Four Israeli soldiers were killed during fighting against Hamas in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood this morning, the military announces.
The troops are named as:
Sgt. Itay Livny, 19, of the Nahal Brigade's 931st Battalion, from Ramat Hasharon.
Sgt. Yosef Dassa, 19, of the Nahal Brigade's 931st Battalion, from Kiryat Bialik.
Sgt. Ermiyas Mekuriyaw, 19, of the Nahal Brigade's 931st Battalion, from Beersheba.
Sgt. Daniel Levy, 19, of the Nahal Brigade's 931st Battalion, from Kiryat Motzkin
Another officer and soldier of the 931st Battalion were seriously wounded in the same incident.
According to an initial IDF probe, the four soldiers were killed by an explosive device or devices in an alleyway.
The troops had been raiding a school complex where the military had indications of Hamas activity. Weaponry and at least one tunnel was discovered in the area of the school.
Separately, another two soldiers of the 401st Armored Brigade's 9th Battalion were seriously wounded by RPG fire on a tank in the Rafah area of southern Gaza.
The crew is actively looking for new flags for their ships and they’ll then be ready to set sail for Gaza. But that will take weeks and the Palestinians don’t have that with the Rafah border crossing closed for aid. Until they can get there, we need to get the border crossing opened or else, there will be hundreds of thousands of people died.
Don't drink the koolaid. While the hundreds of thousands of reservists out of work would and has impacted the economy, it's not solely or even largely responsible for Israel's economy shrinking by 20%
Let's give credit to
Yemen's blockade
Hezbollah and the Palestinian resistance displacing hundreds of thousands of settlers
The Iraqi resistance targeting Haifa and other ports
Even the global BDS movement
The IDF is withdrawing its reserve forces because it can't defeat the Palestinian resistance just like everybody predicted before the ground invasion.
🟤 Fri morning - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime
✡️ Erev (before) Shabbat - Parshat Kedoshim - Leviticus 19:1-20:27 - “You shall be holy, for I, the L‑rd your G‑d, am holy” followed by dozens of mitzvot (commandments) through which a Jew sanctifies him/herself and relates to the holiness of G‑d. These include: prohibition against idolatry, charity, equality before the law, Shabbat, intimate morality, honesty in business, honor one’s parents, and the sacredness of life.
💩U.S. ARMS - THE JUSTIFICATION PHASE..
.. US State Department: We think that the Rafah operation will weaken Israel's position in the negotiations for the deal and its position in the world.
.. The White House stated the United States provided Israel with alternatives for action against Hamas, and that Biden directed his team to continue working to inflict a "lasting defeat" on Hamas. (( Israel tried the U.S. suggestion, but was unable to convince the unicorns to enter the tunnels. ))
▪️LAG B’OMER IN MERON - CANCELLED.. due to the security situation and attacks by Hezbollah, Lag b’Omer celebrations by the Tomb of Rashbi are fully cancelled.
▪️WEEKEND PRO-DEAL PROTESTS.. in Tel Aviv, much smaller than last week. Still thousands, loud, fires (this time flares). As has become the practice, the protestors also broke out of their protest zone and blocked and lit fires in additional areas.
▪️EUROVISION.. is a big cultural deal for Israel. Israel’s contestant, Eden Golan, has made the finals!
▪️THE AID PIER STILL HELD UP.. CNN: many weather delays - the US humanitarian wharf for Gaza suffers from challenges regarding the manpower to operate it. Britain changed its mind and withdrew from a plan to station armed soldiers in Gaza to unload aid due to security concerns.
🔸DEAL ACTIVITY.. Egypt calls on the delegations of Hamas and Israel, which left Cairo, to "show flexibility" in the negotiations.
.. CNN: In talks in Cairo, Hamas demanded that Israel agree in advance to a ceasefire and a pause of 12 weeks, not 6 weeks.
⚠️NORTH TO GET HOTTER.. Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper, close to Hezbollah: Iran gave an order to Hezbollah to step up against Israel, even at the cost of starting an all-out war.
♦️IDF ATTACKS.. IDF: during the last day the Air Force attacked and destroyed about 40 terrorist targets throughout Gaza including: military buildings, observation posts, terrorist squads and other military infrastructure.
♦️EAST RAFAH.. In east Rafah, troops located tunnel shafts, while the Armored Brigade killed gunmen in close-quarters combat and by calling in airstrikes in the area of the Rafah Crossing with Egypt.
♦️GAZANS EVACUATE.. Gazans: large numbers leaving Rafah, much more than what is reported on Al-Jazeera. Gazans also leaving Rafah from areas not yet warned by the IDF, with the understanding that the operation would advance.
⭕ IRAQI THREAT FROM SYRIA.. the Iraqi Najabaa movement (a pro-Iranian Shiite militia) published that it will respond strongly to the Israeli attack this morning on its building in the Sayyidah Zaynab area in southern Damascus (Syria).
⭕ ANTI-TANK MISSILES.. fired into Israel, miss but started fires near Maayan Baruch.
⭕ HAMAS ROCKETS.. at Sufa, Holit. It appears they have only short range from Rafah in recent attacks.
▪️BRAZIL CANCELS WEAPONS ORDER.. with Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit, because Israel bad.
▪️UNRWA: We decided to close our offices in East Jerusalem after Israelis set fire to the compound twice.
Who is Israeli MP Ofer Cassif, why is he backing South Africa at the ICJ?
An Israeli politician is taking a bold stance against the genocide he says his country is perpetrating in Gaza.
“My constitutional duty is to Israeli society and all its residents,” he wrote on X on January 7. “Not to a government whose members and its coalition are calling for ethnic cleansing and even actual genocide. They are the ones who harm the country and the people, they are the ones who led to South Africa’s appeal to The Hague, not me and my friends.”
via Al Jazeera
trtworld "Israeli lawmaker Ofer Cassif says Israelis who oppose the war on Palestines Gaza face censorship and violence"
Within this context let's not forget he also did this in September
If you've taken a break from keeping up with Palestine like calling your reps and helping apply public pressure to the USA and Israel to cease their actions then this is your sign that the break is over.
Your absence is noticeable and you're needed so come back now, please.