Israel At War – Day 102

Who Can End The War?

Tunnel Talk

In separate articles we hear that the Hamas system of tunnels are longer than first thought and that a major tunnel connecting north and south Gaza is destroyed. We look first at the tunnel destruction and read about it in an article in I24news.tv:

In a statement released on Tuesday evening, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it had successfully neutralized a crucial terror tunnel belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization.

The underground passage, strategically positioned under the Saladin axis, served as a major conduit for Hamas operatives, facilitating their movement between the northern and southern regions of the Gaza Strip.

The operation was executed by the 646th Brigade Combat Team, working in collaboration with Yalam forces and engineering units from the 99th Division. The IDF targeted the tunnel, which extended for hundreds of meters and reached a depth of approximately 9 meters.

When Hamas needed to move around Gaza, the tunnels were key to their survival or any hope of winning and cutting off that ability to go to another part of Gaza and back is a big problem for them:

The destruction of this tunnel is a significant blow to Hamas, disrupting its clandestine transportation routes and hindering the movement of militants across different areas of the Gaza Strip. The operation contributes to the ongoing efforts by the IDF to dismantle Hamas infrastructure and prevent the organization from carrying out attacks.

As a result of the IDF's activities in the region, alternative traffic routes have been established to ensure the safety and accessibility of key areas.

Longer Than Expected

And now we know that the terrorist tunnels is much longer than previously thought as we see in an article from The Times Of Israel:

Senior Israeli defense officials now assess that Hamas’s Gaza tunnel network is between 350 and 450 miles long, far longer than previously believed, according to a Tuesday report.

The estimate reported by The New York Times is markedly higher than an Israel Defense Forces’ assessment last month that there are some 250 miles of Hamas tunnels under the Gaza Strip, and an astounding figure given the enclave is only some 140 square miles in total size.

The newspaper quoted Israeli intelligence officials estimating there are around 100 miles of tunnels under Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where IDF troops are engaged in intensive fighting as they search for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other terror commanders believed to be hiding underground.

And length is not the only way to look at these tunnels:

Two Israeli defense officials who spoke anonymously said there were roughly 5,700 separate shafts leading down to the tunnels.

The report stressed that the estimates could not be independently confirmed and noted there are different assessments among Israeli officials on the extent of the subterranean passages.

And the report also notes that dismantling the tunnels might not take as long:

The official said the IDF previously may have needed a year to detect a single tunnel, but is now able to do so much quicker as a result of the vast reams of intelligence gathered in Gaza during the ground campaign, finding details on the computers of Hamas operatives involved in the digging and discovering a list of families that “hosted” tunnel shafts in their homes, among other information.

The official said the IDF has also figured out about the “triangle” system, with troops likely to find tunnels below an area with a school, hospital or mosque.

All that being said, the tunnels could take years to fully destroy mostly because of possible booby traps and hostage locations.

Hamas Playing Mind Games As Fighting Becomes Less Intense

As expected, the fighting in northern Gaza is getting less intense, while fighting in Khan Younis in the south could also see a lessening in intensity according to an article from CBN.com:

As Israel keeps up its fight against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and against Hezbollah in the north, Israel's defense minister says the nation's future depends on the outcome of this war.

Yoav Gallant said the intensive fighting in the northern Gaza Strip has ended and will soon end in the city of Khan Younis in the southern sector. But the Israeli military will keep attacking to eliminate Hamas capabilities and bring the hostages home.

"The cruel enemy before us understands only force," he cautioned. “If the fire stops, the fate of the abductees will be sealed for many years in the captivity of Hamas. Without military pressure, no one will talk to us, without military pressure we will not be able to reach any agreements. Only from a position of strength can the abductees be freed.”

Gallants comments were made with a backdrop of Hamas videos being released meant to torment the families, according to this quote from the same article:

Israeli Defense Forces Spokesman Daniel Hagari stated, "26-year-old Noa Argamani was with her friends celebrating peace at the Nova Music festival before being seized by Hamas. The image of Noa on the back of a motorcycle, surrounded by Hamas terrorists, crying out for help, shook the world."

First, Hamas released a video of the three captives, then came a guessing game, followed by another video with one of the three hostages claiming that the other two were killed by Israeli fire.

Hagari asserted, "Hamas is weaponizing social media as an instrument of war. Hamas wages psychological warfare to terrorize and torment the hostages, their families, and the world."

Other Terrorist Fronts Grow

This war just keeps seeing shifts of war attacks as we continue to read from the CBN.com report:

Meanwhile, inside Israel, two terrorists who were illegally working at an Israeli car wash carried out multiple stabbing and car-ramming attacks on Monday in the city of Ra'anana near Tel Aviv.

One woman was killed and 17 others injured, including children, in the attacks, as Israel's cabinet continues to debate whether or not to allow West Bank Palestinians into the country to work.

And then we read about these attacks:

On the northern front, Israel struck Hezbollah targets Monday. Earlier, a rocket made a direct hit on a home in an agricultural community along that border, killing two Israelis.

Iranian-backed groups continue to use the Gaza war as an excuse to carry out attacks in the region. Media sources report the Iranian Revolutionary Guard launched ballistic missiles that hit an upscale area in Irbil, Iraq, near the U.S. consulate. Four civilians were reportedly killed and six injured.

Iran announced it had launched strikes against what it called Israeli "spy headquarters and the gathering of anti-Iranian terrorist groups."

Earlier, Houthi rebels fired a missile at a U.S.-owned ship off the coast of Yemen, less than a day after they launched an anti-ship cruise missile at an American destroyer in the Red Sea.

"The Yemeni armed forces consider all American and British ships and warships participating in the aggression against our country as hostile targets," declared Houthi Military Spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree.

All of these will need to be addressed at some point if Israel is to be free from terrorist threats in the future. As I always say, pray for the peace of Israel, because if there is true peace there, it will benefit the whole area.

Who Can Really End This War?

Although talking about United States politics in an update on Israel at war may seem odd, but apparently it came up after the recent Iowa Caucus voters went for President Donald Trump. We see Trumps comments in an article in The Times Of Israel:

President Donald Trump claimed on Monday that Hamas would not have attacked Israel on October 7 if he had still been president, vowing to solve the situation “very fast” if reelected as he took a major step toward a rematch for the White House in November.

Speaking in Iowa after winning the first contest of the Republican presidential primary on Monday, Trump said that “Russia would not have attacked, Israel would never have been attacked” if he had still been president.

“The Ukraine situation is so horrible, the Israeli situation is so horrible. We are going to get them solved very fast,” he said, without giving details on how he aimed to achieve this.

Trump didn’t give details on how, other than saying he had a good relationship with Russian President Vladmir Putin and saying that funding for Hamas wouldn’t have been possible when he was in the White House:

He blamed Iran, claiming that the Islamic Republic had been broke and unable to fund Hamas while he was president and claiming that as a consequence, there had been no terrorism during his four years in the White House.

Iran is believed to have consistently funded Hamas for decades, including in 2017-2021 when Trump was president. In 2017, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar told reporters that Iran was then “the largest backer financially and militarily” of the terrorist organization.

We’ve come to expect big talk from Trump, but he did appear to make progress in the Middle East by brokering agreements with surrounding countries other that Hamas-led Gaza in an attempt to isolate them. Ultimately, many of us believe that Israel will have to finish their war with terrorism for any peace to come. Peace through strength comes to mind.