JERUSALEM, Israel – The Israeli military operation in the last Hamas stronghold of Gaza City has begun as Israel launched a new surveillance satellite to keep an eye on even more of the Middle East.
The Israel Defense Forces officially launched their ground operation on Tuesday after a massive call-up of reservists.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commended the reservists, focusing on both the future and the recent past.
“We are working to defeat Hamas, but along the way we have worked wonders together because we broke the Iranian axis; both in Gaza, in Lebanon with Hezbollah, and with the Assad regime that collapsed,” Netanyahu announced. “Also, with Iran itself that posed existential threats to us, and we removed them together, and now also with the Houthis. But what began in Gaza must end in Gaza.”
Some 33,000 reservists reported for duty. Media reports suggested several thousand did not show up, but will do so later. Many reservists cited strain on families and businesses for their delay in reporting.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir thanked the reservists and indicated Israel will not end the war until the enemy is defeated.
“We have already begun the ground operation in Gaza, make no mistake,” Zamir stressed. “We are already entering places we have never entered before and operating there with courage, strength, valor, and an extraordinary spirit. I want to tell you that nowhere does the IDF offer anything less than decisive victory.”
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Just days after Israel targeted the Houthi Prime Minister and other officials in an airstrike, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the rest of the leadership is fleeing the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
Katz noted, “Like all the leaders of radical Islamist terror, they look after themselves and abandon residents. We knew how to hunt them down this time, and we will know how to do so in the future as well.”
Overnight, Israel’s Defense Minister (IMOD) successfully launched the Ofek 19 surveillance satellite, considered to be a “significant leap forward in Israel’s defense capabilities in space.”
The space program is credited with helping Israel achieve success in the war against Iran and throughout the region.
Ave Berger, head of the Space Program Office of the Israel Ministry Defense Directorate of Defense Research and Development, stated, “With Ofek 19’s groundbreaking technology, we provide Israel with new operation capabilities and enable us to maintain our operational superiority in space. The Swords of Iron war and Operation Rising Lion clearly emphasize the strategic importance of the capability we developed and launched into space, confronting warfare across seven active arenas simultaneously.”
