In recent hours, the battlefronts in Gaza witnessed intense confrontations with occupation forces and consecutive operations by the Palestinian Resistance factions, specifically in the central and southern parts of the besieged Strip.
The al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, announced that its Resistance fighters targeted a Zionist Merkava tank with an al-Yassin 105 shell southwest of the al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City.
Al-Qassam fighters also ambushed an infantry force along the advance axis in the city of Khan Younis, causing casualties among the occupation forces.
On its part, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement, announced that its fighters engaged an occupation military vehicle with an RPG shell in southern Gaza.
The Brigades’ Resistance fighters also shelled occupation forces gathered in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood southeast of Gaza City with mortar shells.
In Khan Younis, the Al-Quds Brigades confirmed ambushing a Zionist unit along the advance axis, causing casualties among the raiding forces, and mentioned targeting a military vehicle with an RPG shell in the camp area west of the city.
In a joint operation, the al-Mujahideen and the al-Quds Brigades’ snipers targeted several occupation soldiers stationed in their military vehicles near the al-Tiba Towers, west of Khan Younis.
In a related context, the al-Quds Brigades carried out operations in the Abasan al-Kabira area, east of Khan Younis, including ambushing a Zionist engineering unit and a bulldozer, as well as detonating several barrel bombs.
The Brigades also engaged a Merkava tank with a Tandem shell and inflicted casualties on the raiding occupation soldiers.
Similarly, Martyr Omar al-Qassam Forces, the military wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), announced that its fighters targeting occupation forces with an RPG shell in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City and an explosive device in Khan Younis.
Elsewhere, the Al-Mujahideen Brigades published footage of its Resistance fighters targeting occupation forces holed up in a building in the al-Zaytoun neighborhood with a Saeer rocket.
Resistance tunnel network remains intact
The New York Times cited US officials as saying that the majority of Hamas tunnel network remains intact, and that “‘Israel’ will not be able to achieve, in the foreseeable future, its goal of eliminating the group’s military capability.”
The American newspaper emphasized that at least 5,000 Hamas fighters are still in the northern Gaza Strip, above and below ground, and that the Resistance movement remains active there, capable of launching rockets at the Zionist entity and attacking infantry forces.
It highlighted that despite more than 29,000 Palestinians killed, neighborhoods flattened, “families wiped out, children orphaned, and an estimated 1.7 million people displaced,” occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s goal of “destroying Hamas” remains “elusive”, as per current and former Zionist security officials.
The White House has previously mentioned that while it is an “attainable goal” for “Israel” to “eliminate the military threat posed by Hamas”, completely eliminating the group might not be achievable.
Zionist, US officials ‘astonished’ by Hamas tunnels: NYT
In mid-January, The New York Times revealed intimate details of the shock expressed by some Zionist and American officials regarding tunnels in Gaza used by the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas.
One tunnel in Gaza was large enough for a senior Hamas leader to drive a car through. Another was approximately three football fields long. The occupation forces claimed they discovered a spiral staircase beneath the home of a top Hamas leader, leading to a tunnel around seven floors deep.
Video and photo footage of the tunnels showcase why the occupation forces were terrified of the tunnels before their onslaught in Gaza.
The occupation forces now have reason to believe there are scores more tunnels beneath Gaza and US and Zionist officials have expressed surprise at the “scope, depth, and quality” of the tunnels, even some of the gear used by Hamas to construct the tunnels.
Senior Zionist officials anonymously told NYT that the network is estimated to be between 350 and 450 miles long, which is exceptional for a territory with a longest point of about 25 miles. Two of the officers also estimated that there are around 5,700 different shafts heading down to the tunnels.
Aaron Greenstone, a former CIA officer with experience in the Middle East expressed that Hamas made use of the “time and resources over the last 15 years to turn Gaza into a fortress.”
According to Greenstone, the tunnels are now considered a “subterranean nightmare” for the occupation forces.
Zionist officials admitted that destroying the tunnels would not be an “easy task”, since they need to be mapped, examined for captives, and not simply impaired but made irreparable. Recent attempts to obliterate the tunnels by flooding them with seawater were unsuccessful.
Officials have also anticipated that it would take years to deactivate Hamas’ tunnel system.
West Bank repression and resistance escalates
The occupation forces launched a series of raids in various areas of the occupied West Bank early Saturday, with Palestinian Resistance fighters confronting the invading forces.
Confrontations erupted between Palestinian fighters and occupation forces after their incursion into the towns of Beit Furik and Beit Dajan east of Nablus in the northern West Bank.
Occupation forces also raided the town of Faqqua and the village of al-Arabouna, near the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank.
In Qalqilya, occupation forces raided the al-Marj area, the al-Naqar neighborhood, and the vicinity of the al-Qalb al-Kabir School, where they assaulted homes and properties belonging to Palestinian civilians.
Local media reported that the “Shweikeh” gate north of Tulkarm and the Zionist checkpoint “Nitzanei Oz” west of the city were targeted with gunfire after occupation forces raided Tulkarm.
In the southern West Bank, the occupation forces raided the village of al-Tawani in the vicinity of Masafer Yatta, south of al-Khalil, and stormed the homes of Palestinian citizens in Beit Ta’mar in Beit Lahm.
On Thursday, occupation forces assassinated Palestinian Resistance fighter Yasser Hanoun, a commander in al-Quds Brigades – Jenin Brigade, in a drone attack that targeted a car he was riding in the Jenin camp.
In addition, 17-year-old Palestinian youth Saeed Jaradat succumbed to his critical injuries sustained in the same attack.
Yemeni protesters demand more attacks
Massive morning demonstrations took place today, Friday, in several Yemeni provinces under the title “Our path coincides with Gaza’s… all the way toward victory,” in support of the resilience and resistance of the Palestinian people amid the ongoing Zionist aggression on the Gaza Strip.
The demonstrators also authorized the leader of the Ansarallah movement in Yemen, Sayyed Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, to take necessary measures in support of the Palestinian people.
A joint statement released by the demonstrators hailed the classification of the United States and Britain as entities hostile to Yemen.
The statement also called for “further military strikes against the United States, Britain, and the Zionist entity” and urged “continuing mobilization and opening land routes for the Yemeni people to engage in ground combat with the Zionist enemy.”
It also reiterated the call to activate the boycott of American and Zionist products and companies supporting them, emphasizing the importance of spreading awareness about this influential and effective measure.
The statement affirmed the importance of continuing protests, marches, and popular and official events in support of the Palestinian people, condemning the ongoing Zionist crimes against them and denouncing international silence and Arab complicity.
YAF conducted 3 operations against ‘Eilat’, US destroyer, British ship
The spokesperson of the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF), Brigadier Yahya Saree, confirmed in a brief statement on Thursday that the YAF carried out three top-tier military operations.
The first operation was conducted against different Zionist targets in Umm al-Rashrash/”Eilat”, in southernmost occupied Palestine, after the Yemeni missile force and unmanned airforce fired several ballistic missiles and drones.
The YAF carried out the second operation in the Gulf of Aden, during which the Yemeni naval force engaged the British ISLANDER ship with several appropriate naval missiles, achieving direct hits that caused the breakout of a fire on board.
For the third operation, Saree announced that several drones attacked an American destroyer in the Red Sea.
Saree confirmed that the operations were carried out to champion the oppressed people of Palestine, who are subjected to ongoing brutal aggression and besiegement, as well as a direct response to the American-British aggression against Yemen.
US struggles to halt Red Sea blockade
President Joe Biden’s administration is facing challenges in halting the ongoing operations of the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) in the Red Sea and the YAF is persistently reinforcing its weapons stockpile, despite US forces delivering multiple strikes against multiple targets in Yemen, CNN reported citing US officials.
The report pointed out that US officials are struggling to devise an effective strategy against the YAF, as some within the Biden administration argue that relying solely on the use of force is proving ineffective.
Additionally, it is deemed expensive and impractical to continue launching multimillion-dollar missiles at relatively inexpensive YAF drones and rockets.
The news website cited several officials as saying that the US lacks a clear assessment of the percentage of YAF equipment destroyed during strikes on Yemen, making it uncertain whether the military approach will undergo further changes.
“We just don’t have a good idea of what they [YAF] still have,” a senior defense official told CNN, adding, “They continue to surprise us.”
The CNN report also revealed that in some quarters of the Biden administration, there is a belief that the YAF might cease their operations if the Israeli occupation entity stops its aggression on the Gaza Strip, which is common knowledge to the entire world community.
On Thursday, Ansar Allah leader Sayyed Abdul-Malik Badreddine al-Houthi emphasized during a televised speech that the Yemeni Armed Forces have developed the existing missiles in their arsenal to the point that they have become too advanced for the US forces to intercept, as they have failed to block them from reaching their ships.
A couple of days ago, US Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper declared, in an interview on CBS‘s ’60 Minutes’, that the engagement against the Yemeni Armed Forces in the Red Sea constitutes one of the most significant naval battles the US has encountered in decades.
“I think you’d have to go back to World War II where you have ships who are engaged in combat,” Cooper told the host Norah O’Donnell, on Sunday, before adding that “when I say engaged in combat, where they’re getting shot at, we’re getting shot at, and we’re shooting back.”
Cooper, the deputy commander of the US Central Command, informed O’Donnell that approximately 7,000 sailors from the Navy were deployed to the Red Sea.
The operations of the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) against Zionist owned and bound ships — carried out in support of the people of Gaza until the Zionist aggression on the Strip ceases — have forced some companies to take alternative routes including a two-week detour around the tip of southern Africa.
The YAF have also reiterated that they only chose clear and specific targets to hit the Zionist enemy until the American and British forces became involved in the aggression against Yemen, which turned them into targets as well, reiterating that no other countries are being targeted by the YAF.
sources: Resistance News Network, Al Mayadeen, Al Manar