GNITN – Special Edition

Israel At War – Day 20
The Iron Fist Moment

Israel Moves In

As expected, Israeli tanks moved in to conduct a raid on the Gaza border in continuing preparations for a full scale ground offensive. Such an offensive is being pushed by many Israelis in and out of the government as the populace is getting impatient because they want actions now. More on what was done is seen in this quote from The Times Of Israel (see https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-tanks-troops-briefly-push-into-gaza-strip-ahead-of-ground-offensive/) :

The “targeted raid” appeared to be the most significant ground offensive into the Palestinian enclave since war broke out earlier this month, as the IDF prepares a full-scale invasion to eliminate the Hamas terror group that rules the Strip.

According to the IDF, the raid — led by the Givati infantry brigade and the 162nd Armored Division — was part of preparing the border area for the “next stages of the war,” referring to the full ground offensive promised by Israeli officials.

Troops struck “numerous” terrorists, infrastructure, and anti-tank guided missile launch positions, and “operated to prepare the battlefield,” the army said.

Soldiers returned to Israeli territory after the raid, the IDF added.

Troops struck “numerous” terrorists, infrastructure, and anti-tank guided missile launch positions, and “operated to prepare the battlefield,” the army said.

Soldiers returned to Israeli territory after the raid, the IDF added.

The soldiers returned after the raid and only lasted a few hours. Here is more on the small offensive:

“Through the raid, we eliminated terrorists, neutralized threats, dismantled explosives, neutralized ambushes, in order to enable the next stages of the war for the ground forces,” Hagari said.

The incursion went beyond near-daily “localized raids” soldiers have been carrying out on areas near the border to search for bodies of missing Israelis and to clear the ground of explosives left behind by Hamas terrorists from the October 7 onslaught.

Those raids are carried out with smaller numbers of forces and do not go as deep into the Gaza Strip as Thursday’s raid.

Slowness Due To Many Factors

Apparently the ground offensive is being slowed down for a variety of reasons. According to The New York Times, Israel is because the United States needs more time to deploy additional air defense systems which will protect America’s troops in the area. America also thinks that Israel doesn’t have achievable goals and is not ready for a ground incursion. Going back to the same article from The Times Of Israel we read of another reason for the slowness in engaging Hamas on the ground:

he campaign is also understood to have been postponed to allow for extensive internationally brokered negotiations with Hamas over the potential release of hundreds of Israeli and foreign hostages it is holding. Talks have resulted in four captives being freed — mother and daughter Judith and Natalie Ra’anan on Friday night, and elderly women Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Cooper on Monday night.

For their part, Hamas states this:

On Wednesday, Saleh al-Arouri, deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, told a Lebanese TV station that “the battles have not begun yet.”

No Fuel Given

Although fuel needed for hospitals and getting humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip is not being sent due to Israel saying that it will only help Hamas, the demands to send it in continues. An Israel Defense Force (IDF) spokesman defends their stance in this report from The Times Of Israel (see https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-october-26-2023/) :

IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari reiterates that no fuel is being allowed into Gaza, amid reports that the government is considering a deal to allow in fuel in exchange for a large release of captives being held by Hamas.

“At this point, the instruction of the political echelon is that no fuel is entering, if there is a change we will update the public,” says Hagari in response to a question about such a deal.

Hagari adds that a great deal of Hamas’s ability to operate “relies on fuel,” reiterating that the terror group is stealing and stockpiling fuel that could go to hospitals.

As we have seen in the past, Hamas is not to be trusted when they talk about conditions in Gaza and journalist burned by believing their reports on the hospital bombing, are hesitant to just take the terrorists at their word without supporting information from other sources.

Troops Are Ready

IDF troops waiting to get the green light to go into Gaza, spoke up on what their feelings were in this article from CBN.com (see https://www2.cbn.com/news/israel/cbn-news-joins-israeli-troops-gaza-border-hamas-faces-judgment-day) :

Israeli Army Reservist Chaim Malespin explained, "Our job is to dismantle you (Hamas), and that will happen. Any who associate with you, whether they're Houthi rebels, whether they're in Iraq, whether they're in Iran, your bosses in Iran, all who oppose the God of Israel and decency and human life will be dismantled."

While this honesty could just be an eager soldier ready to fulfill his mission, did he just let us in on how far Israel will go to eliminate the constant threat of attacks from all its surrounding borders? Malespin elaborated on why this offensive is taking so long:

Malespin said, "What is taking so long? Well, I'd say if they understood the complexity of underground warfare, there's there is there's bombs that are underwater. Ah, there's things people can't even think of. There's supplies from North Korea, the F7 rocket launchers from Pyongyang. There is, there's stuff that people haven't begun to understand."

Malespin said, "I hear people talking about proportionality and saying, 'Well, how many exactly did they kill?' Should we act exactly like them and go and invade a peace festival – well, there aren't any peace festivals – and go in and kill innocent lives and murder and take hostages? No. What we have to do is focus on the actual true thought, which is fulfill your mission, restore security, dismantle the threat."

The article says that eliminating Hamas could take months or even years.

And About That Timeline

As we heard in that CBN.com report, there are those in Israeli leadership that think taking out Hamas is not an easy thing and dismantling their infrastructure, an infrastructure that took decades to build will take time. But while the ground offensive is being prepared Hamas is still firing missiles into Israel, often to Tel Aviv and central Israel. Right now, Hamas and Hezbollah, and to some extent Yemen, are only attacking sporadically. What if, they and Syria, Lebanon and even Egypt and Saudia Arabia join in the fight? Add to that Iran aiding and abetting these terrorists in one form or fashion, what could Israel do? There are scriptures that talk of a coordinated strike that will hit Israel in a massive way that may be shortly ahead. Here are those verses:

The special word about Damascus: “See, Damascus will no longer be a city. It will be destroyed and laid waste. 2 The cities of Aroer are left empty. They will be for the flocks to lie down in, and no one will make them afraid. 3 The strong city will be gone from Ephraim. Damascus will no longer rule. And those of Syria who are left alive will be like the shining-greatness of the sons of Israel,” says the Lord of All.

4 In that day Jacob will lose his shining-greatness. And he will lose the fat of his flesh. 5 It will be like one who gathers the standing grain, taking the ears of grain with his arm or like one who gathers the ears of grain in the valley of Rephaim. 6 Yet some good will be left in it, as when an olive tree is shaken. There will still be two or three olives on the highest branch, and four or five on the branches of a tree that gives much fruit, says the Lord God of Israel. (Isa 17:1-6, NLV)

Israel Will Be Weakened

The olive tree is mentioned here and that is used when talking about Israel. An olive tree can have up to 500,000 olives on it, yet in these verses very few olives are left after it is assaulted. While I don’t know when or how Israel will be attacked, they will be weak as seen in talk of losing her shining greatness, and losing the fat of her flesh, and yet she will still be standing as seen in some olives remaining. Iran will most likely be behind this attack as they have been all along. They use proxies to do their dirty work as we’ve seen in the past and even now. Israel knows this and they will respond in full force and not in half measures. No other country can tell them to hold back. This is what we heard in the prophetic word by Donna Rigney, which I will post here now:

The Lord first spoke to me about a Tuesday morning, which this is what he said to me, October 10th. He said the war in Israel will be short-lived, which relieved me when I heard that. I think that we're all wondering how long is this going to go on, right? He said there will be much damage on both sides and much heartbreak. The cost will be high. Israel will react like an iron fist, slamming down with great force. When the Lord said that, I saw an iron fist in the spirit. It looked like a human hand but it was iron. It came slamming down. He said Israel is going to react like an iron fist coming slamming down. This will put a sudden stop to the carnage, and it will be my doing. When Israel reacts like this, God said this will be my doing. This is His leading. Israel to react like that. The wicked will run scrambling for cover to no avail, even under the cover of darkness, they will be found and held accountable. The Lord is totally aware of what's going on. He says it's not going to last long. Israel, at the leading of the Holy Spirit, at God's leading, is going to react and respond…What He was showing me was that He didn't want to wait until the prayers arose before His throne and came to His throne. He wanted those prayers quickly. And this is what He said immediately. "I am gathering my children's cries in this hour for peace and for Israel to be restored." He really stressed the word "immediately." So He used this encounter to show me His heart and that I could reveal it to everyone else. His heart is, "I want to get this thing resolved quickly. I do not want to see my people suffering who, yeah, at the hands of the wicked. I want my children rescued. I want to act quickly." … And so what God was doing was collecting them. He's like, "Father, this was Father doing this." He's like, "I'm going and getting these things because I want this thing to end fast."

Lord let this happen.

Here then are the scriptures telling of that attack that causes the unleashing of the IDF on her attackers.

Damascus Destroyed

I’m not sure which happens first, but I think there will be an attack from Syria that causes Israel to lay waste to Damascus as predicted in Isaiah 17. Will Beirut also be destroyed in response to an attack? Will the IDF take out the nuclear capacity of Iran next? It has been reported that they are mere weeks away from having nuclear weapons with high tech guided missiles to put them on. Yes, there is talk of this war taking months or years, but Iran itself said that the Arab world will get impatient if Israel doesn’t stop its plans to eliminate Hamas. Harsh words have come from other leaders in the area echoing the same sentiment. All I can tell you is that these actions will rock the world and there will be riots all over as well. But there will be huge opportunities to witness using the Bible and Bible prophecy if we prepare and educate ourselves now. I’m not happy about war and lives being lost in them, but there are things that only God understands and that only He can orchestrate them fairly because He know the hearts of men. Pray that these events do their work, part of which is bringing Jews back to Him. Have your way, God we pray.