Good Morning,
As I reported early this week Israel will have to enter Gaza to carry out it’s stated objectives; to disarm Hamas and stop further military/terror attacks on Israel and to remove Hamas from leadership in Gaza.
Now the Israeli army has reportedly dropped leaflets calling for the evacuation of all civilians of an area known as Gaza City from their homes “southwards”.
The IDF said, “will operate significantly in Gaza City in the coming days” and that Gazans, “will only be able to return to Gaza City when another announcement permitting”.
“This evacuation is for your own safety,” the IDF said.
It also warned Gazans “not to approach the area of fence with Israel”.
The UN says a disaster will soon become a calamity, because the IDF demand to evacuate hundreds of thousands of Palestinians is impossible, and many people in Gaza are already dying from lack of power and water and under constant air attack.
Human rights groups, other nations, even Israeli’s themselves are warning Israel may have the moral high ground after the bloody attack Hamas launched inside Israel, but there are limits, and moving half of Gaza’s population is a monstrous escalation that will result in a human tragedy.
Israel has replaced it’s divided Government with a emergency war time coalition of opposition leaders, and Prime Minister Netanyahu has told parliament prime minister the goal of the war was the eradication of Hamas.
"This is truly a war for our home. And it must end with one thing, a decisive victory. And with the crushing and eradication of Hamas. Hamas, which is the same as ISIS he said. "All of us, without exception, are guided by one goal: to obliterate evil, to crush cruelty, to eliminate fanaticism, to annihilate IS."
Netanyahu has said Hamas is the same as the Islamic State in it’s barbaric attack on Israel which killed over 1000 Israeli’s in their homes and at an outdoor music festival, and resulted in more than 100 Israeli’s being kidnapped and taken back to Gaza.
The victims of the kidnappings, included young women, many children and the elderly.
Israel has now given pictures of murdered babies to several media companies which have broadcast and published them.
The photo that was distributed by Israel's Foreign Ministry has shocked the world. The Foreign Ministry wrote in a statement accompanying the photo that "This is the hardest picture we've ever published. As we write this, our hands are shaking. But we need each and every one of you to know- this happened." The photo shows a baby covered in blood who was murdered by Hamas terrorists; two other photos of babies who were burned to death also were distributed.
Reports have emerged of Hamas training zones in Gaza, used to practice their bloody assault on Israel, that somehow Israel didn’t see or failed to preemptively attack.
The training areas were set up to mirror Israeli bases, and Hamas fighters trained to attack them and eliminate Israel’s soldiers.
Under Gaza there are miles of tunnels, some refer to as the Gaza Metro system, where Hamas fighters can hide, move and avoid air strikes.
Above ground Gaza is a maze of tiny alleyways and narrow streets that Israeli tanks can’t navigate or approach easily. The entire area will be boobytrapped and Hamas fighters will have the advantage as Israeli soldiers try to enter and attack.
Think of the U.S. Army attack on Fallujah, in Iraq and multiply it by 10.
As the end of this Israeli assault, even if Hamas could be removed, who would Israel hands the keys of Gaza to? The Palestinian authority in the West Bank is weak and Fatah, the more moderate Palestinian faction was pushed out of Gaza years ago.
Will Israel reoccupy Gaza as it did before? It was a nightmare for Israeli soldiers, attacked day and night, by Palestinian forces who are much better armed and fanatical today.
Hamas is not only holding Israeli hostages, but in essence holds 2.3 million Palestinian’s in Gaza hostage too. Except for the fact Palestinians elected Hamas in a vote in 2006. And in 2007 Hamas violently ejected Fatah from Gaza, and hasn’t held elections since.
As we speak Israel has dropped 6000 bombs on Gaza, in 6 days of air assaults. Hospitals are without power. More than a thousand Palestinians have already been killed.
Israel has a right to strike Hamas, but the problem is 2.3 million people are in between advancing Israeli solders and the terrorists, and the situation seems impossible.