IDF strikes Jabaliya in Gaza
(IDF)
The IDF said on Monday that its forces fired at Hamas launchers in Gaza after rockets were fired at border communities. Hamas launched the rockets at 6:30 a.m., the exact hour that the massacre began a year ago and as ceremonies commemorating the victims of the atrocities were taking place in communities and at the site of the Nova music festival.
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Israelis remember the victims of the Hamas massacre and the hostages still held in Gaza
(Photo: Mahmoud Illean / AP)
The military said targets in central Gaza were also hit while troops were operating there. Forces entered Jabaliya on Sunday. Palestinian media reported widespread strikes in the Jabaliya area, while the IDF announced a targeted airstrike on a Hamas complex in the city. According to the military, Israeli Air Force jets struck Hamas terrorists operating from a command and control center previously used as a UNRWA facility.
Captain Nadav Sarlin said that as long as hostages are being held in Gaza, there can be no defeat of Hamas. "The soldiers don't ask questions and are just keen to carry out their mission and bring more achievements," he told Ynet. "Like the many tunnels we uncovered in recent weeks near the Philadelphi Corridor and the weapons we destroyed in Rafah. It is clear there that there are more targets to go after."
Sarlin said he lost two men in the fighting, but the motivation of his troops remains high. "They've never lost sight of their missions and objectives and their spirits are sky high," he told Ynet.
Senior IDF commanders hope that with the Lebanon front taking center stage, Israel will be able to cut the link between the northern and southern fronts and between Hezbollah and Hamas, which would change the tide in the war and begin to bring it to an end.
Israel's deterrence has also returned after the targeted killing of Hezbollah's leadership and the assaults on its assets and there is hope that the offensive there will be completed within a couple of weeks. There also is hope that the West Bank would not ignite and become another prominent front in the war.
But the commanders understand that there will be a need to launch attacks on Hamas in Gaza in the coming year, especially since the government continues to avoid alternative rule over the Strip's two million residents.
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