Shalom all,

The Gaza “Under” Gaza: From the time that Hamas came into power in the Gaza Strip, it has devoted countless financial resources to building a maze of underground tunnels. The tunnel system covers literally hundreds of miles, most of which connect under Gaza City, where Hamas established its legislative building and command centers. The tunnels can be found under almost every type of structure, with entrances through hospitals, mosques, schools, hotels, private homes, stores, gardens and other places. The tunnels serve every aspect of terrorism, with headquarters, living facilities, weapons caches and weapon-manufacturing facilities, along with plumbing, electricity, and staircases, among other things. The interlocking tunnel passageways allow Hamas operatives to moving freely, without notice, to locations from which they can attack IDF units and then crawl back into their holes. The tunnel system is estimated to have cost over a billion dollars.

Now, the IDF is preparing to engage Hamas terrorists inside the tunnels. They have prepared for this, having constructed its own system of underground tunnels based on what it discovered in Gaza. Brigadier General Amir Aviva walked through one of the corridors, accompanied by Adva Dadon, an investigative journalist with one of the major news stations here. She wrote that as the IDF continues its offensive and controls more territory in the Gaza enclave, “it becomes clearer that all that intelligence knew about the [Hamas] tunnel system does not come close to what has been discovered in the field.”

It needs to be remembered that Hamas booby-trapped many of the tunnels and extreme caution will need to be exercised in the IDF’s efforts to pursue Hamas operatives in the latter’s playing field.

One more note about the tunnel system and the hostages: It is clear that the hostages were moved through the tunnels to some locations. It should also be clear that some of the tunnels have “exit points” far removed from Gaza City, where much of the fighting is now concentrated. It is quite possible that Yehya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, has already used the tunnel system to distance himself from the IDF. And, if this turns out to be the case, then it could well be that many of the hostages have also been removed to some location far removed from Shifa Hospital where fighting is taking place. Much prayer is needed for wisdom for the IDF in all matters related to “tunnel warfare” in the “tunnel city under the city”. 

Communities attacked by Hamas:Contrary to what Hamas and its ilk try to convey, the more than 1,400 people who were killed by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and various “unaffiliated, and unknown, mob families”, were not actors in a movie, but were real people. When their lives were cut short, the lives of their families, friends, neighbors and co-workers, among others, were brought to a standstill. However, when approximately 240 people were take hostage by Hamas, the lives of multitudes were stirred into action, in order to bring about their release. Numbers alone are not enough. A photo of a hostage may not be enough. Numbers and photos together have a greater impact. But, even then, it may not be enough. So, many try to come up with another fact, another relationship, another location, another name that adds to the formation of an unfolding picture of the magnitude and impact created by the hostage situation.

One such development is a website that “maps” the locations of the communities that were attacked, that allows an aerial “entry” of sorts into the community, that shows who were killed, who were taken hostage and who are missing. Click on Oct7map.com to start to put places together with names, together with status (killed, taken hostage, or killed while on duty in the IDF). It will open to “Mapping the Massacres” and show the names of many of the different communities that were attacked. The “red” dots refer to those who were killed; the “black spots” refer to those who were taken captive. On the left side of each location is a description of that particular community and a list of the names of those taken hostage, those murdered and those of the IDF who were killed there. Even a brief look at the community “maps” shows that Hamas did not take a leisurely stroll down Main Street, but went house by house, murdering inhabitants, raping, burning, dismembering and brutalizing their victims, as well as taking hundreds captive to Gaza.

The BBC bloops more bias, again. Did you hear of the BBC “editorial error” in saying that the I.D.F. targeted medical staffs and Arabic speakers in Shifa Hospital? They corrected it saying they should have commented that the I.D.F. included medical staffs and Arabic speakers, as they went to Shifa Hospital. It appears that the BBC tried to “translate” English to English. It’s not a translation mistake into English from Hebrew or Arabic. They received the report in English. How could this possibly be “an editorial ‘error’”? This is clearly biased reporting to an audience that relies on what comes out from the tube, without checking the “facts” by themselves. Whatever happened to honest, factual reporting? Lucy Aharish, an Israeli Arab, who was the anchor on Channel 13 News when the wrongful BBC report about the hospital was discussed, said it was inconceivable that they would even think that Israel is capable of targeting medical staff and Arabic speakers.

Let’s add some more “biased reporting” to the above. Yesterday, the largest pro-Israel rally took place in Washington, D.C., with close to 300,000 people attending. World Israel News reported that “The media insisted on claiming that only tens of thousands showed up and provided less coverage than they did to hundreds of anti-Israel protesters” and “This bias is as obvious as it is inevitable. The AP has put out its wire stories falsely claiming that only tens of thousands attended. In sharp contrast to the pro-Hamas ‘ceasefire’ rallies, there were no arrests and no fights with police officers. And no monuments were defaced.”

The Puppeteer lets the Puppet pull its own strings:It took more than four decades for the Iranian built terrorist Axis of Resistance with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Houthis in Yemen, to oppose both Israeli and American power in the Middle East. Terror groups backed by Iran in Iraq and Syria have targeted U.S. forces have been attacked by Iran-backed terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria, while missiles and drones have been launched against Israel by the Houthis. 

During a meeting in Tehran earlier this month, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Kahmenei, told Ismail Haniyeh, one of the senior leaders of Hamas, that because Hamas failed to inform Iran of the October 7th attack on Israel, Tehran was going to sit this one out and not get directly involvedin the war on Hamas’s behalf, unlessit is attacked, in which event everything will change.

Hamas also failed to inform its cousins, the Hezbollah, who were also taken by surprise by the devastating assault on Israel and had to quickly mobilize some of its fighters upon waking up to the news of war. The Lebanese terrorist organization is, without doubt, the most powerful of the axis alliances (after Iran), with an estimated 100,000 fighters. Cross-border incidents have occurred almost daily since the beginning of the war and it has lost dozens of fighters. Even though the Hezbollah has escalated its attacks in recent days, including today with a rocket barrage with over 20 launches today, it has more or less confined its attacks to areas close to the border between Lebanon and Israel. Despite the urgings of Hamas for Hezbollah to take a more active role, taking into account its missile arsenal that is estimated to be over 110,000 – all of which are pointed in the direction of Israel, it has not consented to expand its present involvement. It seems that even Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of the Hezbollah, who is constantly threatening Israel, realizes that an active war against Israel at this time would be disastrous for Lebanon as a country.

It’s been a busy day, with more reports about Qatar seeking the release of some 50 hostages in exchange for a 3-day truce. According to some media sources, the release of ALL the hostages is not presently under discussion. 

We need to continue in prayer. The battle is far from over.

Bless, be blessed and be a blessing.

Marvin