10/15/2023 10:50 pm (current 10/15/2023 11:00 pm)
The ground offensive in Gaza can only take place when the weather improves ©APA/AFP
According to Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, Israel “needs time to win” in the fight against Islamic Hamas. Cohen said Sunday in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon: “Our victory will ensure that radical Islamic terror does not reach Paris, London and New York.” Ashkelon has been repeatedly attacked with rockets by Hamas from the Gaza Strip for more than a week.
Faced with the massacre of Israeli civilians in border towns and at a music festival, Cohen reiterated that Hamas is worse than the Islamic State (IS) terrorist network. “They will pay the price,” he said. We will continue until the safety of Israel’s citizens can be guaranteed.
The Israeli military says it has killed another mastermind behind the massacres carried out among Israelis by Hamas attackers. Billal Al Kedra, commander of terrorist units in southern Khan Yunis, was killed in airstrikes the night before, the army said on Sunday morning. Other terrorists from Hamas and the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad were also killed. According to the Ministry of Health, as of Sunday night, 2,670 Palestinians had been killed and around 9,600 injured in the Gaza Strip since the start of the last conflict on October 7. This means that the number of deaths recorded on the Palestinian side in just over a week is already higher than during the Gaza war in 2014, when 2,250 people died on the coastal strip in 50 days. At that time, 66 Israeli soldiers and five civilians were also killed.
According to a US media report, Israel’s planned invasion of the Gaza Strip has been postponed due to adverse weather. The ground offensive was supposed to begin this weekend, but was postponed due to cloudy skies and resulting difficulty in visibility for pilots and drones, the New York Times reported, citing three unnamed senior Israeli officials. Israeli army spokesman Arye Sharuz Shalicar contradicted this report on Sunday night. “No, absolutely not,” he said on Sunday night on ARD’s “Anne Will” program. He suggested that one of the main reasons for the delay was to allow more Palestinian civilians to reach the southern Gaza Strip so that they would not be threatened by a ground offensive in the northern coastal strip.
The objective is to end the political and military leadership of the Islamic organization Hamas, which a week ago carried out massacres in Israel that left hundreds dead. The military operation risks Israel becoming embroiled in months of bloody house-to-house fighting, the newspaper report said. Tens of thousands of Hamas fighters are believed to be hiding in bunkers and hundreds of kilometers of underground tunnel systems beneath Gaza City and surrounding parts of the northern Gaza Strip. The Israeli army assumes that Hamas will try to impede its progress by blowing up tunnels as ground forces advance on them. Hamas is also planning to get behind Israeli lines through secret tunnel exits and attack from behind. Another strategic dilemma is that terrorists can hide particularly effectively underground with hostages.
In addition to infantry units, Israel’s response force will also include tanks and engineers, the officials added, according to the newspaper. Ground troops would receive coverage from fighter jets, attack helicopters, drones and land and sea artillery, he said. Israeli officials warn that Hamas could kill Israeli hostages and use civilians as human shields. They also filled the area with traps, the New York Times reported.
Iran and Hamas discussed strengthening their resistance against Israel. In their meeting in the Qatari capital Doha, Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amirabdollahian and Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh discussed ways to strengthen the “axis of resistance” against Israel, Iranian state agency IRNA reported on Friday. Sunday. This refers to an alliance of militant groups against the Jewish state. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Israel has been Iran’s archenemy. Tehran has expanded its political and military ties in the region since the 1990s.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he held a “very productive” meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh. A spokesperson for Blinken said the meeting lasted nearly an hour. “The two reaffirmed their common commitment to protecting civilians and promoting stability in the Middle East and beyond.” Blinken emphasized that the US wants to stop Hamas attacks, secure the release of all hostages and prevent the conflict from spreading. Salman is the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia and one of the most influential and powerful politicians in the region. According to him, Saudi Arabia is working hard to prevent the conflict in the Middle East from spreading.
Blinken traveled from Riyadh to Cairo on Sunday, where he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. He sharply criticized the Israeli reaction to Hamas terror and spoke of “collective punishment”. A delay in finding solutions to the crisis will cause more victims, Al-Sisi said. It is very important to reduce tensions and facilitate the delivery of aid to the isolated Gaza Strip. Egypt is also trying to prevent other parties from intervening in the conflict.
Palestinian terrorists, acting on behalf of Hamas, carried out a massacre of Israeli civilians in border towns and at a music festival last weekend. More than 1,300 people were killed. Israel has since responded with heavy airstrikes against targets in the Gaza Strip.
Pope Francis has called for the release of all hostages in the Gaza Strip. At Sunday’s Angelus prayer, he expressed concern and advocated for the establishment of humanitarian corridors in Gaza. “Many people have already died. No more innocent blood should be shed, neither in the Middle East nor in Ukraine. No more wars, they are always a defeat,” said Francis.