IAW Day 710

After the last days of focusing on the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk which will still be brought up as the investigation of his killing continues, I want to update us on the war in Israel that is still heating up. According to a report from The Jerusalem Post that Hamas is moving hostages around to avoid Israel rescuing them:

Hamas has begun moving some hostages above ground in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to hinder the IDF’s ground operations in Gaza City, Kan News reported Monday morning. Palestinian sources said that some hostages are being held in houses while others are in tents.

As they’ve done before, Hamas is wanting the IDF to take the lives of civilians so they can stop the offensive:

Kan News also reported that Hamas is preparing a so-called “legitimacy ambush” in Gaza City. This strategy aims to exploit civilian casualties to increase international pressure on Israel to halt its offensive.

The terrorists are also trying to keep Gazans from leaving the area so that the citizens will become human shields:

According to the report, Hamas is working to keep residents in the northern Gaza Strip and block their evacuation southward. The group has used threats, media campaigns urging residents to remain in their homes, and violence against those trying to leave, including threats of execution.

The IDF is still destroying Hamas targets:

The IDF has stepped up strikes on Gaza City in recent days, hitting more than 500 military targets, including high-rise buildings converted into Hamas infrastructure. Among the targets were offices used for intelligence and surveillance, as well as observation posts embedded in civilian neighborhoods.

For those who think that the IDF doesn’t care about the civilians, they are doing everything they can to move them out of harm’s way:

Ahead of a looming ground operation, the army has issued evacuation orders for large sections of the city. Civilians in areas such as the Gaza Port and southern al-Rimal were instructed to head south, toward designated humanitarian zones including Khan Yunis and al-Mawasi. According to UN estimates cited in Israeli reports, more than 280,000 Gazans have already fled Gaza City following these warnings.

And at the same time Hamas officials are trying to leave as they are wanting people to stay:

Despite the evacuations, Hamas has sought to keep as many civilians in place as possible. The Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories said Hamas officials are attempting to flee Gaza while urging residents to stay behind, as an effort to use civilians as human shields in advance of the IDF’s entry into the city.

Defeat All Of Them

Netanyahu shoots back at allegations he is prolonging the war as we read in an article from the Jewish News Syndicate:

In an interview aired on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back against claims that he was prolonging the war in Gaza for political reasons, telling broadcaster Channel 13 that dismantling the Iranian axis takes time.

“This is both a malicious and false premise or question,” said of such claims. “We did not need to only defeat Hamas, but needed to defeat the entire Iranian axis, including in a war against Iran itself,” said the Israeli premier.

He noted all the unique challenges with the fighting:

He then enumerated the unique challenges that Israel faced in the aftermath of the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 massacre. Apparently referencing the Second Battle of Fallujah, in which a joint U.S.-British-Iraqi offensive in 2004 cleared the city’s Al Qaeda insurgents in extensive house-to-house fighting, Netanyahu emphasized that the conditions in Gaza were much more difficult.

The PM listed what they are doing is much harder:

“The whole world converged on 3,000 terrorists in a place that’s much less complicated than Gaza… and we’re doing it much faster than all these armies together,” Netanyahu stressed.

“Second, we are fighting this war under difficulties that no one else faces. This is, first of all, a war with hostages. When there are hostages, you’re careful, you call ceasefires,” he continued.

“Third, you have an American administration that, after a few weeks of unwavering support, not only began to express reservations but also started blocking us,” he added, referencing the Biden administration that reportedly imposed partial arms embargoes on Israel.

He then listed the things they’ve done:

Netanyahu went on to mention the strategic accomplishments of the war.

“We eliminated the [Iranian] axis’s cells one by one. First, we went after Hamas, we had to enter Rafah, take control of the Philadelphi Corridor [along the Strip’s border with Egypt], then head north [to Lebanon], execute the beepers [mission], eliminate Hezbollah, and advance. As a result, the Assad regime fell. All of these stages essentially dismantled the Iranian axis as they had prepared it for Israel’s destruction,” Netanyahu stressed.

Netanyahu noted that the war would be on many fronts from the beginning:

The Islamic Republic had planned to encircle Israel with its proxies and “very carefully” advance the final stages of its nuclear program, which consisted of producing nuclear weapons, he said.

“I said on the second day of this war: we will change the face of the Middle East. We are not fighting only against Hamas but against the entire Iranian axis, of which Hamas is only one part of,” he concluded.

So we really don’t know how this war will end, but Bible prophecy does tell us the coming battles will end with Israel living in peace and safety. Getting from here to there will take a huge amount of prayer support.