Click to see full-size image. (Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced on June 24 that it struck four rocket launchers across the Gaza Strip overnight.
In a brief statement, the military said that the launchers were set up by “terror organizations” during the ceasefire, without specifying.
“The launch posts that were destroyed were set up by the terror organizations in the Gaza Strip in the recent period, after the ceasefire came into effect,” the military says, adding that they were armed for attacks on IDF troops and Israel, “and therefore posed an immediate threat.”
The announcement represents a rare acknowledgement by the IDF that the Hamas Movement and other Palestinian armed factions in Gaza are still in position of rockets.
This is not surprising, however. Several recent reports from Hebrew media revealed that Hamas has been rearming, reorganizing, and even collecting intelligence since the ceasefire went into effect last year as a part of a complete peace plan put together by the United States.
The latest announcement by the IDF and prior Hebrew media reports on Hamas efforts to rebuild its military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, may be all meant to justify a resumption of fighting in Gaza.
In fact, earlier this month Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth both reported that chief of the IDF Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor, has been pushing for and recommending a new offensive against Hamas in the Strip during General Staff and political-level discussions.
Recent weeks saw an uptake in Israeli strikes on Gaza, and even reports of the IDF slowly expanding its control in the Strip, marked by the so-called Yellow Line.
Currently, around 60 percent of Gaza is located within the Yellow Line. Last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly stated that he had ordered the IDF to take control of 70 percent of the Strip.
After failing to take down Iran, and facing a setback in Lebanon against Hezbollah, Israel appears to be planning to go back to war on Gaza, where more than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed in close to three years.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
gazans are being exterminated…heheheh