The View Above (and Below) Gaza

Yesterday I went into Gaza.

If you would have told me 5 weeks ago that I’d be writing this in November 2023, I wouldn’t have believed you.

If you told me we’d be destroying tunnels in the heart of Hamas-run Gaza City I wouldn’t have believed you.

If you told me we’d have hundreds of unidentified terror victims, and that we’d need archaeologist to sift through the ruins of kibbutzim to find incinerated bodies, I wouldn’t have believed you either.

Everything has changed. And that includes how people consume information.

Until our troops entered, much of Gaza’s news was ‘filtered’ through Hamas’ different offices in Gaza.

Freedom of the press wasn’t high on the list of Hamas priorities. As a matter of fact, the terrorist organization is, in many cases, more focused on killing stories.

Of much higher priority - higher than even looking out for the residents of Gaza - was killing Jews. In an interview with the New York Times, a Hamas leader was recently quoted as saying:

“This battle [the October 7th massacres] was not because we wanted fuel or laborers…It did not seek to improve the situation in Gaza.”

More people need to understand this.

Over the last week we’ve been embedding reporters with our troops in Gaza, showing them tunnels we’ve uncovered and the huge amounts of ammunition and weapons under apartment buildings, playgrounds, etc etc.

Here’s what one neighborhood in Gaza looks like.

But if you want an even closer look at the situation in Gaza, I suggest listening to the soldiers on the ground. That’s why we created the "Mission Brief” podcast - to bring these stories directly to you (much like this Substack!).

In our latest episode, we speak with two officers - Major ‘T’ in the Combat Engineering Corps (who joined us from Gaza where he’s working to destroy Hamas tunnels) and Major ‘R’ a drone pilot who provides support from the air.

Unbelievably, Major T was on his honeymoon in Vegas when the war began, and after flying home was in his uniform and on his way to base within 90 minutes.

Listen to their stories here:

Or on Apple Podcasts

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Operational Updates

• Our forces in Gaza continue to advance, making significant progress while engaging in fierce battles with Hamas in the last day.

• Last night, Nahal Brigade soldiers overran Hamas’ ‘Outpost 17’ in Jabalya after a 10 hour firefight. Dozens of terrorists were killed in the battle. Significant enemy materials were recovered from the outpost relating to Hamas’ operational plans.

• An IDF fighter jet killed Ibrahim Abu- Maghsib, the head of Hamas’ Anti Tank Missile Unit in the Central Camps Brigade. The attack was carried out using intelligence provided by the ISA and IDF Intelligence agencies. Footage of the strike can be viewed here.

• As of today, forces in Gaza have identified and destroyed 130 tunnel openings.

• In Northern Israel, Hezbollah is continuing to try to distract us from our mission in Gaza. They will not succeed.

• In response to rockets fired at Israeli communities from Lebanon, we struck Hezbollah military positions, anti-tank missile launchers, and operational technologies used to direct terror activities.

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Quote of the Day

Usually theses quotes aren’t from the terrorists, but I had to make an exception for this one:

”There are ambulances that go and come back. I can go with any ambulance”

It’s from a conversation we intercepted between Hamas and a Gazan resident. You’ll want to watch the whole thing here:

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What I’m reading

I’m still looking into it but Honest Reporting’s questions about the involvement of some freelancer employees of some major publications certainly raises some very interesting questions.