalists or aid workers, it’s “friendly fire” in the heat of battle. When Israel does likewise, it’s a deliberate war crime. The double-standards are nauseating.
Shifa Hospital, used as a base by both Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the groups behind the October 7 massacre, lies in ruins after two weeks of intense fighting. But who in the world does anyone think the Israelis have been fighting – cancer patients? Maternity ward orderlies? It’s as if Hamas has been written out of the script entirely.
Israel is fighting for its very existence against a fanatical Islamist death cult. It can do without posturing, point-scoring Western politicians, lawyers and activists inserting themselves into the narrative. This isn’t about them. It’s about the very survival of a people and a democratic nation.
Hamas are our enemies, too, the kissing cousins of the nutjobs who blew up Manchester Arena, the London Transport network, and have committed countless other terrorist atrocities in Europe. The aid workers killed in Gaza would still be alive had it not been for the slaughter of 1,200 innocents on Oct. 7. Israel is being blamed, but Hamas has their blood on its hands. (Daily Mail-UK)
