As Air Force One departed the Middle East on Friday, April 16, concluding U.S. President Donald Trump’s first international tour, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) commenced “Operation Gideon’s Chariots” — a new major offensive targeting Hamas positions across the Gaza Strip. (RELATED: Trump Should Expand the Abraham Accords to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan)
Over the weekend, the Israeli Air Force and IDF ground artillery carried out some of the most extensive bombings in Gaza since Israel’s war with Hamas began in October 2023. The opening salvos of the offensive were so intense they could be heard as far away as central Israel.
Hours before the air and artillery strikes commenced, the IDF dispersed leaflets warning Gazan residents of the impending attack. The flyers showed a parting sea rising above the rubble of buildings with a Quranic verse that parallels the Exodus story from the Bible: “God Almighty said: Then We inspired Moses: ‘Strike the sea with your staff,’ and it parted, and each portion was like a great towering mountain” (Quran 26:63). Beneath the verse were the words “Residents of Gaza, the Israeli Army is coming,” next to the IDF logo and Star of David.
The weekend airstrikes and bombings in Deir al-Balah, Khan Younis, and Jabalia destroyed over 670 Hamas targets, making way for a massive IDF ground incursion. In recent weeks, the IDF had called up tens of thousands of reservists and initiated new recruiting among the Haredi community in anticipation of this operation. On Sunday, the IDF reported that “dozens of terrorists” have been killed in Gaza and IDF ground troops are destroying terrorist infrastructure above and below ground while “holding strategic areas of the strip.”
Palestinian officials reported more than 100 people in Gaza had been killed in the first 24 hours of the operation. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reported on Sunday that the number of casualties had reached over 400 since Thursday, with all hospitals either overwhelmed or mad...
No hoodwinking or hornswoggling here.
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