(Ynet News) Ron Ben-Yishai - The Givati Brigade has been fighting in Gaza for over a year, beginning on Oct. 7. Its command center is now in an abandoned building in Jabalia, where screens display real-time updates of troop positions, enemy movements, and live feeds from surveillance systems. Brigade commander Col. Liron Batito explains, "Now the terrorists are waging urban guerrilla warfare against us, mostly in small groups of two or three. But when we entered here, there were thousands. We've eliminated 1,000 and captured another 1,000, but a few hundred remain. Most are fanatics, Islamist jihadists....They won't surrender." Givati commanders have recently observed that Hamas operatives are facing a growing shortage of ammunition. The IDF is now operating in what commanders describe as the "third phase" of combat: swift raids by small detachments targeting terrorists identified through intelligence and eliminating those attempting to approach Israeli forces. We stop about 100 meters behind the Tzabar Battalion's forward unit, which had encountered terrorists. Battalion commander Lt.-Col. Matan Elgraby says, "We'll eliminate them shortly with an airstrike." This means an Air Force fighter jet will deliver precision munitions to destroy the building housing the terrorists. "Why risk soldiers when one bomb can achieve the goal?" Elgraby says. "I move slowly and act cautiously to minimize casualties among my men." "The public should understand the fighting is slow because we are uprooting terrorist cells in an urban area, much of which had been leveled, where terrorists move stealthily from house to house. It may take another week or another month, but Jabalia will fall....Anyone who saw what we did [on Oct. 7] won't forget and will fight to the end to ensure it never happens again."
2024-12-05 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive