Bibi Netanyahu gives the go-ahead to a military offensive

Let us be absolutely clear about the grim necessity unfolding in Gaza, where the clash of civilizations plays out in brutal clarity. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given the nod to a military offensive on Gaza City, a decision that carries the weight of existential stakes. 

The Israel Defense Forces, under the steely gaze of Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, are poised to strike, having toured the Strip on Thursday with Southern Command’s Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor and other senior officers. This is no mere maneuver; it is a prelude to a campaign aimed at crushing Hamas's grip on the city while, in a delicate parallel, pursuing talks to free 50 hostages still languishing in the hands of Palestinian terrorists. Of those hostages, President Trump had recently predicted that he believes around 20 or less are still alive.

Netanyahu, with the precision of a man who knows the world's eyes are on him, declared, "We are at the stage of decision. I came today to the [IDF] Gaza Division to approve the plans presented to me and the defense minister by the IDF to take control of Gaza City and to defeat Hamas." Yet, in a nod to the moral complexity of this conflict, he added, "At the same time, I directed that immediate negotiations begin for the release of all our hostages and to end the war under conditions acceptable to Israel. These two things: defeating Hamas and releasing all our hostages go hand in hand." This is not the language of a leader threading the needle between vengeance and humanity.

Across the Atlantic, the Trump administration has thrown its weight behind a ceasefire proposal, with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirming on Tuesday that Hamas has, at least on paper, accepted it. But President Trump himself, never one for diplomatic niceties, laid bare the stakes on Truth Social: "The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be." He insists that the hostages' return hinges on Hamas being "confronted and destroyed." 

U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, with a candor that cuts through the fog of diplomacy, noted, "Three weeks ago, that proposal was on the table, and they slow-played us, Hamas. And the president put out his Truth statement saying that he wasn't going to tolerate it anymore, and guess what happened? There's been a major break." 

The proposal, as reported by Arab media, includes an Israeli pullout from parts of Gaza, the release of 10 of the 20 living hostages, and the freeing of over 200 Palestinian terrorists during a 60-day ceasefire. A grim barter, but one that reflects the brutal arithmetic of this war.

Defense Minister Israel Katz, with a rhetoric that could make the devil flinch, warned on Friday, "Soon the gates of hell will open on the heads of Hamas's murderers and rapists in Gaza, until they agree to Israel's conditions for ending the war, chief among them the release of all hostages and their disarmament." He added, with chilling resolve, "If they don't agree, Gaza, the capital of Hamas, will become Rafah and Beit Hanoun. Just as I promised, so it will be." 

This is the language of a nation that has endured the barbarity of October 7, 2023, and will tolerate no more.

Zamir, surveying the battlefield, said: “We are advancing with the efforts toward operations in Gaza City. We already have troops operating on the outskirts of the city, and more forces will join them later on." His mission is twofold and non-negotiable: "Our missions remain the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas; we will not rest and we will not stop until we complete them. Achieving these missions is vital for our future and for our values as a society." 

The Lt. General noted that Hamas, once a formidable terrorist machine, has been reduced to a guerrilla force since the October 7 massacre. Yet, like a wounded beast, it remains dangerous, and Israel will hunt it relentlessly, "for as long and wherever necessary."

The human cost of this operation looms large. Some 800,000 to 1 million residents of Gaza City will be evacuated south to Al-Mawasi near Rafah, a humanitarian corridor carved out amidst the chaos. The IDF's Gaza District Coordination and Liaison Unit has begun warning medical officials and aid organizations, ensuring hospital infrastructure in the south is ready to receive the sick and wounded. Two additional field hospitals and four more Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution centers are planned, with U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee stating the goal is to scale up to 16 such sites. 

This is not compassion for its own sake but a recognition that the world watches, and Israel must balance its sword with a shield of humanity.

The IDF's dominance is undeniable. Over 75% of the Gaza Strip is under Israeli control, with 2,000 terrorists killed since ground operations resumed five months ago. Since March 18, 10,000 terrorist targets have been struck, and strategic corridors, Morag and Magen Oz, have sliced through Hamas's strongholds. 

Five IDF divisions, supported by air and naval forces, have dismantled tunnels, neutralized cells, and eliminated senior commanders complicit in the October 7 barbaric atrocities. To sustain this offensive, Katz has authorized the mobilization of 60,000 reservists and extended service for 20,000 more, freeing active-duty troops for what may be a decisive assault on one of Hamas’s last bastions, potentially as early as September.

This is a war of necessity, not choice. Zamir, addressing the Kfir Infantry Brigade and other units, underscored the gravity: "Our struggle is still long, and many challenges lie ahead. All of Israel is looking at you and relying on you. We have no alternative but victory." 

For Israel, this is not merely a fight for territory but for survival, for the right to exist without the shadow of terror. The world may wring its hands, but Israel's resolve is unshakable, and the gates of hell, as Katz promised, are creaking open.

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IDF strikes Khan Yunis in Gaza and Kafr Kila in southern Lebanon

The Middle East is a tinderbox, and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are tossing matches. On Saturday, the IDF issued evacuation warnings to Gazan residents in Nuseirat and other central Gaza neighborhoods, urging them to hightail it south to Al-Mawasi. Why? Because the IDF allegedly hammered targets in southern Khan Yunis in Gaza and even took a swing at Kafr Kila in south Lebanon, according to Arab media. 

Nothing says "weekend plans" like airstrikes and artillery fire, right?

In Lebanon, Hezbollah's mouthpiece Al-Mayadeen reported that "an Israeli aircraft dropped a bomb" in Kafr Kila. No word on whether it came with a gift receipt. Meanwhile, in Gaza, Palestinian sources claimed IDF artillery flattened residential buildings in southern Khan Yunis. If you’re keeping score, that’s a lot of rubble for one morning and cleanup in Aisle 3.

The IDF’s Arabic spokesman, Avichay Adraee, doubled down, calling on residents of Nuseirat, Badr, Al-Zahra, and other central Gaza neighborhoods to pack up and head to Al-Mawasi. No coffee breaks, folks, just move south, asap. This comes amid Israel’s approval of 22 new West Bank settlements, a move that’s got the Palestinian statehood crowd fuming and Hamas digging in deeper, per the Jerusalem Post. 

Things got spicier in Khan Yunis. 

Just a day earlier, members of the Abu Shabab group seized control of Nasser Hospital after what Gazan media called "heavy exchanges of fire." Picture this: an Israeli soldier standing in a tunnel under the European Hospital in Khan Yunis on June 8, 2025, as captured by Reuters’ Ronen Zvulun. Hamas, meanwhile, is reportedly trying to round up some of the players involved in the hospital takeover. Drama on top of drama.

Yasser Abu Shabab, presumably the guy in charge, went on Army Radio to set the record straight: “We are not working with Israel,” he insisted. “They are simple weapons that we collected from the local population.” Sure, just a neighborhood cleanup crew with AK-47s. But he didn’t slam the door on future coordination with the IDF, adding it would be for “humanitarian purposes.” Translation: don’t call it a bromance yet, but keep the line open.

So, here we are: evacuations, airstrikes, hospital takeovers, and settlement approvals, all while the region teeters on the edge. Just another day in the neighborhood; or is it a sign of bigger explosions to come?

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IDF kills 50 Hamassholes in northern and central Gaza

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have dispatched 50 Hamas fighters to their eternal reward in northern and central Gaza, according to a Monday announcement from the IDF. Not that their eternal reward was in northern and central Gaza, that's where they were killed, but their reward is in a place much hotter.

To be precise, Division 252 has been busy around the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza and sundry areas to the north, uncovering a tunnel network stretching a full kilometer - a subterranean surprise missed in previous incursions.

Not content with mere spelunking, the IDF also obliterated a rocket fabrication facility. This could prove consequential as Hamas has resumed its irritating habit of lobbing rockets - in admittedly paltry numbers - at the Gaza Corridor of late. "By air and land: Attacking Hamas" - a pithy summary of the IDF's recent exertions.

Earlier that Monday, the IDF declared it was extending its invasion to virgin territory in Rafah. 

The previous day, with hostage talks teetering at a tipping point, the Gaza war seemed to be coasting along on autopilot. From Thursday to Sunday last week, aerial assaults persisted and limited ground probes occurred, but no major escalation materialized - a far cry from the IDF's more vigorous invasions earlier in the conflict or the dire forecasts of a month ago, when a new hostage deal seemed a distant prospect.

With little news to report on the Gaza front in recent days, the Israeli government appears to have flashed a cautionary amber light, pausing the invasion's momentum to allow space for negotiating a new hostage accord with Hamas. This came just prior to the IDF going deeper into Gaza, which probably had most residents head out to the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone 

 before the IDF plunges deeper into Gaza, likely forcing most residents to decamp for the al-Mawasi humanitarian zone on the Mediterranean shore.

Prior to Monday, the IDF's last claim of eliminating dozens of Hamas terrorists came the previous Thursday. Friday and Sunday were silent days for IDF Gaza war updates, while Saturday brought a lone minor report of a foray into a less vital Rafah sector, plus news of assorted air strikes. 

The last significant ground operation was March 26, when the IDF mandated a mass Palestinian exodus from northern Gaza - Zeitoun, Rimal, Tel-al-awa and two other districts - adding to prior evacuations from Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, and Jabalia. Most key northern Gaza Hamas strongholds, barring downtown Gaza City, Shejaiya, and Shaati, were thus emptied, making those March 26 maneuvers noteworthy.

That same day, the IDF pummeled Gaza areas responsible for an unspecified impact near Zimrat in the Gaza Corridor. Hamas's March 26 rocket volley failed to kill, but one of the two projectiles penetrated defenses, and the Gazan terror outfits retain the capacity to fire a handful of rockets simultaneously. Same on Saturday, when the IDF hit Khan Yunis zones that had mortared nearby IDF troops.

Zooming out, the most devastating blow of this renewed strife was undoubtedly March 18, when the air force flattened some 80 high-value targets - including numerous senior Hamas politicos - in a mere 10 minutes. 

A few days of steady escalation and invasion into various Gaza sectors ensued, seemingly peaking on March 26 with potential to expand further into Gaza City, fresh parts of Khan Yunis, and central Gaza. Instead, it has leveled off for now.

Last week, a cabal of senior reservists urged IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir to widen the invasion pronto and squeeze Hamas to the max, even as hostage advocates pressed the government to strike a new bargain with the Gazan terror group and suspend the latest hostilities. Israel resumed combat after a 42-day ceasefire, followed by an almost three-week stalemate between the parties on the ceasefire's next phase.

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Hamas' prime minister killed in surgical strike just days after his predecessor

They called him Ismail

A senior member of the Hamas political bureau, Ismail Barhum was killed on Sunday in a targeted, surgical strike, Palestinian media sadly reported. The precision strike hit a Khan Younis hospital where Hamas operatives hid out among the Arab population and where Barhum was working out of.

Barhoum was responsible for the regional distribution of funds to his fellow Jew-hating terrorists. He was the fourth senior member of Hamas to be sent to Jannah in targeted strikes in the past 24 hours, and with good fortune, will not be the last.

As this strike was being carried out, the IDF was preparing to advance a division of tanks to the border with Gaza as preparations to expand the offensive that began last week, were underway.

The IDF and Shin Bet said hours earlier that two senior Hamas commanders were killed in a targeted airstrike. The military said the attacks were meant to degrade the terror group's military capabilities and remove threats to Israel and the forces. However, the best way to remove threats to Israel in the future, is to destroy Hamas and Hezbollah altogether, and to take over Gaza.

The terrorist leaders were Hamas' Gaza Brigade deputy commander Ahmad Salman ‘Awj Shimali, responsible for operations, planning the offensive strategy, and building the brigade's force in preparation for Hamas's massacre on October 7. and the terror group’s Shijaiyah Battalion commander Jamil Omar Jamil Wadiya. They were not decent human beings and what they were responsible for at that Nova festival massacre, is clear proof they deserved what they got.

“Wadiya was responsible for deploying the battalion's forces against IDF troops and operated to restore and reorganize the battalion, the IDF said He was also involved in the anti-tank missile attack on a school bus in April 2011, in which a 16-year-old boy was murdered,” the IDF added.

As I wrote earlier, the IDF said it had killed Salah al-Bardawil in an overnight strike on his tent in the humanitarian zone of al-Mawasi, near Khan Younis. Al-Bardawil, a member of Hamas’ politburo, was one of the few senior leaders who chose to remain in the Gaza Strip throughout the months of fighting because in spite of his high rank in the terrorist organization, he wasn't very bright and due to his stubborn resolve, his daughter was killed with him.

Over the weekend, Defense Minister Israel Katz  ordered the IDF to seize additional territory in Gaza and had the local population of anti-Zionists leave and go to humanitarian areas to expanding security zones around Israeli border communities.

"As long as Hamas continues to refuse to release the hostages, it will lose more and more land, which will be annexed to Israel," Katz said.

The IDF Home Front Command eased restrictions in most Gaza border communities after the IDF’s limited operation in Gaza. Under the new guidelines, gatherings of up to 2,000 people are now permitted and educational activities can resume without limitations.

In the meantime, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Sunday that Hamas is responsible for the renewed fighting in Gaza after rejecting efforts to move forward with what had been an "acceptable deal."

"So this is on Hamas. The United States stands with the state of Israel," Witkoff told Fox News. "Hamas had every opportunity to demilitarize, to accept the bridging proposal."

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IDF to resume the eradication of Hamas: cutting off aid and bombarding Strip with boots on the ground

Israeli decision-makers plan to resume the Gaza war in four to six weeks with shock and awe, sending in tens of thousands of troops to conquer the entire strip in a single coordinated offensive against Hamas terrorists.

Incoming military chief of staff Eyal Zamir has, at the direction of Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, started developing the plan, according to several current and former Israeli officials with knowledge of high-level discussions.

Israel plans to deploy more soldiers in Gaza than it had previously used--more than 50,000 troops, before relocating civilian Hamas supporters to humanitarian zones. The IDF will then wage a 

Under the plan, Israel will deploy more troops to Gaza than it has to this point in the war—over 50,000—before relocating the civilian population to humanitarian zones and waging a merciless ground campaign against Arab terrorists across the rest of the Gaza Strip.

“We’re going to see four to five divisions simultaneously attack in the north, in the center, and in the south, to occupy every area and clear out the enemy,” Hezi Nehama said. He is a former IDF colonel who co-authored the Generals’ Plan, an influential proposal for a staged siege of Gaza. “It will look different than what we saw in the war until now.”

“It’s going to be decisive,” said Amir Avivi, a former Israeli brigadier general who has advised the Israeli government and military during the war. “Israel will use every tool it has to conquer Gaza and eradicate Hamas.”

It's about time. In the past, the fighting always ended with Hamas and Israel's enemies still intact. This needs to change and Israel must protect itself from future attacks. They need to control all of Gaza and rid the country of Hamassholes, Hezbollah, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and their ilk.

The plan begins with a wave of airstrikes on Gaza and a reduction of humanitarian aid to Gaza, the sources said. “There will be no aid outside the humanitarian zones,” said Kobi Michael, a former head of the Palestinian desk at the Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry and before that a senior Israeli military intelligence official. 

After all, what army in human history supplied their foes with supplies? And the world expects this from Israel because the world is rooting for the other teams.

“This will prevent Hamas from continuing to steal all the humanitarian aid and will increase pressure on the group through the local population,” Michael added.

Nehama said Israel plans to expand an existing humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi in southern Gaza into a single giant refuge. Other sources said there would be several humanitarian zones.

The IDF raised its alert and readiness level along the Gaza border on Sunday, and Hamas has also reportedly started making preparations for renewed fighting.

Zamir, the incoming military chief of staff, estimates that the plan, which he will present to Netanyahu and Katz after taking office next Thursday, can be completed in six months or less, according to Nehama.

The plan could be paused if Hamas agrees to release more of the 59 Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, 35 of them confirmed dead, or to disarm and leave Gaza in exchange for an end to the war, the sources said. But the chances of the latter happening is as likely as Mahmoud Abbas converting to Judaism. 

Israeli decision-makers agree and don't believe Hamas is ready to make such compromises. After all, the hostages are the only bargaining chip for the terrorists and if they release them, then Israel can go all-out war on the terrorists.

Israel’s plan to resume the war comes on the heels of a string of military and diplomatic successes that leave the Jewish state less constrained than at any previous point in the past 17 months of war, thanks to President Trump. 

Hezbollah agreed in November to a humiliating ceasefire with Israel, easing pressure on Israel’s overstretched army, but it's not crazy to think given enough time to regroup, resupply and replenish troops that Hezbollah will stay out of the anti-Zionist fray.

“We always had divisions in the north, and now we don’t need divisions in the north because Hezbollah is not a threat,” said Nehama. “So we can take those divisions and put them all in Gaza at the same time, and this is very important.”

In January, President Trump began reversing former alleged president Joe Biden’s efforts to restrain Israel and accommodate its genocidal enemies.

Trump has aligned more closely with Israel against Hezbollah and Iran and ended the Biden handler[s] restrictions on U.S. military aid to Israel.

In Gaza, meanwhile, Trump has taken an even harder line than Bibi, pushing the prime minister to resume the war with Hamas and resettle Gazans abroad.

During Netanyahu’s visit to the White House earlier this month, Trump told the prime minister to “do whatever you need to do” to defeat Hamas, according to an Israeli military official who described the meeting on condition of anonymity. But, the official said, Trump gave Netanyahu just 150 days to finish the job.

And this appears to be Bibi's plan.

Israel’s government, meanwhile, has replaced a number of top security officials who resisted deeper involvement in Gaza, including former defense minister Yoav Gallant and outgoing military chief of staff Herzi Halevi, with generals who are considered more hawkish. They had the same historical cyclic strategy to fight, stop, wait, and fight again after the enemy has regained its military strength. 

Israel has got to stop trying to be the good guys in order to win the love of the world. It isn't going to happen anyway, so they need to finish the job and let the haters hate.

An Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that in recent cabinet meetings, ministers have “completely rejected” Halevi’s approach to Gaza and accused him of “doing everything he can to prevent victory in the war,” the World Israel News reported. 

“Behind the scenes, there are discussions with Zamir, which are much more constructive,” the anonymous official said. “We hope to see him take leadership of the military and execute his plans.”

In a meeting early February with Netanyahu, Katz and Yaron Finkelman, the head of Israel’s Southern Command, Zamir rejected Halevi’s latest proposal for the Gaza war as too timid, according to Nehama and another former Israeli military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The next chief of staff didn’t like what he heard,” Nehama said. “He told the prime minister and the defense minister that he would present them with another plan, much more aggressive and decisive with many more troops involved.”

As I said before, the ridiculous cycle of war between Israel and her enemies has got to end here and now. The Jewish State needs to end the war by ending Hamas and all others who would see the demise of the Jews in Israel and then globally. 

It must end now. 

Am Yisrael Chai.

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