A7News: 'IDF levelling seven-story buildings in aggressive response'

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Tuesday, Nov. 13 '18, ה' בכסלו תשע"ט



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HEADLINES:
1. 'IDF LEVELLING SEVEN-STORY BUILDINGS IN AGGRESSIVE RESPONSE'
2. ANALYSIS: HAMAS LEAVES ISRAEL WITH ONLY ONE OPTION IN GAZA
3. CONVICTED NEO-NAZI A FORMER YESHIVA STUDENT?
4. CONDITION OF WOUNDED SOLDIER STILL SERIOUS: 'PRAY FOR HIM'
5. 2 TERRORISTS ELIMINATED AFTER ROCKET BARRAGE ON ISRAEL
6. REPORT: IDF GIVEN 'GREEN LIGHT' IN GAZA
7. ISRAEL UNDER FIRE
8. WATCH: IDF STRIKE ON THE BUILDING OF HAMAS' TELEVISION NETWORK


1. 'IDF LEVELLING SEVEN-STORY BUILDINGS IN AGGRESSIVE RESPONSE'
by Kobi Finkler

A senior Israeli Air Force official said Israel's response in Gaza to the recent wave of rocket and mortar attacks has been aggressive, with airstrikes targeting key terror centers in the Strip, yet managing to avoid significant casualties in densely-populated urban areas.

"These attacks are very different from what we did in the past," the officer said, "both in terms of quantity and quality of the targets. The level of targets being hit is much higher – six and seven-story buildings in the heart of Gaza City. And the attacks on them are having a very significant effect on the other side."

The officer compared the airstrikes to Israel's responses to Hamas provocations during the summer of 2014, dubbed "Operation Protective Edge".

"During the entire [seven-week] Operation Protective Edge, we hit two targets like these. Last night alone we hit four."

The pin-point strikes, the officer continued, require both accuracy and precision to avoid civilian casualties.

"It's not just that a building is getting hit, it's getting annihilated in the heart of a civilian urban area. And that's a very big technical challenge to pull that off."

While the IDF is working to minimize civilian casualties, the officer emphasized that the air campaign in Gaza was an "aggressive" response to Hamas' recent wave of rocket attacks on Israel.

"Our operations are very, very aggressive. We don't want to be in a situation where we're playing 'ping pong' back and forth over every rocket attack. We are making the enemy pay a very heavy price. We're not letting them rest…and our attacks are having an effect."

The IDF declared earlier on Tuesday that the IAF has hit 150 terror targets across the Gaza Strip. The IAF officer said dozens of those attacks were carried out within a period of less than 120 minutes.

"We hit dozens of targets in under two hours, including four 'super targets' – multi-story buildings in the heart of the city. We did all this without killing anyone, and we made sure that the surrounding buildings were evacuated."

Some 400 rockets and mortars were fired at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip since Monday. The IDF reported earlier Tuesday morning that it had struck some 150 terrorist positions across the Gaza Strip since last night.

One person was killed and another injured when a rocket fired by terrorists operating out of the Gaza Strip slammed into a residential building in the coastal Israeli city of Ashkelon.

A 40-year-old man was killed in the attack, with several others injured.

Fighting broke out between Israel and Hamas after an Israeli special operations unit was uncovered deep in the Gaza Strip Sunday night, leading to a firefight between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists.

Israeli aircraft were later called in to hit Hamas targets in the Khan Yunis area of southern Gaza

One Israeli officer was killed and another wounded in the fighting.

Seven Hamas terrorists were eliminated.

The IDF killed two terrorists Tuesday morning, including one involved in firing rockets at Israel, and a second who had infiltrated into Israeli territory. Four others were killed during Israel's retaliatory strikes overnight.

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/254664


2. ANALYSIS: HAMAS LEAVES ISRAEL WITH ONLY ONE OPTION IN GAZA
by Yochanan Visser

srael and the Palestinian terror groups in Gaza came one step closer to all-out war on Monday evening when an undercover operation by an IDF elite unit near Khan Younis ended in a shootout with members of Hamas' military wing Izz-a-Din al-Qassam.

According to the IDF and Palestinian media, 7 Hamas terrorists were killed while a senior IDF officer lost his life during the operation.

Lt.Col. M., as he was called by the IDF, was only 41 years old and left a wife and two children.

The reason his full name was not disclosed could be that he was a Druze officer serving in an IDF undercover unit. Social media in Israel were rife with reports Mem was indeed a Druze officer.

Serving in the IDF has become a controversial issue among the Druze minority in Israel since the Knesset passed the so-called Nation-State Law and led to the resignation of two Druze officers who asked themselves how they could continue serving the state after the Israeli government, according to the Druze claims, broke the "blood alliance" between the Druze and Israel.

The undercover operation in Gaza was not an attempt to abduct Nour Barakeh, a Qassam Brigade commander who reportedly was in charge of the Hamas' terror tunnel project and served as the commander of Hamas' regional battalion in Khan Younis.

Barakeh was among the seven Palestinian Arab terrorists who were killed by the IDF undercover unit and his death led to a massive response by Hamas which started to pound the Israeli communities and towns around Gaza with a barrage of rockets.

The rocket barrage lasted for several hours while the Iron Dome anti-missile shield downed several projectiles, no casualties and only light damages were reported inside Israel.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Tal Russo, a former commander of the IDF Southern Command, told TV Channel 10 in Israel the operation most likely was an intelligence gathering mission.

"Activities that most civilians aren't aware of happen all the time, every night and in every region. This action — an operation that was apparently exposed — wasn't an assassination attempt. We have other ways of assassinating people and we know how to do it much more elegantly," Russo said.

Many aspects of the IDF operation remain subject to military censorship, but the IDF insisted that no soldiers had been kidnapped during the battle in Khan Younis which only ended after the Israeli Air Force carried out a rescue mission and struck Hamas' targets in Gaza.

On Monday afternoon, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who prematurely ended his visit to Paris where he attended the centennial of World War 1, held security deliberations with the IDF top echelons, while Hamas staged a mass demonstration during the funeral of the 7 slain terrorists.

At the same time, IDF artillery fired at an observation post in northern Gaza according to the Hamas-linked Al-Aqsa radio station.

Shortly afterward, Hamas launched a surface to surface missile at an Israeli bus traveling close to the security fence on the border with Gaza, seriously wounding the driver who was transferred to a local hospital.

This was the start of an unprecedented escalation which Hamas said was the beginning of a bombardment of the enemy.

"In response to yesterday's crime, the joint command of Palestinian factions announce the beginning of bombardment of the enemy's settlements with scores of rockets," Izz-a-Din al Qassam announced.

At the time of this writing, more than 100 rockets had been fired at the south of Israel while the IAF was responding by fresh airstrikes on terror-related targets in Gaza.

Three Israelis were lightly wounded when one of the rockets hit a house in the border town of Sederot despite the deployment of an Iron Dome battery in the area.

Sirens were heard as far as the Dead Sea and the Jewish communities in the southern Hebron hills.

Until now Hamas and the other Palestinian Arab terror groups in Gaza have refrained from using middle range and long-range missiles which can reach cities north of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

This could be an indication that the Muslim Brotherhood offshoot doesn't want to trigger a new all-out war with Israel at this point.

Israel, however, is running out of its options and has to restore deterrence vis a vis the Islamist terror groups which have turned Gaza into a large military base from which Israel is attacked non-stop since the beginning of this year.

Recent public statements by PM Netanyahu that he wasn't interested in a new war with Hamas and would do everything to prevent a humanitarian disaster in Gaza, as well as internal disagreements in the Israeli security cabinet have apparently sent the wrong message to Hamas and its allies.

It came therefore as no surprise that the IDF operation in Gaza on Sunday night was celebrated as a "victory" by the Palestinian Arab factions in Gaza and resulted in the heaviest missile barrage at southern Israel since the 2014 summer-war.

Observers and commentators, as well as residents of the towns of villages in the Gaza belt, are therefore convinced that Israel should change its policy of restraint versus Hamas and should now launch a new ground operation, but this time decide to finish off Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza.


3. CONVICTED NEO-NAZI A FORMER YESHIVA STUDENT?
by David Rosenberg

A British neo-Nazi who was convicted Monday of membership in a banned group and who had named his son after Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and photographed himself with a swastika flag had once been a student at a Jerusalem yeshiva.

Adam Thomas, a resident of the town of Banbury, in Oxfordshire in central England studied at the Machon Meir Yeshiva in Jerusalem for two periods of time in 2015, the London-based Jewish Chronicle reported Monday evening.

One of the largest National-Religious yeshivas in Israel, Machon Meir was founded by Rabbi Dov Bigon in the mid-1970s in Jerusalem's Kiryat Moshe neighborhood. Like the nearby Merkaz Harav Yeshiva, the school is heavily influenced by the teachings of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Kook and his son, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook.

Unlike Merkaz Harav, however, Machon Meir engages in large-scale outreach to irreligious youths or students returning to religious observance, and also has several large foreign language departments, as well as a conversion program.

Thomas, now 22 years old, was convicted by an English court on Monday of membership in the neo-Nazi group "National Action". Two others, including Thomas' girlfriend, Claudia Patatas, were also convicted of being members in the banned group.

During the trial, it was revealed that Thomas and Patatas had given their son the middle name of "Adolf", after the Nazi leader, and owned a large number of Nazi memorabilia. Patatas, it was revealed, once declared in a message to a fellow National Action member that "All Jews must be put to death."

Photographs of the two posing with swastika flags were displayed as evidence during the trial.

Three years ago, however, Thomas – who is not Jewish – studied at Machon Meir Yeshiva under the name of "Avi Thomas", and had applied to the school's conversion program. Students say Thomas was generally referred to as "Avi Ben Avraham" – 'Ben Avraham' meaning 'Son of Abraham' - the name traditionally applied to converts to Judaism.

Thomas reportedly studied at the yeshiva during two separate periods in 2015, but was eventually denied his application for conversion.

A Machon Meir official confirmed the report, saying that Thomas was turned away after staff members realized he was unstable.

"We sensed after a while that he was a real 'meshugeneh' [mentally-unstable individual]," the yeshiva official said. "This was not evident immediately. He was quite knowledgeable in Torah, mild-mannered and even somewhat pleasant."

"He has a fantastic memory and was passionate about Torah knowledge. He has a very dark side as well, and a pull towards extremism. Once this side came out we knew he was not worthy for giur [conversion] studies."

Fellow students described Thomas as "bright" – but also withdrawn and tending towards extremism, with some saying he was apparently carrying emotional baggage related to past trauma and a "rough" childhood.

Thomas was ultimately dropped from the yeshiva's program in December 2015, but is believed to have stayed on in Israel until returning to the UK sometime in 2016.


4. CONDITION OF WOUNDED SOLDIER STILL SERIOUS: 'PRAY FOR HIM'
by Arutz Sheva Staff

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/254666

An IDF soldier wounded by an anti-tank missile launched by Hamas terrorists is being hospitalized at Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva. His condition is defined as serious.

The mother of the soldier told Hahadashot on Tuesday how she received the news that her eldest son had been wounded. "All that time I did not know that the wounded person was my son," she said.

"When I got home, I saw soldiers and my husband, and the moment they told me, I demanded to see him. The trip from Gan Yavneh to Soroka was longest trip of my life. It was a nightmare."

The soldier underwent two major operations to stabilize his condition. He is still hospitalized in the intensive care unit. His mother addresses the public: "I ask you to pray for the wellbeing of my son, that he should open his eyes. I hope that this evening it will happen."

Last night, Hamas published a recording of the launch of the anti-tank missile towards a bus in the Gaza vicinity, as a result of which the soldier was seriously wounded. Just minutes before the strike dozens of soldiers had gotten off the bus.

The severe incident took place around 4:30 pm. The missile was shot at the bus as a group of soldiers stood nearby and heard a briefing The seriously-wounded soldier had been standing outside the bus and was hit by shrapnel.


5. 2 TERRORISTS ELIMINATED AFTER ROCKET BARRAGE ON ISRAEL
by David Rosenberg

A terrorist operating out of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip was killed Tuesday morning, after an Israel Air Force aircraft opened fire on a terror cell involved in launching rockets at southern Israel. A second terrorist was killed Tuesday morning after he infiltrated into Israeli territory and damaged the Israeli security fence on the Gaza border.

Gaza health officials identified the terrorist killed in the airstrike as 26-year-old Khaled al-Sultan. A second terrorist was reportedly injured in the airstrike, which hit the rocket-launching cell in the northern Gaza Strip.

According to the health department in the coastal enclave, a total of six people have been killed since Israel began its retaliation for a massive wave of rocket attacks Monday evening.

Two terrorists from Gaza managed to infiltrate into Israeli territory Tuesday morning and damage the Israeli security fence.

The pair then attempted to flee back to Gaza.

An IDF spokesperson said an Israeli attack helicopter and Israeli aircraft fired towards the infiltrators.

"A short while ago, IDF troops spotted several suspects crossing the security fence from the northern Gaza Strip, infiltrating into Israeli territory. In response, an IDF attack helicopter and an IDF aircraft fired towards the suspects. IDF troops monitored the incident from the start."

Health department officials in Gaza later said one of the two terrorists was killed by Israeli fire.

The terrorist was identified as 20-year-old Mossaab Hus.

Some 400 rockets and mortars were fired at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip since Monday. The IDF reported earlier Tuesday morning that it had struck some 150 terrorist positions across the Gaza Strip since last night.

One person was killed and another injured when a rocket fired by terrorists operating out of the Gaza Strip slammed into a residential building in the coastal Israeli city of Ashkelon.

A 40-year-old man was killed in the attack, with several others injured.

Fighting broke out between Israel and Hamas after an Israeli special operations unit was uncovered deep in the Gaza Strip Sunday night, leading to a firefight between Israeli forces and Hamas terrorists.

Israeli aircraft were later called in to hit Hamas targets in the Khan Yunis area of southern Gaza

One Israeli officer was killed and another wounded in the fighting.

Seven Hamas terrorists were eliminated.


6. REPORT: IDF GIVEN 'GREEN LIGHT' IN GAZA
by Gary Willig

The consultation between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, and the military leaders in response to the launching of over 300 rockets from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. lasted over four hours.

A political source said that "in the prime minister's consultation with the heads of the defense establishment, operational decisions were made."

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/254626

Tomorrow, the Security Cabinet will meet and discuss the escalation in Gaza. According to the source, the IDF has been given a green light to launch a heavy retaliation against Hamas and other terrorist groups in Gaza.

The decision comes as UN and Egyptian mediators attempt to restore calm and convince Hamas to halt the rocket attacks. Despite their efforts, rockets continue to fall on Israel.

The IDF has struck about 70 targets in Gaza in response to the continuing rocket attacks.

IDF Spokesperson Brigadier General Ronen Manelis warned: "Hamas is leading the Gaza Strip to destruction and will feel the intensity of the IDF's response in the coming hours. So far we have attacked a wide range of targets. Firing squads, military compounds, and observation posts. The attempt to harm civilians is unacceptable to us and we will continue to respond with force."


7. ISRAEL UNDER FIRE
by Gary Willig

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/254615

A bus on the Israeli side of the border was struck by gunfire from the Gaza Strip Monday afternoon, the IDF stated.

The bus was reportedly empty at the time of the attack.

In addition, red alert sirens sounded across southern Israel as dozens of rockets were fired at Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Sirens have been heard in Sderot, Netivot, the Be'er Sheva area, and the Sdot Negev, Ashkelon Beach, Shaar Hanegev and Eshkol councils.

The IDF has identified about 200 rocket launches from the Gaza Strip. A number of rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

Sirens were reported as far east as the Judean desert and the Dead Sea area.

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/254615

A 19-year-old man was seriously wounded in a mortar attack on an Israeli community in the Gaza periphery. United Hatzalah reported that ten people have been treated for injuries received from rocket shrapnel and for shock.

Gaza officials have reported that the IDF struck a Hamas observation post in the northern Gaza Strip Monday afternoon. No casualties were reported in the strike on the observation post.

The violence follows a skirmish Sunday in which seven Hamas terrorists were killed, including Nur Barakeh, commander of the eastern battalion of Hamas' Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades in Khan Yunis. An IDF Lieutenant Colonel was also killed in the gunfight.

The Hamas terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for the rocket barrage.

The Prime Minister's Office stated that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is currently conducting security consultations with the Minister of Defense, the Chief of Staff and senior members of the defense establishment and the IDF at the Krya, the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv.

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/254615


8. WATCH: IDF STRIKE ON THE BUILDING OF HAMAS' TELEVISION NETWORK
by Elad Benari

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/254632

IAF fighter jets on Monday evening targeted the building of the Al-Aqsa TV Broadcasting Station, located in the center of Gaza City.

The defense establishment noted that the broadcasting station is owned and operated by Hamas. It contributes to Hamas' military actions, including by providing operational messaging to militants, directing and explicitly calling for terror activities against Israel, and providing guidance on how to carry out such terror activities.

"The TV channel broadcasts violent propaganda against the State of Israel and its civilians, and provides detail on methods and instructions how to carry out attacks against civilians and IDF soldiers, how to obtain weapons and how to disrupt the IDF's activities to locate terrorists," said the IDF.




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