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Israel Cloud

What happened in the hours before the massive IDF night attack on the Hamas Gaza "tunnels"

In a powerful and combined operation, 160 fighters, infantry, artillery and armored vehicles attacked about 150 targets in Hamas' underground infrastructure.


Five hours before the attack, at 19:00 in the evening (the night of May 15, 2021), the northern division of the Gaza Strip began moving armor, artillery, and infantry to the borderline. The red phone keeps ringing and the mass of calls continues to buzz.

In between the sounds, you can hear orders that affect the current situation on the ground - "Arrange for me to jump forces to ......". At the top of the beacon, you can see the location of the tool in the predefined tank.



Anyone involved in a joint attack will have a representative here called a "matchmaker" who will link the brigade to the unit. Here you will identify the Air Force representative, as well as the combat brigade, the AGM officer who received the formation, and the personnel associated with the logistics, police, etc. (including reserve and regular personnel) to make contact.

Near 22:00, an observation was received: "A man is standing in the ***, observing our troops, afraid of being sniped". The entire Knesset stood up and immediately deployed using a slightly different force - the armor slowed its advance, the infantry changed its movement. Meanwhile, we encircled them!


Illustration: Failure of the Hamas "tunnel" project



All the "red" warnings from the country quickly appeared on the screens of the commanders of the internal front of the Israeli parliament. Defending. Soldiers in the room, between attack plans and troop advances, sometimes check to see if their families now want protected space too, if everyone in the room is okay.

The panorama is known only to a few, and it is clear that this is no longer an attack - one of many in this round of escalation. A small portion of the messages floating in the communication network and in the hallway conversations form a jigsaw puzzle with a particularly deceptive picture.


Objective: Let Hamas believe that our forces are about to enter the Gaza Strip on foot, wait for them to station themselves in the terror tunnels in position to attack, and then forcefully fire combined fire and hit as many agents and underground terror infrastructure as possible.


At 23:30, the expectations of the Israeli parliament increased with the passage of time, the time for the operation was approaching, and on the side of the enemy, who already knew that things were happening, Hamas forces began to hide. The organization published the same brutal lesson."


The Knesset is not complacent, but everyone is clear - our forces are close to the final positions, with a final briefing in the Knesset. The northern brigadier general stressed in an in-depth review, "It is important that everyone knows where we are in the area, and you must know the map closely."


At 23:54, everything was ready and six minutes of attack time was needed. The calm before the storm was evident. The AGM officers and the final reset of all personnel on duty were ready for the next step.

At 00:00, the first fighter jet attacked the Gaza Strip, followed by all air forces, artillery, armor and mortars immediately joining the battle. Outside the Knesset, you can hear the attacks, while inside - you can see them.



Hamas agent Sal Salihiya warned against making the "tunnel project" public until about six months ago


The widespread attack lasted until 02:00 p.m. During these two hours, 160 IDF jet fighters and tanks from 12 different squadrons attacked the Hamas tunnels, and while waiting for our troops to enter the tunnel territory, some 150 targets were attacked and the tunnels and underground were destroyed.

The attack was one of the largest attacks on Hamas, and its purpose was to create a position of warlike intimidation - to damage enemy strategic terrorist assets and to stop and prevent enemy aggravation. At the end of the long night, you could still hear the ongoing battle of the Iron Dome missile defense system as they struggled to destroy rockets from the Gaza Strip.

After a long, tense hour, I left the Israeli parliament knowing that their night was not over, but that they would continue their mission to protect all those out there - the people who trust them so much.



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