Equipment, logistical items, and other data show that the terrorists expected to stay in the area and came prepared for such an operation.
YONAH JEREMY BOB OCTOBER 11, 2023 08:26
The IDF on Wednesday announced that intelligence collected from the battle with Hamas on the Gaza corridor proves that the terror group’s plan was to conquer the area and hold it for an indefinite period.
Equipment, logistical items, and other data show that the terrorists expected to stay in the area and came prepared for such an operation, before facing a faster and more powerful counter-attack than what they had foreseen.
If Hamas succeeded in surprising the IDF and Israel completely at stage one of the invasion, clearly the IDF’s second round response, as opposed to a longer period of shock, waiting, and negotiation over hostages, took Hamas by surprise.
IDF Chief Spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari also said on Wednesday that three Hamas invaders had recently been found and killed just south of Ashkelon, the farthest north within Israel’s south that any invaders have succeeded in penetrating to.
He clarified that they were found and killed in an industrial area and not within Ashkelon itself.
The IDF is still probing how they got that far.
Further, Hagari gave the first update in days on total rocket fire from Hamas, now above 5,000, with the first day numbers just over 2,000.
The IDF has steadfastly refused to give statistics about Iron Dome’s effectiveness, saying this would tip off Hamas.
IDF fighting on five fronts
Hagari also discussed the IDF’s efforts now fighting on five fronts, including: within Gaza, the Gaza corridor, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank.
Still the tone from Hagari suggested that overnight attacks from Syria were small and not indicative of a new large conflict, while Lebanon has intensified, but also remained under the level of a new big separate fight.
Mainly, he said that the IDF would continue to quickly counter attack any source of fire, but was not looking to overreact when no, or very few, Israelis were being harmed.
The chief spokesman said that 18 Hamas invaders had been killed since Tuesday morning to go with 1,000 dead Hamas invaders in the Gaza corridor and over 1,500 dead Hamas terrorists total, when working in those killed in Gaza by airstrikes.
He explained that airstrikes were currently all in large waves, but that there was an emphasis on trying to kill top Hamas officials.
Further, he hinted that more Hamas officials besides the two announced on Tuesday, had likely already been killed, but that he would not confirm their name suntil Hamas did publicly.
Content retrieved from: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-767682.