Israel Provokes War in Gaza, Prepares for Ground Assault

War has erupted in the Gaza Strip following a botched Israeli Special Forces infiltration into Khans Younis on Sunday November 11, which included the assassination of a Hamas Commander followed by clashes between Palestinian resistance fighters and the Israeli forces, which killed 6 additional Palestinians and 1 Israeli soldier. On Monday, Israeli warplanes pound the Gaza Strip as the heaviest rocket fire in months hits across southern Israel, and the attacks are ongoing into the night. Gaza militants have fired over 200 rockets into southern Israel in response to the Israeli operation on Sunday while Israeli forces have carried out airstrikes on over 20 targets across the Gaza Strip, with Israeli forces also preparing for what looks to be an imminent ground invasion.

Bungled Israeli SpecOp Infiltration into Gaza Sparks New Escalation

Israeli special forces infiltrated into the Gaza Strip in a civilian car in what Israeli media described as an intelligence gathering operation, before the "IDF special forces had their cover blown as a result of a technical malfunction, and became pinned down," The Guardian reports. The commandos assassinated a senior Hamas commander, Nour Baraka, whom the group said was the target of the secret operation, in what appears to have been a hit-and-run attack. After the hit was carried out, the car fled and was pursued by members of Hamas armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, which then engaged the soldiers in clashes, before the commando team was evacuated under the cover of Israeli airstrikes.

According to Hamas, "Israeli undercover forces on Sunday entered the territory in a civilian car and exchanged fire with Hamas gunmen near the city of Khan Younis. A pursuit ensued and witnesses said Israeli aircraft fired dozens of missiles into the area to provide cover for the commandos to escape," Al Jazeera reported.

“Enemy warplanes intervened and carried out airstrikes to cover the withdrawal of the special unit, which resulted in the martyrdom of many of our people,” the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades said in the official statement. - SouthFront

Besides entering Gaza in a civilian car, some of the Israeli soldiers apparently even dressed as women as a part of their infiltration cover.

Residents in the area where the fighting took place said the car being driven by the soldiers, some of whom were dressed as women, had been stopped by Baraka, who asked for identification. The soldiers shot him with a silenced gun before speeding to an olive grove, where they were extricated by helicopter. Hamas militants in pursuit had been bombed by air, residents said, and Israeli aircraft destroyed the car used by its forces once they had left. - The Guardian

Several rockets were fired from Gaza in the immediate aftermath of the Israeli airstrikes and extraction. 7 total Palestinians were killed in the operation, while 1 Israeli officer was killed and another seriously wounded. A Reuters report indicates that all Palestinians were members of armed resistance groups, 2-3 of whom were gunmen killed in the Israeli strikes, at which time witnesses said dozens of missiles were fired into the area by Israeli aircraft.

Israel confirmed the death of one of its officers, a Lieutenant Colonel identified only as "M.". An IDF spokesman said in a Tweet on Monday that, "Overnight, during operational activity in Gaza, an exchange of fire broke out, killing IDF officer, Lt. Col. M." The IDF claims that "the special operation was not intended to kill or abduct terrorists, but to strengthen Israeli security."

It is unclear specifically how the operation was meant to achieve this goal of "strengthening Israeli security." The operation in fact accomplished just the opposite with hundreds of Gaza rockets now raining down on southern Israel, while 7 "terrorists" were killed, the complete opposite outcome to that which Israel maintains it launched the operation to achieve. This new Israeli aggression destroyed an unofficial ceasefire which had been keeping the region in relative peace for over a week since the last round of escalations, provoking Hamas into a war.

(Photo: Al Manar News. Around 100 Palestinian rockets are fired at Zionist Settlements near Gaza in just 40 Minutes on Monday, following an Israeli infiltration & attack in the Gaza Strip which killed 7 Palestinians on Sunday evening.)

War Erupts in Gaza

Hamas announced the beginning of Palestinian rocket launches into southern Israel on Monday in retaliation for Sunday's attack.

"In response to yesterday’s crime, the joint command of Palestinian factions announce the beginning of bombardment of the enemy’s settlements with scores of rockets," Hamas said in a statement after funerals were held for the militants. - Reuters

Farewell of the martyrs at the Indonesian Hospital:

(Source: @PalestineNurse, Twitter)

In quite the show of firepower, some 80 to 100 rockets were launched from Gaza in just 40 minutes. The initial attacks caused the closing of schools and businesses in settlements all across southern Israel, and a railway line was also shut down for the day.

Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon threatened that "Hamas will pay a heavy price for it aggression," despite that Hamas was retaliating against an unprovoked Israeli aggression on Gaza the night before. How is it that whenever Palestinians infiltrate into Israel and kill one single Israeli soldier, it is considered "terrorism," but when Israeli forces do the exact same thing in reverse and kill 7 Palestinians, it is called a "heroic battle"?

Similar threats of war were echoed by other officials.

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Over 200 rocket have now been launched from Gaza, according to an IDF official. Israel claims to have intercepted 60 of the rockets with its Iron Dome defense shield.

Many of the rockets fell in open space, however quite a number of them also hit both civilian and military targets across southern Israel. A number of buildings caught on fire due to the attacks. It is being reported that 9 to 12 Israelis were injured with 2 serious cases. Haaretz has sadly now also reported one Israeli civilian death. Update: 22 injured, Israeli Ynet is reporting (Middle East Eye).

At least one guided Kornet missile was also used to target an Israeli bus near the Gaza border.

Israeli media was reporting this as a civilian bus, yet the bus was being used to transport Israeli soldiers to the Gaza border fence area in likely preparation for a ground assault. One soldier was injured, as the missile struck just moments after the last soldiers had finished getting off the bus.

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This was clearly a military target, and a 'high value' one at that, for had the missile hit the bus just a minute or so earlier, "dozens" of Israeli soldiers would likely be either dead or injured. This was surely the intended goal, and the idea behind using a more accurate and advanced missile for this specific target. Edit: Video of the strike released by Hamas reveals the timing of the attack was intentional and that the commando team which carried it out intentionally avoided killing soldiers, in a play which was likely meant to send a strong message to Israel while at the same time signaling a desire to avoid a further escalation of the conflict. Video of the bus strike below:

Gaza Under Attack

Israel has been at the very same time hammering Gaza with airstrikes, in response to the rockets, destroying over 20 targets, all of which it claims are "terror targets".

However reports are coming out of Gaza that not only a TV station, but also a university and a civilian home have been targeted in the aggression. And despite what the Zionists say, the Media is not a legitimate 'terrorist target', and neither are homes or schools.


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The University which was targeted was the Gaza College for Applied Sciences - more photos of damage in Tweet below:

Al Aqsa TV headquarters in central Gaza city was targeted with at least 5 and as many as 9 airstrikes on Monday night, with at least 1 strike captured on video, link is below.


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Al Jazeera confirmed that at least 3 Palestinians had been killed in the strikes. At least 9 more have been injured.

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The Gaza Ministry of Health identified the three Palestinians killed in the afternoon air strikes as Mohammed Zakariya al-Tatari, 27, Mohammed Zuhdi Odeh, 22, and Hamad Mohammed al-Nahal, 23. - Middle East Eye

An IDF official said on Monday night that over 300 rockets had been fired from Gaza, and that Israel would continue to respond overnight with more airstrikes.

Another wave of bombings continued across the Gaza Strip well into the overnight hours.

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Early on Tuesday morning (Israeli time), the IDF released an operational update for November 11-12 which claimed that "70+ terror targets in Gaza" had been destroyed, indicating Israeli forces carried out well over 70 airstrikes on Gaza in the past 48 hours, and more may be on the way. Israel's Iron Dome was only able to intercept 70 out of the over 300 rockets launched at the occupied areas.

Israel Prepares for Imminent Ground Invasion of Gaza

Besides sending troop reinforcements to the border as the bus strike revealed, there are further indications that Israeli forces are gearing up for an imminent ground assault on Gaza, 2014-style. Some [60 additional armored vehicles had already been previously deployed near the Gaza border fence several weeks ago, in the largest buildup since 2014, and now "tens of tanks" are being mobilized near the eastern Gaza border fence on Monday.

At the same time, additional Israeli tanks were also seen being transported to the Gaza border. Hundreds of them.

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Statements made by Israeli leaders over the past weeks were also indicative of Israeli preparations for a new war on Gaza, and in some cases openly called for war. 10 days ago saw a new round of escalations and the largest bombing campaign Israel had carried out against the Gaza Strip since August, and it looked like war was imminent, but an unofficial ceasefire had deescalated the situation. That is until Israel decided to infiltrate into and carry out the recent attack within Gaza, provoking Hamas to retaliate, and now 10 days later an all-out war once again looks inevitable. The next few hours should be quite telling, and it will be interesting to see how events play out on Tuesday. An Israeli ground assault and invasion into Gaza may just be right around the corner, as it certainly looks that way.

It looks to me like Israel wanted a war, and now they've got it. And it looks like others see it too.

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