Dramatic footage released on Friday showed Israel Defense Forces soldiers confronting Hamas terrorists inside a school, as the country’s defense minister vowed that the group’s hold on the Gaza Strip is finally “beginning to break.” .
Members of the elite LOTAR Unit, along with the 74th Battalion of the 188th Armored Brigade, found a Hamas cell in the remains of a school building in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City, the Times of Israel reported .
IDF fighters appeared to chase the terrorists through the building in a tense, gunshot-riddled standoff, IDF clips showed.
“The terrorists attempted to lure the forces into an ambush, with gunfire and explosives, and were eliminated by LOTAR Unit troops and tank fire from the 74th Battalion,” the IDF said of the incident.
Troops later searched the school and discovered a tunnel in one of the classrooms, the Times of Israel added, citing the IDF.
The tunnel, which connected to a nearby mosque, was allegedly used by Hamas operatives.
Israeli soldiers encountered Hamas terrorists at a school in Gaza City, dramatic new IDF video shows. Israeli Defense Forces
The intense images were published shortly after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant attended the Hanukkah candle lighting with troops from the Caracal Battalion of the Border Defense Corps, the Times of Israel added.
After more than two months of war, Israel is seeing “signs indicating [Hamas] is starting to explode in Gaza,” Gallant said, according to the outlet.
The IDF releases dramatic images of troops from the elite LOTAR unit fighting Hamas operatives at a school in the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City.
According to the IDF, troops from the 74th Battalion of the 188th Armored Brigade, along with LOTAR soldiers, encountered a Hamas cell as… pic.twitter.com/gZZrWwDtlz
– Emanuel (Mannie) Fabián (@manniefabian) December 8, 2023
He also paid special tribute to female members of the IDF, given that the Caracal Battalion is a mixed unit.
“It is impossible to ignore the strong, outstanding and successful female presence [in the war]. Women have not really fought in the IDF since 1948, this is the first time this has happened, after 75 years, in mass combat,” she told the troops.
Israel forces have been hunting Hamas in Gaza since some 3,000 terrorists stormed southern Israel and unleashed a nightmarish wave of violence that killed some 1,200 Israelis on October 7.
The video shows an elite combat unit confronting the terrorists inside the school. Israeli Defense Forces
A week-long ceasefire last month allowed the release of more than 100 of the civilian hostages who were taken on October 7, but fighting resumed as Israeli negotiators and Hamas clashed over orders to continue the release. of hostages.
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On Friday afternoon local time, warning sirens sounded over Tel Aviv, indicating that rockets fired from the Gaza Strip were threatening the central part of the small nation, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Iron Dome, Israel’s mobile air defense system, intercepted the rockets in the night sky. according to a video that Times of Israel journalist Emmanuel Fabian shared on X.
Also on Friday, Israel confirmed that the military was rounding up Palestinian men in northern Gaza for interrogation as they searched for Hamas militants.
The confirmation came a day after images emerged showing what appeared to be dozens of naked men kneeling or sitting on the streets of the city of Beit Lahiya.
Israeli troops reportedly detained men and boys as young as 15 at a school converted into a shelter, United Nations observers said.
Israelis run to shelter as a siren warns of incoming rockets in Tel Aviv on Dec. 8, 2023. AP
The group is made up of “men of military age who were discovered in areas where civilians were supposed to have been evacuated weeks ago,” Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy said on Friday.
More Hamas operatives also began surrendering to the IDF, military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said, according to the Times of Israel.
“We are fighting fierce battles with Hamas terrorists, who are hiding underground. We are killing many terrorists and we see more and more terrorists surrendering in battle and surrendering to our forces,” he said.
People remove debris near a mosque destroyed by Israeli strikes in central Gaza. REUTERS
In the last 48 hours, the IDF arrested more than 200 suspects in Gaza, Hagari added.
“Dozens of them have been handed over for interrogation by Unit 504 of the Directorate of Military Intelligence and the Shin Bet in Israel, including Hamas commanders and Nukhba operatives,” he explained.
In central Gaza, Israeli planes dropped leaflets on the Nuseirat and Maghazi refugee camps on Friday.
“To the leaders of Hamas: life for life, eye for eye and whoever started it is to blame. If you punish, then punish with something similar to what you were afflicted with,” said the newspapers, which combined verses from the Koran and a similar reading from the Old Testament.
People run towards an underground parking lot as a barrage of rockets sounds over Tel Aviv on December 8, 2023. Getty Images
Meanwhile, in New York, the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss what it described as the “catastrophic situation” in the Gaza Strip, where at least 17,000 people are believed to have been killed in the retaliatory bombing. .
The meeting followed UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ decision earlier this week to call for the rarely invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter to demand a permanent ceasefire.
“There is no possible justification for deliberately killing some 1,200 people, including 33 children, injuring thousands more and taking hundreds of hostages,” Guterres said of the Hamas attack at Friday’s tense meeting, according to the official report.
Dozens of Hamas terrorists surrendered to IDF soldiers this week. 1717Bazz/X
“At the same time, the brutality perpetrated by Hamas can never justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people,” he insisted.
Under the bombardment, Guterres added, the conditions for effective delivery of humanitarian aid to those in the Gaza Strip “no longer exist.”
Several delegations – including Russia, China and the United Arab Emirates – echoed calls for a ceasefire.
A boy and a man injured in Israeli airstrikes in southern Gaza wait for treatment at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. HAITHAM IMAD/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The United States, however, backed Israel’s concerns that a ceasefire would prolong Hamas’ “reign of terror” in the region.
“While the United States strongly supports a lasting peace in which both Israel and Palestine can live in peace and security, we do not support calls for an immediate ceasefire. This would only plant the seeds for the next war, because Hamas does not want to see a lasting peace, a two-state solution,” said Deputy Permanent Representative Robert A. Wood.
Wood also criticized the Security Council’s failure to condemn the events of October 7.
“This underscores the fundamental disconnect between the discussions we have been having in this chamber and the realities on the ground,” he insisted.
The meeting ended at 12:20 p.m. ET without any new draft resolutions on the crisis, although the council planned to reconvene at 5:30 p.m.
With postal cables
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Source: vtt.edu.vn