Hamas introduces new tactics against the Israeli invaders to devastating effect in Gaza
The resistance is raging in north Gaza despite genocidal Israeli terrorism.
As the Israeli extermination campaign in north Gaza races at breakneck speed, the resistance too is modifying its tactics to make the genocidal Zionists pay a heavy price for their terrorism. Over the last couple of weeks Al-Qassam Brigades — the armed wing of Hamas — among its dozens of updates has released two unique missives for the first time since the beginning of the Israeli ground incursion in Gaza over a year ago. The largest Palestinian resistance faction has introduced martyrdom operations to devastating effect, killing several Israelis with a tactic it hadn’t used until this month in Gaza. It has also published details of knife attacks in Gaza for the first time.
Al-Qassam published the details of the first martyrdom operation of Al-Aqsa Flood operation on December 20. The report paints a picture of rare bravery as the resistance fighter executed a successful operation that took out two Israelis before he managed to infiltrate a Zionist troop disguised as an IDF soldier to detonate himself among six Israelis, leading to their death and injury.
From the Qassam report:
In a complex security operation a Qassam mujahid managed to eliminate a Zionist sniper and his assistant from zero distance this afternoon in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. An hour later, the mujahid disguised himself as an occupation soldier, and managed to reach a Zionist force of 6 soldiers and blew himself up with an explosive belt, killing and wounding them.
The second such operation was revealed on December 27. This operation was multi-layered. After the martyrdom operation took out five genocidal Israelis, those coming to rescue the wounded were targeted with sniper fire and hand grenades snatched from the Israelis in earlier operations:
In a complex operation, one of the Qassam mujahid managed to blow himself up with an explosive belt in a Zionist force of 5 soldiers, killing and wounding them. As soon as the rescue forces advanced to the scene, our fighters sniped two of them and showered them with a number of Zionist-made hand grenades in the Tal al-Zaatar area east of the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
On December 21, Al-Qassam for the first time gave details of operations using knives:
In a complex operation, our fighters eliminated three Israeli soldiers with knives, seized their personal weapons, then stormed a house where a ground force was fortified. They took down two soldiers at the entrance of the house and engaged with others at close range in the Jabalia refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip.
Two days later, on December 23, Al-Qassam announced another stabbing operation that killed several Israeli terrorists.
More importantly, the operation succeeded in freeing Palestinians who were held captive by the Zionist terrorists:
In a complex security operation, a number of our fighters managed to stab and kill 3 Zionist soldiers who were on a mission to protect a building where a Zionist force was fortified. They then stormed the house and killed all members of the Zionist force at point-blank range, seized their weapons, and freed a number of citizens who were detained by the occupation inside the house in the Beit Lahia project in the northern Gaza Strip.
Hamas hasn’t revealed the reasons for these recent change in tactics.
Back in August, I reported in these pages about a joint statement by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) where the two leading resistance factions announced the revival of martyrdom operations in the 1948 territories. The statement said that such missions will “return to the forefront.” However, that statement didn’t reveal any plan for such missions in Gaza.
The recent martyrdom operations may have been calculated as a more effective resistance tactic. Meanwhile, the knife attack may point to a lack of ammunition — a belief reinforced by the fact that the fighters took weapons from the fallen Israelis to execute the remainder of their mission. On the other hand, it could also point to the discrete nature of the operation.
The lack of ammunition speculation doesn’t pass muster as the resistance has carried out dozens of operations over the last two weeks. One of their rocket barrages even reached Jerusalem much to the chagrin of the genocidal Israelis safely ensconced in their stolen homes. Remarkably, the rocket barrage on December 28 came from Beit Hanoun of all places. Beit Hanoun, in the extreme north of the Gaza Strip, has seen Israeli troop presence throughout the year-long genocide. Over the last three months as the Israeli savages have accelerated their extermination campaign, Beit Hanoun has been one of the worst affected areas in Gaza.
Still, the resistance refuses to buckle down.
The Cradle quoted Doron Kadosh, an Israeli Army Radio correspondent, as bleating:
The rockets that were recently fired toward Jerusalem came from Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, an area that has seen countless Israeli operations throughout the year. The rocket fire is interpreted as an attempt by the armed groups to empty their stockpiles before the army reaches them, especially after the start of the Nahal Brigade’s ground operation in the area. The army estimates that Hamas still possesses a number of long-range rockets capable of reaching Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.
The surprising thing about this launch is that it did not come from the center of the Strip or Khan Yunis, but rather from Beit Hanoun, an area where the army has been operating freely for a whole year, repeatedly destroying and dismantling its capabilities through repeated ground operations.
Just today, Al-Qassam reported two operations in the north of Gaza, one in Beit Hanoun and the other in Jabalia, which has also faced unhinged Israeli terrorism for the last three months. The Jabalia operation killed five Zionist terrorists.
Al-Qassam on the operation in Beit Hanoun:
Our fighters destroyed a Zionist troop carrier with a Yassin 105 shell, killing and wounding its crew in Beit Hanoun, north of the Gaza Strip.
On the Jabalia operation:
In a complex operation Al-Qassam mujahideen stormed a new military post set up by the occupation army in Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip and killed 5 soldiers, burned a Zionist ‘Merkavah’ tank and its crew, and targeted a military jeep with a number of soldiers inside with grenades, killing and wounding them
In a unique video it published on December 22, Al-Qassam gave a glimpse of the life of a fighter as one is seen cooking with chopped wood interspersed with footage of fighters blowing up a Zionist tank, multiple sniping operations, and firing a devastating shell at a Zionist troop position inside a civilian home.
Interestingly, for the first time Al-Qassam provided its own English subtitle for a video as a fighter speaks to the camera before an operation. The soldier makes it clear who the fight is against and why: “We may not consider you as hostile for being Jewish or sons of Israel since Jews lived with us on this land in dignity and honour for thousands of years. You are not but a bunch of strangers and bastard occupiers. You are coming here to your death. O murderers of innocent children and women, on this holy land, we are preparing your death and hell by our hands.”
According to Hamas’s count, by December 21 it had killed 60 Israeli terrorists of various ranks, including the commander of the 401st Brigade.
In a series of Telegram uodates, Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida said that the performance of the resistance serves as an inspiration for the people of the free world and that the genocidal occupiers of the Palestinian lands have been hiding their “real losses.” He also added that Israeli savagery endangers the lives of their captives inside Gaza.
Abu Obeida:
“The heroism of our mujahideen and their field performance in the northern Gaza Strip is an inspiring model for all free people of the world.”
“The enemy hides its real losses and the miserable condition of its soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip in order to preserve the image of its army.”
“Genocide and ethnic cleansing in the northern Gaza Strip targets innocent civilians to cover up the scandals and disgraces of the Zionist army.”
“The fate of some enemy prisoners depends on the occupation army advancing hundreds of metres in some areas exposed to aggression.”
Al-Qassam also kept up its streak of fiery posters, releasing one in which it contrasted the lavish life of Netanyahu’s son, Yair, who has been frolicking in Miami, to that of Israeli prisoners of war left to die in Gaza by his father.
The poster is captioned in Arabic and Hebrew, “Yair is in Miami, away from danger. What forces Netanyahu to make a comprehensive deal?”
The Palestinian resistance in the face of the barbaric Israeli extermination campaign is indeed one to marvel at. It will surely be studied by generations of guerilla fighters across the globe. The still raging resistance also reveals the Israeli failure in confronting and depleting it as the genocidal entity has focused almost singularly on razing Gaza to the ground and making it unlivable for the natives.
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I feel somewhat saddened reading this. It has come to a point that they have to resort to this old tactic. And what drove them towards this? Because the world has failed them. 14 months on and no world leaders, no world organisations can stop this savagery, this madness that's been livestreaming on our mobile devices. But tell the world, we must. So keep speaking out.
I am so saddened and outraged that this brutal terrorism towards the Gazans has gone on and on relentlessly and has not been stopped by those holding the power to do so if they had even a shred of conscience and humanity. All that the Gazans have endured!!! And at the same time I feel nothing but awe and the deepest admiration for these men willing to martyr themselves for the sake of their people, their land, and for a greater good that these hollow shells of human beings, these Israeli terrorists, are incapable of knowing or understanding.
Thank you for reporting this - it's the terrible details that shock and break open the heart.