[NYPost] Israel Defense Forces have recovered the bodies of three Israeli hostages in Gaza including Shani Louk, who became an international symbol of Hamas’ savagery after images showed her being paraded around half-naked in the back of a pickup truck during the Oct. 7 attacks.
IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari announced Friday that they recovered Louk, 22, and two additional victims of the music festival massacre, Amit Buskila, 28, and Itzik Gelernter, 58, during the Rafah operation
“Shani Louk, Amit Buskila and Yitzhak Gelernter were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7 from the Nova Music Festival,” the IDF said in a statement.
“Overnight, our troops recovered their bodies and brought them back home to Israel. We will continue operating to bring all of our hostages.”
More than 360 Israeli revelers were murdered by militants at the Nova festival, which became a key target in the terror group’s unprovoked surprise attack on the Jewish home state.
Louk was one of around 40 Israeli hostages seized during the bloody assault on the music festival. Her family announced in late October that she had died at the hands of Hamas, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog later revealing to a German newspaper she had been beheaded.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2024 12:35 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[110 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
[Jpost] One soldier was wounded and is in serious condition after an encounter with terrorists in Jabalya, in the northern Gaza Strip, the military announced on Friday.
This comes after the IDF reported ramping up operations in Jabalya and Rafah, intensifying operational control, and striking terror targets.
Israel Air Force fighter jets struck weapons facilities and eliminated terrorists who launched mortar shells at IDF troops.
The IAF struck several military structures in Gaza, as well as terror cells, anti-tank positions, and additional terrorist infrastructure.
ELIMINATING TERRORISTS EN MASSE
In continued operations in the Gaza Strip, the 7th Brigade successfully eliminated more than 60 terrorists over the previous days in Jabalya, leading to continued fighting in the city center, the IDF added.
The groups of terrorists were eliminated both via ground operations and airstrikes. Meanwhile, firefights continued throughout the city.
The 101st battalion uncovered a weapons warehouse that hosted dozens of long-range rockets. They also uncovered rocket parts, explosives, and other weapons.
The warehouse was found just 10 meters away from a shelter complex, the IDF noted. Numerous terrorists were hiding in the complex, and the IDF subsequently arrested at least 20.
[IsraelTimes] Sgt. Maj. (res.) Ran Yavetz sixth soldier to be killed in tragic mistake in two days, after Jabaliya friendly fire incident; primed rocket launchers uncovered in southern Gaza city.
A military reservist was killed in an "operational accident" on the border with the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip, the Israel Defense Forces said Thursday, a day after five soldiers were killed due to a case of mistaken identity.
Sgt. Maj. (res.) Ran Yavetz, 39, was killed in a blast caused by Israeli munitions in a military zone near the Black Arrow memorial site, hundreds of meters inside Israel.
Yavetz, from Modiin, had served with the Bislamach Brigade’s 6828th Battalion.
Four other soldiers were lightly injured in the accident, which was under further investigation, the army said.
On Thursday morning, the IDF announced that five Israeli soldiers were killed and another seven maimed, including three seriously, in a friendly fire incident in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya the night before.
The deaths brought the toll of slain troops in the IDF ground offensive against Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... in Gaza and in operations on the border to 279. A civilian Defense Ministry contractor has also been killed in Gaza.
At least 50 of the fatalities have been due to friendly fire and other accidents, according to IDF data. The army has assessed that myriad reasons have led to the deadly accidents, including communication issues between forces, and soldiers being exhausted and not paying attention to regulations.
Tanks continued to push into the heart of Jabaliya in northern Gaza on Thursday, facing anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs from Hamas fighters concentrated, Paleostinians reported.
Israel says it has eliminated many button men in Jabaliya but had no new comment on developments there on Thursday.
In Rafah, where residents reported heavy Israeli bombardments, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced that more troops would be deployed in Gaza’s southernmost city, the focus of intense international consternation.
"This operation will continue with additional forces that will enter [the area]. Several tunnels in the area have been destroyed by our forces and more tunnels will be destroyed soon," Gallant said in remarks provided by his office.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri ...a senior spokesman for Hamas. Zuhri gained notoriety in 2006 when he dropped his money belt containing somewhere between 640,000 and 900,000 euros, which was confiscated by Paleostinian security and customs officials at a routine border crossing from Egypt to Gaza. The news brought competing Hamas and Fatah forces to the crossing checkpoint for an epic face-making and hollering contest... responded that the Paleostinian terror group would defend its people "by all means."
Israel says four of Hamas’s six remaining battalions are now in Rafah along with hostages kidnapped during the terror group’s October 7 massacre, but it faces international pressure not to invade the city, where hundreds of thousands of displaced Paleostinian civilians are sheltering amid the ongoing war. Two more Hamas battalions remain in central Gaza, in the Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah camps.
The United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... says that over 600,000 Gazooks have evacuated the city since the IDF began operations there last week by taking over the Paleostinian side of the Rafah Border Crossing.
South Africa on Thursday asked the International Court of Justice to halt the IDF’s military campaign in Rafah — and in all of Gaza — claiming that Israel has genocidal intent against Paleostinians.
Citing comments by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich who was quoted by Haaretz at the end of April as saying, "There are no half-measures. Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nusseirat — total annihilation," as evidence of Israeli genocidal intent, Attorney Tembeka Ngcukaitobi also played a video of IDF soldiers before entering the southern Gazook city praying and then singing, "We will dismantle Rafah."
South Africa told the top UN court that the Rafah offensive was "part of the endgame in which Gaza is utterly destroyed." Israel has denied allegations of genocide in Gaza and said it had complied with an earlier court order to step up aid. Israel will respond to South Africa at Friday’s hearing.
The IDF began sending troops into Rafah on May 7, in what it has described as a pinpoint operation, with soldiers currently holding a relatively small area southeast of the city.
The IDF said that troops of the 414th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit located several primed rocket launchers with long-range projectiles Thursday.
The launchers, some of which were used in attacks on Israeli cities in recent months, were located and demolished using drones, the military said.
In a different area of Rafah, the IDF said troops located another rocket launching site with dozens of launchers, before it was also demolished. This site had also been used in recent attacks on Israeli cities, including last week’s barrage on Beersheba, according to the military.
The military said its 98th Division pushed into the Jabaliya camp in the northern Gaza Strip overnight, killing many gunmen amid the fighting.
The IDF said the division’s 7th and 460th armored brigades battled “dozens of armed squads and eliminated a large number of terrorists” over the past day.
In the same area, a drone strike killed a terror cell responsible for rocket fire on the southern city of Sderot on Tuesday, the military said.
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Tuesday that troops are now operating in areas of Jabaliya that the IDF previously did not reach in the initial ground offensive in northern Gaza. More than 80 gunmen have been killed in the operation that started on Sunday.
On Wednesday morning, several rockets were fired from Jabaliya at Sderot. Some of the rockets were downed by the Iron Dome air defense system, while at least one struck an unoccupied building, authorities said. There were no injuries.
The rate of rocket fire on southern towns has steadily increased in recent days as the IDF was carrying out new operations against Hamas.
A useful observation.
Also in the past day, some 80 sites used by terror groups, including buildings, weapon depots, rocket launchers, observation posts, and other infrastructure, were struck by the Air Force, the military said.
The IDF also confirmed Wednesday morning that troops of the Nahal Brigade withdrew from Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood after six days, to prepare for “additional offensive operations.”
The IDF reentered Zeitoun last Thursday for the third time in the ongoing war after identifying Hamas regrouping there.
Reservists of the Carmeli Brigade continued to operate in Zeitoun, the IDF added, contradicting media reports claiming that the six-day operation there had ended.
On Tuesday night, Hagari said troops had killed more than 150 gunmen and destroyed some 80 sites used by terror groups in the ongoing Zeitoun operation.
[JPost] The IDF has given the US military assurances it will provide security to US forces operating on the temporary floating causeway.
The Pentagon said US Central Command successfully anchored the temporary Trident pier to the beach in Gaza on Thursday with assistance from Israel Defense Forces engineers who received mission-specific training from US Army engineers in Israel.
In the coming days, aid will be offloaded from ships at a floating roll-on-roll-off distribution facility, ferried to the Trident pier and will then be driven to shore in Gaza where USAID and the UN will handle distribution, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters during a news briefing Thursday afternoon.
"For weeks, we have been working side-by-side with the USAID team, the Cypriots, the Israelis and the United Nations to increase the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza," Singh said. "Today, we have hundreds of tons of aid ready for delivery and 1000s of tons of aid in the pipeline.
Once ships are able to get to the pier and transport aid onto the pier the delivery will happen quickly, according to Singh, with an initial 90 trucks of aid driving to shore per day eventually ramping up to 150 trucks per day.
Singh said the trucks will be able to reach the populations that need it most, including Northern Gaza.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2024 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[198 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
The IDF has given the US military assurances it will provide security to US forces operating on the temporary floating causeway.
And since this is impossible, soon Biden gov will have a new excuse to sabotage Israel's fight for survival.
#11
The US State Department on Friday issued a worldwide caution security alert, saying it is aware of increased potential for foreign terrorist organization-inspired violence against LGBTQ+ people and events.
[JPost] Yippy's mouth earns consequences
"Raising the import tariff on Turkey is a suitable Zionist answer to Erdogan," Smotrich said. "For too many years, the State of Israel struggled with Erdogan's antisemitism. Not on my shift!"
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Thursday that Israel would abolish its free trade agreement with Turkey and impose a 100% tariff on imports from Turkey in retaliation for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's decision to halt exports to Israel.
Smotrich submitted the plan for cabinet approval, including the abolition of the Israel-Turkey Free Trade Agreement, signed in 1996.
The FTA was expanded in 2000 to include all industrial goods, abolishing all duties and charges for importing them from Turkey.
By 2007, the FTA had been expanded further to cover a significant amount of agricultural products, including eggs, live plants, vegetables, dried tomatoes, coffee concentrates, various juices (orange, lemon, apple), beer, several types of nuts, and dried figs and apricots. The FTA reduced their tariffs to 0%.
The recent abolition of this agreement will mean that previous tariff rates will be reimposed, and a new 100% will be added on.
Additionally, the Economy, Foreign Affairs, and Finance Minister are expected to take the necessary steps to diversify Israeli imports away from Turkish products and create alternate import sources to reduce Israeli reliance on the Turkish economy.
INCREASE IMPORT DIVERSITY
Additionally, the Economy, Foreign Affairs, and Finance Minister are expected to take the necessary steps to diversify Israeli imports away from Turkish products and create alternate import sources to reduce Israeli reliance on the Turkish economy.
The plan explains that the diversification may cause short-term disruptions but should, in the long term, reduce costs and help mitigate future supply issues due to geopolitical events.
The move is also expected to help improve Israeli industrial resilience and competitiveness in the global markets.
Manufacturers Association of Israel, which claims to represent 1800 members responsible for over 90% of Israeli industrial output, pushed manufacturers to pursue alternative imports from China, Eastern Europe, Greece, Germany, Cyprus, and Taiwan.
From kosher food to construction materials, Israel has long relied on Turkish goods, many of which were supplied by Jewish businesses now suffering after the halt to exports.
Turkey’s Jewish population has been in decline for decades, with spurts of emigration in step with periods of political and economic instability. But between 10,000 and 15,000 Jews live in the country today, most in Istanbul with a smaller community in the Aegean port city of Izmir. Many of those who remain are involved in exports with Israel.
Rami Simon, a Turkish Jew who trades aluminum and construction materials to Israel said he and others he knows are looking into other countries to ship their products to, but it’s an industry based on connections, and new markets are hard to break into. He also noted that he supplied buyers in Gaza and Palestinian areas of the West Bank as well and now cannot ship his products to them because Israeli ports are closed to Turks.
Simon also said he’s pinning his hopes on a ceasefire, even though Hamas and Israel have so far failed to reach one. Hamas has not accepted any of the ceasefire deals offered to it, insisting that only a permanent ceasefire would be tolerable. Israel rejects the idea of any ceasefire that leaves Hamas in power in Gaza.
“Hopefully, we won’t still be thinking about this in a few months when there will be a ceasefire in Gaza. We are waiting for this,” Simon said about the trade embargo.
“If it’s going to take five or six months we’re going to have a big, big issue and problem,” he added. “After that, if we can still not do business, to export to Israel, I think many people are going to try to look for a different solution for their lives, and maybe ultimately leave Turkey.”
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2024 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[104 views]
Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
#1
Israel should also expand military cooperation with Greece.
#2
I imagine this is all over the offshore energy fields Israel had discovered and Erdy has been trying to butt in on for a few years, and Erdy is trying to use the moment and lay claim, maybe moving assets into?
[JPost] In Manama, the Arab League met to voice its opposition not just abuot the Rafah operation but to the war itself, calling for an immediate ceasefire and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on Thursday on the importance of a military campaign in Rafah, one day after Defense Minister Yoav Gallant took him to task for failing to have a day-after plan, and warning of the consequences.
"The battle in Rafah is critical," Netanyahu said, as he visited soldiers in the Bnei Netzarim military base, and focused on the importance of the IDF destroying the last remaining four Hamas battalions in the terror group’s last stronghold in Gaza.
"It is not only the remaining battalions there but their escape and supply pipelines. This battle, of which you are an integral part, is a battle that will decide many things in this campaign," Netanyahu told the soldiers.
Netanyahu has faced criticism, both domestic and international, for his push to enter Rafah, with White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stating on Thursday that the Biden administration has been clear in its opposition to "a potential major military operation and Rafah."
But, she noted that Israel assured the White House that its military activity in Rafah was limited and targeted.
She stressed that while the US supported Israel’s stance that Hamas could not remain in Gaza, she appeared to back Gallant in his position, in stating that the White House has "underscored the importance of having a clear and concrete plan for the day after the conflict in Gaza."
In Manama, Bahrain, the Arab League met on Thursday to voice its opposition not just to the Rafah operation, but to the war itself, and to call for an immediate ceasefire and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave. It stressed the need for a two-state resolution to the conflict, one based on the pre-1967 lines.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/17/2024 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[59 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Hamas has a lot of weapons - all (including the putatively garage-made qassams) came through Egypt.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
[JPost] The IDF has given the US military assurances it will provide security to US forces operating on the temporary floating causeway.
