Read our editorial on the Palestinian armed resistance here.
On August 20, the Israeli occupation forces announced the initiation of Operation Gideon’s Chariot II, a follow-up to the failed Operation Gideon’s Chariot, with the aim of establishing military control over Gaza City. The operation was approved despite the objections of Israeli army chief General Eyal Zamir, who stated that the plan will fail due to troop shortages and increasing demoralization among Israeli forces. On the same day as the occupation forces’ announcement, Hamas’s Al Qassam Brigades launched a complex military operation in Khan Younis against a newly-established Israeli military fortification, annihilating several Israeli soldiers, destroying multiple Merkava 4 guard tanks, and forcing several injured Israeli forces to be evacuated by helicopter.
Throughout Operation Gideon’s Chariot II, the occupation forces have leveled high rise buildings in Gaza City with the aim of defeating the armed Palestinian resistance through outright genocide, psychological terror, and forced displacement, aiming to expel the Palestinian population in the area into concentration camps in the south. According to Israeli media, “Defense officials hope that bringing down these buildings in broad daylight, using special precision munitions, will encourage some of the estimated 1 million displaced Palestinians sheltering nearby in tent encampments to flee further south.”
The Israeli military continues to carry out massacres in the area, using airstrikes, fire belts, drone attacks, and remotely-controlled explosive vehicles to destroy residential buildings, ambulances, and tent shelters of displaced Palestinian families. From August 27 to September 3, Israel killed at least 571 Palestinians and injured nearly 2,318. On September 2, the spokesperson for Gaza’s Civil Defense stated that five Palestinian children in the al-Mawasi area were shot and killed by the occupation forces while standing in line waiting for water. The Gaza Ministry of Health recently announced that the number of deaths caused by famine has risen to 420, among them 145 children.
Despite the genocidal violence inflicted by Zionist forces, residents of Gaza City have remained defiant in the face of evacuation orders. On September 9, Resistance News Network reported a mass rally in Gaza City organized by the National Gathering of Palestinian Tribes, Clans, and Families in opposition to Israel’s forced displacement orders. On September 10, a Palestinian journalist released a video of a man from Gaza City standing in a pile of rubble, saying “the army is striking high-rise buildings to force people to go south. I’m not leaving. If Netanyahu destroys everything, I’m not leaving. I will clean this up and live here once again. I’m not leaving. Even if I have to die here, I’m not leaving.”
By escalating their genocidal violence against unarmed civilians, the occupation forces exhibit not strength but weakness and desperation in the face of their consistent failure to meet their military objectives.
Palestinian Resistance Initiates Counteroffensive Operation
On August 30, the Palestinian armed resistance responded to the invasion of Gaza City with a series of ambushes in the neighborhood of Al-Zaytoun, killing four Israeli soldiers and injuring at least 11 others. Resistance fighters also took several Israeli soldiers captive, in response to which Israel activated the “Hannibal Protocol”, authorizing the bombing of locations where missing soldiers may be present even if it risks killing them. On September 3, Hamas announced the initiation of a counteroffensive titled Operation Moses’ Staff in response to the Israeli military’s Gaza City operations. On September 9, Al Qassam Brigades militants killed four Israeli tank crewmen in an ambush.
Popular resistance to the U.S.-Zionist ethnic cleansing efforts, combined with the consistent stream of casualties inflicted on the occupation forces by the Palestinian armed resistance, demonstrate clearly that Operation Gideon’s Chariot II is destined to fail just as its predecessor did. While the Zionist state suffers from troop and weapons shortages due to its failures in combat, Israeli media reports that, “Despite nearly two years of war, Hamas still maintains and deploys advanced surveillance technologies,” according to Israeli officials.
Photo: Al Qassam Brigades militants target Israeli tanks during their Operation Moses’ Staff counteroffensive. Source: Screengrab from a video released by Al Qassam Brigades.
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