The red triangle returns! Israel reports first post-ceasefire fatality in deadly Hamas ambush

Going by the videos that have been published by the resistance so far, the official Israeli casualty count is hard to believe.

On Saturday, Israeli media reported on a “difficult security incident” that resulted in the death of one genocidal Israeli and left five others seriously wounded, including two in critical condition. The casualties were a result of a deadly ambush in which an armored vehicle was targeted by the Palestinian resistance, followed by the detonation of an explosive device targeting the rescue force in the northern Gaza Strip.

Israeli evacuation helicopters were seen transporting the dead and injured from Gaza, confirming the scale of the incident.

On Sunday afternoon, Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas, published the details of its deadly handiwork, which it named the Breaking the Sword ambush.

According to Al-Qassam Brigades, here’s how the Breaking the Sword ambush unfolded:

During a complex ambush yesterday, Saturday, Al-Qassam fighters successfully carried out the Breaking the Sword ambush east of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

During the ambush, our fighters targeted a military Storm jeep belonging to the Combat Intelligence Gathering Battalion of the Gaza Division [of the Israeli Occupation Forces] with an anti-armor shell, resulting in confirmed casualties.

As soon as a support force rushed to the rescue, it was targeted with a TV3 anti-personnel explosive device, causing deaths and injuries among its members. They also targeted a newly established enemy position in the area with four RPG shells and bombarded it with several mortar shells.

In a report published in Israeli outlet Maariv, the paper’s military correspondent wrote that the tunnel from which the Hamas operation was carried out had already been cleared by the Israeli military — only for it to be rigged by the resistance fighters again after the genocidal Israelis had left:

This is what happened yesterday. The terrorists (read: Palestinian freedom fighters) were inside a tunnel that was discovered several days ago by IDF forces. The tunnel was inspected and investigated by the IDF’s collection unit and combat engineering forces as part of routine IDF combat procedures.

This has been a consistent theme throughout Gaza. The Israelis have repeatedly encountered resistance from the areas they claim to have cleared, especially in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. In the first two weeks of January this year, Beit Hanoun was the site of several deadly ambushes that resulted in dozens of Israeli deaths and was the real reason why the Israelis agreed to a ceasefire on January 15 before they reneged on it weeks later.

At the time, their soldiers gave testimonies that were akin to fighting ghosts. Sample this: “We are fighting in an environment monitored by cameras by the militants. They have planted explosive devices in every alley and are activating them from inside the tunnels; their underground network is fully operational.” And this: “They choose targets carefully, and monitor movement through cameras: if there is a drone, they do not activate the bombs, but if there is a military force, they activate them.”

The resistance in Beit Hanoun is especially noteworthy due to its close proximity to Israel and the fact that it has borne the brunt of Israeli aggression since October 7. It was singled out for prolonged barbarism during the aborted, so-called “General’s Plan,” through which the Israeli military planned to empty northern Gaza of its inhabitants by relentless bombings and a starvation siege that went on for months toward the end of last year. Yet, they have failed to subdue the indomitable resistance in Beit Hanoun and continue to take casualties from the area 18 months later.

In an ominous sign for the Israeli troops, the Maariv report further added that the engineering units of the genocidal Israeli army continue to encounter new tunnels on a daily basis throughout Gaza:

In fact, there is hardly a day when the engineering forces do not locate new tunnels in the Gaza Strip in the north, in the center, near the perimeter in Rafah, and in other areas.

It’s an unmistakable sign that the resistance remains in good shape and lying in wait for opportunities to pounce on the barbaric Israelis when they venture into their immaculate booby traps or come within firing range.

When such opportunities have presented themselves, the resistance has taken full advantage of them. Over the course of this week, Al-Qassam Brigades as well as Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), have published multiple updates on several successful military operations.

On Saturday evening, Al-Qassam put out two updates:

Our fighters were able to carry out a complex ambush against a Zionist force that had advanced east of the Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, and left its members dead and wounded.

We targeted a Merkava 4 tank and a D9 military bulldozer with two Al-Yassin 105 missiles, setting them on fire in the Jabal al-Surani area, east of the al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City.

A day later, on Sunday evening, Al-Qassam published video evidence of Saturday’s second operation:

It’s the first of Al-Qassam’s signature red triangle videos since the Israelis collapsed the fragile ceasefire and began their trademark savagery against Gaza’s children, women, men, and their tattered tents.

At the start of the operation, the Qassam fighter tells the camera about the operation:

God willing, our fighters are advancing to achieve a quick operation against this tyrannical enemy in Jabal Al-Surani. In the name of God, the fighters rely on the blessing of God.

Around the 41-second mark, as the Zionist hardware is scorched, the jubilant fighter exults, “Walla’at, walla’at (It’s ablaze, it’s ablaze)!” — a probable tribute to one of the most iconic resistance videos of the last 18 months when Ahed Adnan Abu-Sittah of Al-Quds Brigades exclaimed the same phrase after lighting up a Zionist tank in late 2023:

On Friday, Al-Qassam provided updates on operations over the previous two days:

Al-Qassam Brigades targeted three Zionist D9 military bulldozers with a Yassin 105 shell, a Shuath explosive device, and a barrel bomb yesterday, Thursday, in the Qizan al-Najjar area, south of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

After returning from the frontlines, our fighters confirmed that they lured a Zionist force near the mouth of a booby-trapped tunnel. As soon as members of the force arrived at the location and several soldiers entered inside, the tunnel entrance was detonated with multiple explosive devices, resulting in a number of the force’s members being killed and wounded. This took place on the afternoon of the day before yesterday, Wednesday, in the “Qizan Al-Najjar” area, south of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

After returning from the battle lines, our fighters confirmed the detonation of three high-explosive devices on two Zionist D9 bulldozers on Wednesday afternoon in the Qizan al-Najjar area, south of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

On Thursday, the leading resistance faction had the following update:

In the past 24 hours, our fighters targeted 3 invading Merkava 4 tanks near Al-Wafa Hospital in the eastern Al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza City, with Al-Yassin 105 shells.

Similarly, Al-Quds Brigades published videos of its fighters shelling Israeli positions and seizing Israeli military reconnaissance drones.

It was a busy week for the resistance.

Going by the videos that have been published by the resistance so far, the official Israeli casualty count is hard to believe. Just as they have lied about every single thing October 7 onward, the Israelis are undoubtedly hiding their casualty counts.

Although the resistance hasn’t commented on any change of tactics since the restart of fighting in Gaza, Israeli media has speculated that the Palestinians are conserving fire due to limited Israeli troop presence in the strip. The aforementioned Maariv article goes with this explanation: “Hamas understands that the IDF is operating at partial strength, sometimes even less, and therefore chooses to wait for the main confrontation, the ‘big battle.’”

The Israelis have thus far not said anything about an impending ‘big battle’ or full-strength ground invasion. The last time they tried, it didn’t go well. Now they have extended themselves militarily. The Zionists have occupied large parts of Syria where they have built several military outposts with the stated aim of staying in the country for the long-term. On Sunday, Eyal Zamir, the new chief of the genocidal Israeli military toured the occupied Syrian territories and stated plans for a long-term stay. “It’s a strategic point,” Zamir said. “We don’t know how things will develop here, but our presence has significant security importance.”

Despite a supposed ceasefire in Lebanon, the Israeli army has occupied five strategic points in sovereign Lebanese territory with no intention of leaving. These military adventures, in conjunction with the well-documented reluctance of the reserves to return to duty indicate that the Israeli military might not be ready for a full-scale invasion anytime soon.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian resistance has no dearth of fighters to recruit or unspent Israeli ordnance to fashion into deadly weapons of its own, courtesy of the dire humanitarian situation in the enclave and the amount of unexploded bombs dropped on the strip.

Based on the evidence from the early days of ground fighting, the prospects of the Israeli military succeeding in operations inside Gaza remain as bleak as they have over the last 18 months.

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