Mission Brief: Dispatch #7

8,000+ Rockets

I want to take today’s Mission Brief to discuss rockets. 

The atrocities of October 7th began with a massive rocket attack from Hamas

  Just a portion of yesterday’s alerts on the home front command website

But the rockets haven’t stopped. 

Over 4 weeks, more than 8000 rockets have been launched at Israeli cities and communities.

We’ve lived under the threat of rockets for a long time. This chart shows launches against Israel from Gaza since 2006. All told, that’s around 19,000 launches - before the current war, or an average of 3 a day, every day for 17 years.

Of the over 8000 rockets fired at Israel in the last month, about 10% have failed to reach Israel - exploding or landing in Gaza. 

This includes the now infamous explosion at Al -Alhi hospital which was caused by a failed Islamic Jihad rocket. It’s hard to get an accurate estimate of quite how much destruction Hamas and Islamic Jihad have caused in Gaza as a result of their rocket fire at Israeli towns and cities.

This is a major part of what we mean when we discuss dismantling Hamas’ military infrastructure and capabilities. We will continue to operate against these launch sites, and remove the threat to our cities. 

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Operational Updates

• From the beginning of combat, in cooperation with the ISA, we eliminated 10 Hamas terrorists who held the rank equivalent to battalion or brigade commander. These are Hamas tactical leaders who are leading operations against our forces. They are also the ones who planned the barbaric massacre on October 7th and carried it out with their subordinates. 

• Combat engineering troops are active in Gaza creating access routes, clearing explosive devices, neutralizing terror infrastructure and terrorist cells found in the area. Video of their activities can be found here

• Sirens in Eilat on Saturday morning were determined to be a false alarm. 

In the North…

• Two terrorist cells attempting to fire from Lebanon toward Israeli territory.  IDF forces returned fire, striking the cells and a Hezbollah observation post. 

• Following launches from Lebanon toward communities in northern Israel, the IDF responded by striking the source of the fire in Lebanon.

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Quote of the Day

“Just moments ago I spoke with some of the commanders in the field and I wish to convey to you: morale is high; they are strong; they are determined; they are prepared; they know what they are fighting for. They are fighting for us and for you and fighting for our home here in Israel.”

RAdm. Daniel Hagari, IDF Spokesperson, in last night’s briefing

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What I’m Reading

These are interesting articles I’ve recently come across. By sharing them I am not endorsing them, their points of view, or the veracity of information therein. They’re just interesting articles I came across.

Hamas has Deadlier Weapons Than the Last Time Israel Invaded Gaza - WSJ

A breakdown of Hamas’ lethal arsenal, from drones and rockets to RPGs and assault rifles. 

Witness to a Massacre: Israeli Festival Survivor Returns to Site of Hamas Rampage - CNN
Aliza Samuel, a 24 year old survivor of the Re’im massacre, returns to the site where she saw friends murdered. “I think it’s important for me to come back.. No matter how painful it is…the world needs to know what happened here.”