Operation Iron Swords - Day 8 - 14 October 2023

Palestinian armed group Hamas launched thousands of missiles at Israel and deployed its militants to infiltrate Jewish settlements near the country’s border with Gaza on 07 October 2023. The 1,200 Israelis killed on the first day would be the equivalent of 36,000 Americans killed in an attack, as a proportion to Israel’s population of 9.3 million people (compared to 332 million in the USA). Israeli President Isaac Herzog stated: “Not since the Holocaust have so many Jews been killed in one day".

Israel continued its bombing of various areas of Gaza. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that 2,215 martyrs were killed in the Gaza Strip, and 8,714 others were injured since the start of the Israeli operations, while 54 people were martyred and more than 1,100 were wounded in the West Bank. Israel reported over 1,300 people killed and 3,400 wounded following the Hamas assault. At least 279 IDF soldiers have been killed since the Hamas attack, an Israeli army spokesman said. In total, more than 1,200 Israeli citizens had already died , and another 126 were kidnapped.

Human Rights Watch has alleged that the Israel Defense Forces have deployed munitions with white phosphorus, stating that using these munitions endangers the safety of civilians, causing severe and enduring injuries. This allegation was repudiated by the IDF's spokesperson, who said, “The current accusation made against the IDF regarding the use of white phosphorus in Gaza is unequivocally false. The IDF has not deployed the use of such munitions.” The Israeli ambassador to Russia, Alexander Ben Zvi, stated that "it must be refuted. It is not true. Nowadays, you know, everyone is on social media, and everyone has a mobile phone. It is merely nonsense."

The head of the Political Bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Ismail Haniyeh, delivered a speech in which he stressed that the resistance began writing history with the “Al-Aqsa Flood,” which marked the beginning of the demise of the occupation. He added that “the people of Gaza are rooted in their land, clinging to their homeland, and will not leave their land.” They will not emigrate, neither from the West Bank nor from Gaza.

Kuwait spoke out against Israel's calls for civilians in Gaza City to evacuate amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah said. "The state of Kuwait categorically rejects Israeli occupation forces’ calls of forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza Strip, and continued escalation, killing and random destruction in violation of international and humanitarian law," Al-Sabah was quoted as saying by Kuwait News Agency (KUNA). The minister called on the international community and the UN Security Council to take action in order to stop the escalation and "put an end to this war that does not differentiate between civilian and military targets."

"The New York Times" revealed that video footage taken from "cameras" installed on the heads of militants affiliated with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), who were killed in then attack showed that the attackers knew a lot of information and secrets related to the Israeli army and its weak points. The attackers used drones to destroy the main observation and communications towers along the border with Gaza, which affected the performance of the Israeli army. Israeli officials said Hamas used explosives and tractors to open gaps in border barriers, allowing 200 attackers to pour in in the first wave, and another 1,800 later that day. The newspaper continues that the attackers used motorcycles and small trucks to invade at least 8 military bases and launched attacks in more than 15 villages and cities. The newspaper indicated that the attack was coordinated, as documents and video clips show, as teams of attackers were appointed for specific targets. Footage from cameras mounted on the attackers' heads, including video of the raid on the intelligence center, showed Qassam gunmen, from the highly trained elite brigade, storming checkpoints at several bases in the early morning hours.

In one of the shots that the newspaper viewed - according to what it said - and verified during interviews with Israeli officials, it appears that 10 militants from the Al-Qassam Brigades - the military arm of Hamas - knew exactly how to find an Israeli intelligence center and how to enter it. The footage shows the moment they crossed into Israel, where they headed east on 5 motorcycles, each carrying two gunmen, and everyone opened fire on passing cars as they advanced. After several kilometers, the group deviated from the main road into a forest area, where they descended outside an unmanned gate leading to a military base. They then blew up a checkpoint with a small explosive device, entered the base, stopped to take a group selfie, and then shot an Israeli soldier, killing him.

For a moment, the attackers seemed unsure of where to go next, but one of them pulled out of his pocket a detailed map of the base, in colors. The group was then redirected to find an open door to a fortified building. Once inside, they reached a room full of computers in the military intelligence center. There were two Israeli soldiers taking cover under a bed in the room, and they were then shot dead. The newspaper points out that this footage, which was found on the camera mounted on the head of a Hamas militant who was later killed in the clashes, provides details, which it described as terrifying, about how Hamas was able to surprise and overcome one of the most powerful armies in the Middle East.

Documents found with Al-Qassam militants, video clips of the attack, and interviews with security officials, show that the group had a surprisingly sophisticated understanding of how the Israeli army operated and positioned certain units, as well as the time it would take for reinforcements to arrive. The Israeli army says that once the war is over, it will investigate how Hamas was able to penetrate its defenses so easily.

But whether there was negligence on the part of the Israeli forces regarding their secrets, or whether they were infiltrated by spies; What was revealed has already raised concerns among officials and analysts, who wondered how the Israeli army, known for gathering intelligence, could inadvertently reveal so much information about its own operations, according to the newspaper.

The Israeli army said that it is preparing to expand the scope of its attacks in Gaza, including preparing for a ground operation, and added in a statement that its forces are preparing to mobilize resources to implement broad operational plans, including an integrated attack on land, sea and air. The Israeli forces will start active combat operations in the Gaza Strip once the conditions allow them to do so after assessing the situation on the ground, spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Jonathan Conricus said.

The Israeli military said it was preparing for an extensive campaign in Gaza and "the implementation of a wide range of offensive plans that include, among other things, a comprehensive and coordinated attack from air, sea and land." “Israeli Army battalions and soldiers are deployed throughout the country and are ready to increase combat readiness for the next phases of the war, with an emphasis on significant ground operations ,” the IDF said in a media release.

"We'll have to assess the situation on the ground, see how many civilians are left in the area and understand how many of them are blocked by Hamas from actually evacuating ... and once we'll see the situation will be permissible for significant combat operations, then they'll commence," Conricus told CNN when asked when a possible ground operation by the IDF would start in the Gaza Strip.

The spokesman once again urged civilians in the area to evacuate as soon as possible from the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

The IDF continued its attacks, terrorists identified coming out of a tunnel shaft were eliminated: The IDF continued throughout the day to attack military targets of Hamas, with an emphasis on the neighborhoods of Jablia, Zeitoun, Al-Furkan and Beit Hanun. Among the targets that were attacked, operatives of the terrorist organization were eliminated and military headquarters and dozens of mortar launchers were destroyed. In the evening, a combat helicopter located a building where a number of terrorists were staying, attacked and eliminated them.

Also, the IDF spotted a number of Hamas operatives coming out of a tunnel shaft in Gaza during the afternoon. An IDF aircraft eliminated the terrorists and attacked the route of the tunnel from which the terrorists came out.

20:10 - IDF spokesman, Brigadier General Daniel Hagari : "We launched a broad attack against thousands of targets in the Gaza Strip, we eliminated terrorists from the terrorist organization Hamas - all complicit in this terrible act are mortal, and their elimination is a top priority. We are evacuating the population in Gaza from the combat zones. Hamas wants the population as a human shield. Hamas wants Gazan casualties, to show the world that it has dead and wounded. We continue to urge the residents of Gaza City - go down south, drive south across the Gaza River, Hamas wants you as a human shield."

Reuters quoted an Israeli military spokesman as saying, "The forces are fully prepared in the north. The operation is coming and will take a long time," referring to the imminent ground attack on the Gaza Strip. "Our goal is to completely destroy the governance and military capabilities of Hamas and terrorist organizations," the spokesman said. He added, "The residents of Gaza City must leave and not return until we tell them," adding, "We told the residents of Gaza to move to the south for their safety, and Hamas is preventing people from leaving." Israeli Channel 10 reported that the Israeli army informed the residents of the Gaza Strip that the war would continue for at least another 3 weeks.

Over the last few days, the IDF has called the residents of the Gaza Strip to evacuate their homes because of the military operation that is taking place in the area, in response to Hamas' brutal terrorist attacks. The call was sent out using a variety of different means in an attempt to minimize the harm to non-combatants. Hamas terrorists are hiding in terror tunnels located under the houses in Gaza City and in civilian buildings. The IDF has identified a trend of residents moving towards the south, even though the Hamas terrorist organization tried to deny the move in order to use these residents as a human shield.

IDF aircraft, artillery and tanks struck several military targets of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon in response to the mortar shells launched toward Israeli territory earlier today. IDF soldiers identified a terrorist cell which attempted to infiltrate from Lebanon into Israeli territory. An IDF UAV targeted the terrorist cell and neutralized a number of the terrorists. The IDF struck a Hezbollah terror target in southern Lebanon in response to the infiltration of unidentified aerial objects into Israel and fire on an IDF UAV. The IDF intercepted the infiltrating aerial object and the fire on the IDF UAV.