Tag: Israeli Army

  • Girl among two dead as Israel strikes Lebanon

    Girl among two dead as Israel strikes Lebanon

    Israel conducted deadly strikes on Lebanon Saturday in response to a rocket attack from across the border, as militant group Hezbollah denied responsibility for the launch.

    Lebanon’s official National News Agency reported one girl among two killed in an Israeli strike on the southern town of Touline, during the largest escalation since a November 27 ceasefire.

    The Israeli army said six rockets, three of which were intercepted, were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the region for the first time since November.

    “Hezbollah denies any involvement in the rocket fire from southern Lebanon into the occupied Palestinian territories (Israel),” the Iran-backed group said in a statement, calling Israel’s accusations “pretexts for its continued attacks on Lebanon”.

    Hezbollah said that it stands “with the Lebanese state in addressing this dangerous Zionist escalation on Lebanon”.

    While Hezbollah has long held sway over areas of Lebanon bordering Israel, other Lebanese and Palestinian groups have also carried out cross-border attacks.

    Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam warned that renewed military operations on the southern border risked “dragging the country into a new war,” his office said.

    But Israeli defence chiefs said they held the Lebanese government responsible for all hostile fire from its territory regardless of who launched it.

    Analysts have said the weakening of Hezbollah during its war with Israel enabled Lebanon’s long-deadlocked parliament to in January name army chief Joseph Aoun as president, with backing from the United States, Saudi Arabia and others.

    Upon taking office, Aoun pledged to usher in a new era in which the Lebanese state would have a “monopoly on weapons”.

    “We cannot allow fire from Lebanon on Galilee communities,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said, referring to towns and villages in the north, many of which were evacuated after Hezbollah began firing on Israel in support of Hamas in October 2023.

    “The Lebanese government is responsible for attacks from its territory. I have ordered the military to respond accordingly,” Katz said.

    NNA said Israeli air strikes and shelling had targeted several areas of the south.

    One strike killed two people including a girl in Touline, NNA reported after earlier saying Israeli strikes wounded two people several kilometres (miles) further east in the border village of Kfar Kila.

    – UN ‘alarmed’ –

    The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said it was “alarmed by the possible escalation of violence” following the morning’s rocket fire.

    “We strongly urge all parties to avoid jeopardising the progress made, especially when civilian lives and the fragile stability observed in recent months are at risk,” it said.

    Hezbollah has long had strongholds in south and east Lebanon, as well as south Beirut, but the war with Israel dealt the group devastating blows, including the killing of longtime chief Hassan Nasrallah.

    Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah is supposed to pull its forces back north of the Litani River, about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Israeli border, and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

    Israel is supposed to withdraw its forces across the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border, but has missed two deadlines to do so and continues to hold five positions it deems “strategic”.

    Israel has carried out repeated air strikes during the ceasefire, targeting what it said were Hezbollah military sites that violated the agreement.

    The Lebanese army said it had dismantled three makeshift rocket batteries in an area north of the Litani on Saturday.

    The mayor of the Israeli border town Metula, across from Kfar Kila, urged the authorities to “act offensively and make it so that not one bullet is fired ever again at northern communities”.

    Metula was targeted by the rockets.

    – Seven ‘martyred’ in Gaza  –

    Saturday’s flare-up came five days into Israel’s renewed offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza, which shattered the relative calm since a January 19 ceasefire there.

    On Saturday in Gaza City, Sameh al-Mashharawi said “seven people were martyred” in a strike on his family’s house that killed his two brothers, their children and wives.

    Israel’s defence minister said Friday that he had ordered the army to “seize more territory in Gaza”.

    “The more Hamas refuses to free the hostages, the more territory it will lose, which will be annexed by Israel,” Katz said.

    The White House said Israel consulted US President Donald Trump’s administration before launching its Gaza strikes. Israel said it “fully coordinated” with Washington.

    Hamas took issue Saturday with Washington’s characterisation of its position, insisting that it stood ready to release all its remaining hostages as part of a second stage of the ceasefire.

    “The claim that ‘Hamas chose war instead of releasing the hostages’ is a distortion of the facts,” the group said.

    When the first stage of the ceasefire expired early this month, Israel rejected negotiations for the promised second stage, calling instead for the return of all its remaining hostages under an extended first stage.

    That would have meant delaying talks on a lasting ceasefire, and was rejected by Hamas as an attempt to renegotiate the original deal mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt.

  • Israeli army admits failure on Oct 7, says it underestimated Hamas

    Israeli army admits failure on Oct 7, says it underestimated Hamas

    An internal Israeli army investigation into Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack released on Thursday acknowledged the military’s “complete failure” to prevent the deadly assault, saying that for years it had underestimated the group’s capabilities.

    The attack, which left hundreds of Israelis dead, sparked a devastating war in Gaza, which killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

    “October 7 was a complete failure, the IDF (military) failed in fulfilling its mission to protect Israeli civilians,” a senior Israeli military official said as he briefed reporters about the inquiry’s findings.

    “Too many civilians died that day asking themselves in their hearts or out loud, where was the IDF,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with military protocols.

    In a summary of the report shared with journalists, the military said: “The Israel Defense Forces failed to protect Israeli citizens. The Gaza Division was overrun in the early hours of the war, as terrorists took control and carried out massacres in the communities and roads in the area.”

    The military official explained that the army was “overconfident” and had miscalculated Hamas’s military capabilities ahead of the attack.

    The inquiry, which includes 77 separate investigations into what transpired in communities, army bases and multiple confrontation points around the Gaza periphery, is in the process of being presented to those directly affected.

    This is still only a “slither of the whole process”, the official said. Additional inquiries, including one into what happened at a music festival in the desert, are still to come.

    – Among army’s ‘greatest failures’ –

    The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures, which include hostages killed in captivity.

    Out of 251 people taken hostage that day, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.

    Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed at least 48,365 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

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    “This was one of the most horrific events ever to take place in Israel,” the army official said. “It was one of the IDF’s greatest failures.”

    The official said the inquiry was carried out over 15 months and focuses on four key areas: military perceptions ahead of October 7; intelligence failures; events the night prior to the attack; and the army’s actions on the day along with its efforts to regain control in the days that followed.

    “We did not even imagine such a scenario,” the army official said, noting that Israel’s attention was on threats from Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah.

    The official said the army had not maintained “a comprehensive understanding of the enemy’s military capabilities” and that it was “overconfident in its knowledge”.

    “We were addicted to precise intel,” a second senior military official said, explaining that despite signs Hamas was preparing to attack, the army was too focused on what it believed was accurate information.

    – Three waves of attacks –

    The probe found that Hamas’s attack happened in three waves and saw more than 5,000 people enter Israel from Gaza at its height.

    “The first wave… included more than 1,000 Nukhba (Hamas’s elite force) terrorists, who infiltrated under the cover of heavy fire,” the summary of the report said.

    It said the second wave involved some 2,000 militants while the third saw hundreds more militants join the incursion, along with several thousand civilians.

    “In total, approximately 5,000 terrorists infiltrated Israeli territory during the attack,” the report said. Hamas has maintained that hundreds of its fighters had carried out the attack.

    The official said the first few hours of the attack were critical and saw the most killings and abductions.

    It was then that Hamas’s elite unit knocked out the military’s communications system and its command and control centres, creating chaos as the army struggled to regain control.

    Responding to the inquiry on Thursday, Israel’s armed forces chief said he took full responsibility for failing to prevent the Hamas attack.

    “The responsibility is mine. I was the commander of the army on October 7, and I also bear the full responsibility for all of you,” Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, who announced his resignation last month, said in a video statement.

    In addition to Halevi, the head of the army’s southern command Major General Yaron Finkelman, announced his resignation.

    Military intelligence chief Major General Aharon Haliva stepped down in August.

  • Israel orders army to plan to let Palestinians leave Gaza after Trump unveils plan

    Israel orders army to plan to let Palestinians leave Gaza after Trump unveils plan

    Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that he had ordered the army to formulate a plan to allow Palestinians to leave Gaza.

    “I have instructed the IDF (military) to prepare a plan to enable voluntary departure for Gaza residents,” Israel Katz said in a statement.

    He specified that he had told the army to make preparations that “would allow any Gaza resident who wishes to leave to do so, to any country willing to accept them”.

    “The plan will include exit options through land crossings, as well as special arrangements for departure by sea and air,” Katz added.

    The comments came after US President Donald Trump floated a plan to “take over the Gaza Strip”, prompting criticism from world leaders and efforts by his administration to walk back the remarks.

    Katz said he welcomed “Trump’s bold plan, which could allow a large portion of Gaza’s population to relocate to various places around the world”.

    Katz added that the plan could help Gazans who wish to leave “integrate optimally in host countries, and also facilitate the advancement of reconstruction programs for a demilitarised, threat-free Gaza”.

    Israeli far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich applauded Katz’s move.

    “I welcome the Defense Minister’s decision to instruct the (Israeli army) to prepare for the implementation of our role in the migration plan and to facilitate the departure of Gazans to receiving countries,” Smotrich said in a statement.