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IDF: Hamas Broke Truce in Gaza Minutes after It Began
(Times of Israel) Emanuel Fabian - IDF battalion commander Lt.-Col. (res.) Yisrael said his forces were on the outskirts of Jabaliya, in northern Gaza, on Nov. 24 when the truce began. "At 7 a.m. the ceasefire started, and at 7:15 a.m., dozens of terrorists ran toward us, from every direction. Some of them were opening fire, and our forces killed them. Between 7:15 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. we killed 20 terrorists. And then they realized they shouldn't mess with us." "They don't really try to face us, but to sting here and there. Their method of operating is fleeing in civilian clothes, leaving behind their uniforms, their guns, anti-tank missiles, explosives, and they just run. After we leave the area, they return and attack the next forces." "It's unbelievable. In dozens of yards of homes we found dozens of rocket launchers. We found Kalashnikovs under mattresses, inside clothes closets. It wasn't thrown there suddenly, they were hidden in the homes." Yisrael shows us two multiple rocket launchers, as well as a mortar launcher that the troops had found adjacent to homes. One of the rocket launchers still has cables running from it to the basement of one of the homes. Back home, Yisrael has a wife and children waiting for him, much like the other troops in the battalion. "It's difficult, complex, very challenging, kids who haven't seen their father [in two months]...but I think everyone understands that we have no choice," Yisrael said. "Whoever is here for the past 63 days...is now here due to willpower, friendships, wanting to obtain the objectives. Nobody is here because I told them to be," noting that around 60 of the troops are volunteering, as they are old enough to be exempt from reserve duty. "These are people sacrificing everything for the country, the best people in the country. They left behind everything, their families, their work, to fight here."