Good and Evil

The Prime Minister’s Office has issued a statement that says the IDF has embarked on a ground assault into Gaza against Hamas’s tunnels. The operation is deemed as “limited” and will probably not go further than two or three kilometers into Gaza’s territory. This is deemed to be deep enough in enemy land to find the openings into Hamas’s attack tunnels, like the one that was used in Thursday morning’s infiltration into Israel by 13 terrorists. Large forces from the IDF’s infantry, armor, artillery, engineering and intelligence corps are operating in several zones within Gaza after breaching the security fence that separates it from Israel, in coordination with the Israel Security Agency (ISA, or Shin Bet) and with support from the air and naval forces. The zones are in Gaza’s northern, central and southern sections. The Diplomacy and Security Cabinet has authorized the IDF to widen the operation further at its discretion. Egypt, meanwhile, has issued a statement saying that Hamas is to blame for the possible deaths of hundreds of Gazan civilians. The statement appears to have purposely been issued simultaneously with the statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office. Channel 2’s reporters said earlier that the IDF has unleashed a blistering artillery barrage against northern Gaza. They hinted that this type of barrage often precedes a ground invasion. Also taking part in the shelling were tanks and naval gunboats.

The Hamas terrorist group has published another Hebrew-language video in which it threatens Israelis. After previously releasing a Hebrew version of a popular Hamas battle song calling to ‘exterminate’ Jews and Israel, Wednesday’s video directly threatens IDF soldiers- “Zionist soldier, don’t move. You’re in Gaza. You are being targeted by Hamas snipers,” says the video, after it shows snipers firing at IDF soldiers who are advancing towards Gaza. Earlier on Wednesday, Israelis in the Binyamin region received a “warning” via text message from Hamas’s “military wing”, threatening continued violence against civilians. The text messages read: Your government claimed yesterday that it stopped the battle, but without our consent and meeting our conditions – and it thought we were rash enough to [agree to a] cease-fire. On the contrary, we hurried to strike anywhere in Israel – from Dimona to Haifa – and we made you hide in shelters like mice. . . Again, we warn you – if your government does not agree to all of our conditions, then all of Israel will legally remain open to our weapons fire.