by Andrew Grossman
Armed actions by the Palestinian resistance has either continued unabated or resumed in areas Israel has declared pacified all across Gaza, and across the Occupied Territories as a whole
With Israeli forces pulling out of most areas of Gaza on April 7, leaving only troops at brigade-strength in their militarized “Netzarim Corridor” which splits the territory in two, they have declared victory in Gaza everywhere except the southern area of Rafah, where 1.5 million Palestinians driven from their homes by the Israeli-US genocide are sheltering in tent cities. The renewed activity of the Palestinian fighters across Gaza has proven this “victory” a lie on the part of Israel.
The withdrawal of Israeli forces has allowed civil defense forces to uncover and begin examining the mass graves left by the genocidal forces at al-Shifa and Nasser hospitals. But another story is unfolding with the withdrawal—the Palestinian resistance has proven through action that Israel is lying when it says it must invade Rafah to clear “the last 4 brigades” of the resistance from Gaza. The resistance has not been “degraded” in its fighting capacity, argues Electronic Intifada military analyst Jon Elmer, as shown by their continued ability to choose weapons appropriate for each target, their continued ability to rapidly produce and distribute videos of their actions, and even videos of commanders planning ambushes, which shows the functional command and control of the resistance.
The resistance forces have resumed rocket fire in areas from which the Israeli forces have pulled out. The destruction of the “terror tunnels” and the rocket arsenal of the resistance has not been achieved. Hundreds of miles of resistance tunnel networks remain undiscovered, according to US and Israeli intelligence estimates, and the resistance is releasing videos of fighters unearthing buried munitions and launchers, then firing these towards Israeli positions.
Sniper and mortar attacks have continued against the Netzarim Corridor, Israel’s logistical corridor from which they conduct raids and resupply their forces. Footage released by resistance media operations shows what appear to be newly-dug tunnels and prepared positions used to approach the Corridor for close-range rocket strikes on Israeli armored transports, tanks, and armored bulldozers.
Also documented by resistance footage, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) were chased from the Gaza city of Khan Younis by a 3-phase ambush on the date of their withdrawal “in victory.” The ambush involved sniper attacks, then the luring of soldiers into mined positions, and finally rocket attacks against tanks coming to relieve the infantry.
Resistance forces have posted videos where they challenge the IDF to leave the civilian population alone and instead fight them in the “cleared” cities. While the resistance finds and targets the IDF, the latter continue attacking the “soft target” of civilians. In the latest al-Shifa hospital siege, Israeli sniper positions used to shoot civilians in the streets have come under fire by resistance counter-sniper teams.
Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, released a video to Al Jazeera Arabic of an annihilation mission where they track and kill Yitzar Hoffman, an IDF commander who was in charge of the first genocidal siege of al-Shifa hospital in November 2023.
In the West Bank, the resistance has only increased its intensity of ambushes and attacks on the Israeli punitive expedition. From the north, Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks against Israeli army positions have continued unabated, and the latest reports indicate that Israeli air defense systems and warnings did not trigger for the latest two Hezbollah attacks. Elmer links this to the continued degradation of Israel’s radar and missile defense systems in northern Israel due to Hezbollah’s unrelenting targeted strikes.
photo: A resistance anti-air emplacement connected to underground tunnel network
