Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire which will start at 2100 hours local time. The cease fire was brokered by Islamist leaders from Egypt who met with both sides, but are more loyal to Hamas then to Israel while Egypt will do as much as it can in order to respect and execute the peace treaty it has with Israel after the Six Day War.
Egypt Foreign Minister Amr as well as Secretary of State Clinton announced the cease fire in Cairo and Israel said it would give it a chance. Chances are that Hamas will violate the cease fire as it always has and that the first rockets will hit Israel in less than 24 hours. Hamas has launched over 1,400 missiles, most of them locally made M-75 missiles. The IDF responded by hitting over 1,500 targets, a combination of military as well as civilian targets.
The majority would paint Israel as the villain and condemn strikes against civilian targets. Reality paints a different picture. Hamas fighters as well as their leadership are cowards and hide in densely populated areas. They launch their attacks from there which leaves the IDF no choice and they have to launch attacks against Hamas where they decide to hide.
The majority of the population in the Gaza Strip support Hamas which makes them an accomplice to the terror organization which is funded as well as trained by Iran and their special operation forces, Quds. They are part of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and report directly to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei. The Quds are commanded by Major General Suleimani. Their force is estimated at 15,000 troops. Other estimates are closer to 50,000.
Hamas wanted a cease fire in order to restock their arsenal of missiles and get other military supplies from Iran in order to prepare the pending ground offensive into the Gaza Strip by the IDF. The ISA will try to intercept any arms shipments while the IDF tried to destroy the underground tunnel network which is the primary source of illegal traffic in and out of the Gaza Strip. Israel has mobilized 75,000 Reserve Troops which points to a full ground operation in plan by the IDF.
The Hamas provoked conflict left 13 Israelis dead and 1,100 terrorist as well as terrorist supporters have been eliminated. Israel should give Palestinians in Gaza a choice to either give up Hamas leadership as well as their fighters or die protecting them. The cease fire will not hold very long and will be broken as soon as Hamas feels comfortable to deal with the full ground invasion of the Gaza Strip in order to root out the terror threat.
Jerusalem, the Holy City, was hit by M-75’s twice without inflicting any damage as they landed on the outskirts of town. This was the deepest strike into Israeli territory and took the IDF as well as the ISA by surprise. Some attacks were carried out from Lebanese territory, but never hit Israel. Numerous missiles which were launched from Gaza into Israel were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome Anti-Missile Defense Shield, which ranks amongst the top all-weather air defense systems in the world and is produced by RADS.
The cease fire which was announced earlier in Cairo was jeopardized by an attack on a bus in Tel Aviv which left 24 wounded and was praised by Hamas. This is just the latest incident which demonstrates the values of the terror group and gives more reason to annihilate the threat in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians who reside in the area need to make a choice today; either support the terrorists and continue to live under fear every day or give them up and clean the way for the IDF to eliminate the threat and start over.
