Hamas threatens Israel with ‘new 9/11’ – ‘We are fighting hand-to-hand in Gaza’, says IDF

Her official Hamas threatened it Israel with new attacks similar to that of October 7, which was described as the “new September 11”, stressing that the organization is ready to pay the price.

According to New York PostThe Ghazi Hamad who is a member of the Palestinian armed group’s political decision-making bureau, said there would be a repeat of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, in which more than 1,400 Israelis were killed and about 240 are being held hostage.

“The flooding of Al-Aqsa is only the first time, and there will be a second, third, fourth, because we have the determination and the capabilities to fight,” he said characteristically.

At the same time, he clarified that “we are called a nation of martyrs and we are proud that we sacrifice martyrs. We are ready to pay the price. Israel is a country that has no place in our land. We must remove this country because it is a security, military and political disaster for Arab and Islamic nations and it must end.”

“We are fighting Hamas inside Gaza”

The spokesman for the Israeli army (IDF) Jonathan Conricus spoke to SKY and stated that “at the moment we are fighting Hamas inside Gaza. We are hitting their military positions. We have troops inside Gaza fighting them. Hand-to-hand combat, in buildings and tunnels and on the ground. We continue to strike Hamas from the air. We continue to hunt down their commanders and seek out and strike Hamas targets wherever they are in the Gaza Strip.”

“The goal of our war is to completely dismantle Hamas, so that there is nothing left that could pose a threat to Israeli civilians again, as happened on October 7. We want to create a better situation for the future, for us and for the Gaza Strip. The next stage or this stage of business will be long. It will take time. This is combat in urban terrain, which all soldiers expect to be difficult and likely to cause heavy casualties. Our ambition is to do it as professionally, targeted and safely as possible. Hopefully, in a short period of time, we will be able to defeat Hamas and return security to southern Israel,” he said.

Among other things, he said that “Hamas has been in control of Gaza since 2007. And what he’s been doing specifically for the last 5 to 7 years is building a complete city under a city, a city under Gaza, a system of tunnels that communicate with each other. And from here Hamas operates. This is where they live, and this is where they would rather fight. It’s a very complex environment for us, tactically, and we don’t intend to fight under the enemy’s conditions. We have tactical solutions and like Hamas will try to surprise us on the battlefieldso we too will try to surprise them and finally, come out victorious”.

“One thing I want to say is that all of them Hamas tactics are based on using the hapless Palestinian civilian population as their human shields. All tunnels are under civilians. They shoot between buildings. They are using schools, hospitals, mosques and clinics and churches for their struggle, which is very unfortunate. And it’s a war crime what they’re doing,” he then noted.

New bombing with dozens dead in Jambaliya

Her Ministry of Health Hamas announced today that “dozens” of people had been killed by its new bombing of the Israeli army in the Jabaliya refugee campafter yesterday’s deadly attack.

According to the ministry there are “dozens of witnesses (including dead) and injured” from today’s bombing. There is currently no report from an independent source, but footage broadcast by AFP television suggests that the new bombardment caused massive damage.

“You will not escape the resounding defeat”

Hamas chief Ismail Haniya today accused Israel of committing “massacres” in Gaza in order to cover his “failures”. and said that there will be no stability in the region if the Palestinians do not gain their “independence”.

“We tell the enemy and those who support him that your attempts to cover up your failures will not save you from a resounding defeat” the head of the Qatar-based Palestinian movement said in a speech broadcast by Hamas media.

According to Hamas’ health ministry, 8,706 people, including 3,648 children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war with Israel, which erupted after the unprecedented scale and violence of the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7 on Israeli soil. On the Israeli side, over 1,400 people were killed, mostly civilians, during this attack, according to the authorities.

Ismail Haniya stated that this attack was a reaction to the “racist policy” of the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu towards the Palestinians.

“We warned all the parties we met with before this war that the continuation of the policies of oppression and violence of Netanyahu and his fascist government, the attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque [στην Ιερουσαλήμ] and Islamic and Christian holy sites, building settlements and bringing in extremist settlers to sow destructionchaos and death will not go unpunished,” he said.

“We had warned them that this would not go unpunished and that an explosion was imminent and that it was imperative that they thwart the machinations of this criminal and his gang. Unfortunately, no one listened to our pleas, quite the opposite,” he added.

“There will be neither security nor stability in the region and outside of this region if the rights of our people to freedom, independence and return are not realized,” the Hamas leader said, referring to the return of Palestinian refugees to the territories from who were expelled with the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

The Rafa crossing will be reopened on Thursday

Seventy-six wounded Palestinians and 335 foreign passport holders crossed into Egypt today through the Rafah crossing, for the first time since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

“Until 16.30 (local and Greek time), 76 injured Palestinians in ambulances and 335 people holding foreign passports in six busescrossed into Egyptian territory, said an Egyptian official who spoke to AFP by telephone from Ismailia.

Egyptian authorities announced earlier that they had opened the crossing on an emergency basis so that around 90 wounded Palestinians and 545 foreigners could pass. Among the holders of foreign passports who left the Gaza Strip was a group of 5 French nationals, France’s foreign ministry said. “We are continuing our efforts so that all our compatriots and their families can get out of Gaza as soon as possible,” Paris added, clarifying that it is a total of 50 French nationals and their family members. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in a post on Platform X that four Italians were among the 545. “I just spoke to them, they are tired but in good health. They are assisted by the Italian consul in Cairo. We continue to work to remove all the others,” he added.

A diplomatic source with knowledge of Cairo’s plans said about 7,500 foreign passport holders would leave Gaza within the next two weeks and they will be able to depart Egypt by air from Al Ares city airport. But other diplomats said the foreigners would travel by road to Cairo and leave for their countries from there.

An Egyptian security source, quoted by AFP, said the crossing would be reopened tomorrow to allow “more foreigners and dual nationals” to pass through.

A list of foreign passport holders posted on Facebook earlier includes people from many countries, such as from Austria, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Australia, Czech Republic and Finland. Some are workers in non-governmental organizations or the International Committee of the Red Cross. A source familiar with the Qatar-brokered deal said citizens of Muslim countries would be given priority while citizens of other countries would leave in alphabetical order.

Among the first to leave are two Filipino doctors working for Doctors Without Borders, Manila said. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also said that his country is negotiating the exit of Turkish citizens.