The Israeli army is currently conducting a massive operation inside the Palestinian city of Jenin. So far they have already destroyed several weapon caches and arrested many terrorists. The question is: Will this be IDF’s long-overdue response to the wave of terror that has been rising over the last twelve months all across of Israel? Josiah breaks it all down on today’s episode of The Israel Guys.
Israel Launches Operation Early Monday Morning
Sometime after midnight on July 3rd, the IDF launched a counter-terror mission into the Palestinian city of Jenin. First, they went in with drones and precisely hit specific terror targets across the city. Then Israel ground forces entered the area from several different points.
The official IDF Twitter page put out a series of tweets to keep the public informed about developments to the operation. Somewhere around 2 AM they announced that Israel’s security forces had entered Jenin in an effort to widely thwart the threat of terrorism in Judea and Samaria. The IDF had attacked a terrorist headquarters that was used as a unified headquarters for many of the terror factions that operate in the city of Jenin. The IDF tweeted that this location was used as an observation post and a gathering point for terrorists before and after committing murderous attacks. Apparently, this headquarters was also used to shelter terrorists who had committed attacks, and were hiding from the justice of the IDF.
Take a look at this photo. This is the terrorist’s headquarters that the IDF destroyed. It is a great example of the way in which terrorists use civilians as cover for their heinous work.
The red square near the top of the photo is the terrorists’ headquarters. Right across the street, to the right in the photo, is an U.N.-funded school. Just down the street, is another school and a medical center. This location placement is very intentional on the part of these terrorists. They purposely hide near their own women and children so that, should the IDF bomb their hideout, these innocent people would be hurt or even killed. Then, they can complain to the international community that Israel is committing War Crimes by killing innocent civilians. This method of using civilians as human shields is a longstanding practice for these terrorists and unfortunately almost never draws criticism or even condemnation from any of the international community.
During the operation, the IDF has also attacked a number of terrorist infrastructure targets and even attacked armed terrorists inside the city of Jenin. As of now, already four terrorists have been eliminated and many more arrested.
The Israeli Leadership’s Response to the Operation
When speaking about the military operation this morning, Israel’s National Security Advisor, Tzachi Hanegbi stated: “Jenin has become a “sanctuary city” for terrorist operatives, and the intelligence that has been accumulated has indicated that there is an effort by Iran and its proxies, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, to transfer a lot of money and weapons to terrorists. . .The IDF and the security forces are now working to attack terrorist operatives, explosives, laboratories, and rocket manufacturing centers, based on high-quality and accurate intelligence, and with the aim of avoiding harming those not involved as much as possible.”
The Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF Chief Spokesman Brig, Gen. Daniel Hagari said early Monday that as of now, the operation is focused on Jenin, but that it could expand to other parts of the northern West Bank, also known as Samaria. According to Hagari, the strategy of the operation was to root out a deep and systematically developed terror apparatus in Jenin, which has grown over several months and has gone way out of control. He said over 50 terror attacks emanated from Jenin and over 19 terrorists have tried to escape there after carrying out attacks.
A detail the Media Will Never Report On
There have been reports from Palestinians in Jenin who received a warning message from presumably the IDF at the start of this operation. The message read: “Security forces are operating in the area against the militants. Stay at home and protect your family.”
Is this not crazy? The IDF is so concerned with avoiding civilian casualties, that they are willing to sacrifice their advantage of surprise in order to warn uninvolved Palestinians to stay out of harm’s way! This is another example of the extremely high moral compass of the Israeli Army.
Israel is Also Preparing for Rocket Attacks From Gaza
Unfortunately, the terrorist factions in Gaza take any opportunity possible to attack Israel with firing rockets into Israeli civilian centers. Israel’s leadership is fully aware of this threat and have issued a warning to both Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza not to attack Israel. Their message was clear: “Don’t intervene because you are not the target. If you shoot, we will respond harshly. An attack would be a mistake, and we will respond with all our might.” Israel will not tolerate anyone in the Gaza Strip who is threatening Israeli civilians.
Syria Shoot a Missile into Israeli Territory
One other thing that happened this weekend the anti-aircraft missile that was fired from Syria into Israeli territory. This took place early Sunday morning just before 1:00 AM. Israel’s air-defense systems did not intercept the missile because it was not deemed a threat to any civilians in population centers. The missile exploded in the air somewhere in Israel’s south of Jerusalem and soon after pieces of the projectile were found in the Bedouin city of Rahat, near Be’er Sheva. Thankfully, no injuries have been reported from this incident.
Just a few hours later, Israeli fighter jets struck an anti-aircraft battery in Syria in response to this attack.
(This story is still developing since this article was written at 11:00 AM on July 3rd.)
