The Israel Defense Forces has announced it is calling up additional reservists for operations in Gaza.
“In accordance with the situational assessment, the IDF is calling up approximately two reserve brigades for operational activities on the Gazan front,” the IDF said in a brief statement.
“Their calling will allow the continuous effort and readiness to defend the State of Israel and the security of civilians.”
This weekend, IDF forces built an engineering bridge over Wadi Gaza (south of Gaza City in central Gaza) to allow IDF vehicles to easily cross from north to south and back.
IDF soldiers were also continuing to battle Hamas terrorists in the central Gaza city of Nuseirat, coordinating ground operations with air strikes to eliminate the terrorists.
The Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza, along with the allied Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, are both Iranian proxies who have received billions of dollars in funding, training, equipment and advanced weaponry from the Islamic Republic.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reportedly gave Hamas the green light to carry out its deadly invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, slaughtering more than 1,200 people and abducting 253 others who were dragged into Gaza captivity.
The terror organization is continuing to sporadically fire rockets and missiles at southern Israel, although its ability to do so has been greatly degraded by the IDF.
Home Front Command Guidelines Still in Effect
The IDF’s Home Front Command announced that all educational and other activities (field trips, “Passover camps,” etc.) have been canceled for Monday as well, in light of the current security situation.
The Ein Gedi, Masada and Tel Arad national parks are also closed for the time being, due to the situation, and GPS jamming is still in effect in most of the country.
Israelis were urged to review HFC’s life-saving defensive guidelines, which are available in English as well as Hebrew and other languages on HFC’s website. The guidelines are to remain in effect until Monday at 11 pm local time.
Miraculous Defense Against Direct Iranian Attack
The move comes less than 24 hours after a massive attack against Israel by the Islamic Republic of Iran, which launched around 331 suicide drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles at the Jewish State in the wee hours of Sunday morning, beginning at around 2 am.
Miraculously, 99 percent of the projectiles and drones fired at Israel never even reached Israeli territory, having been shot down outside of the country’s airspace by the IAF and its allies, including the United States, United Kingdom, Jordan, France, and others. Airspace permission was reportedly granted by Saudi Arabia.
Although Saudi Arabia has no formal ties with Israel, it has strong diplomatic and military ties with the United States and other members of the defensive coalition.
Those ties have had little influence on Iranian proxies, including the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorists and the Houthis in Yemen, who have also continued the war against Israel together with Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
War with Hamas Far from Over
The IDF is still focused on completing its mission to rescue the hostages abducted during the October 7 Hamas-led invasion of Israel from Gaza, in addition to destroying the ability of Hamas to govern the enclave or carry out military operations, and ensuring that Gaza never again poses a threat to the Jewish State.
Four to five Hamas battalions still remain armed and active in the enclave, and it is believed that they, with their leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, are in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which straddles the border with Egypt.
Israel’s War Cabinet pulled out most of the IDF from the enclave for a “rest” period earlier this month, but has not changed its plans to invade Rafah — where it is also believed the Hamas leadership is holed up with the hostages, using them as human shields.
Hamas has refused all temporary ceasefire and hostage deals brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States since violating a November 2023 deal in which it released some 110 of the captives. Three terrorist prisoners incarcerated in Israel were freed in exchange for each of the captives who were returned to the Jewish State. But Hamas did not live up to its end of the agreement, violating the deal towards the final days and resuming its war with Israel.
The most recent deal being discussed was one in which Hamas would free 40 of the remaining 133 hostages in exchange for hundreds of terrorist prisoners. But Hamas claimed last week that it “could not find” 40 hostages in the categories proposed by Israel — the remaining women, children and elderly captives still held in Gaza. Nor was the terror group willing to provide a list of which captives are still alive.
Israeli intelligence determined last month that at least 34 of the hostages are no longer among the living.
