Free Republic

Wounded soldiers have given shocking testimony regarding Hamas’ use of young children as human shields. Parents of wounded soldiers spoke to Kol Yisrael on Tuesday and shared some of the disturbing stories they had heard from their sons. They said soldiers have repeatedly seen young children in Sheijaya, Gaza, be sent out into the streets with guns to try to attack IDF troops. One parent reported that terrorists had run at IDF soldiers with a gun in one hand and a baby in the other, apparently in hopes that the soldiers would see the child and hold their fire. If...

Thirteen IDF soldiers have been killed since Saturday night, the IDF said. The process of identifying the bodies is still ongoing. Golani Brigade, armor and engineering corps forces were met with effective close range guerrilla actions in Shejaiya, Gaza. The dead are apparently all from the Golani Brigade. The Brigade's commander, Col. Rasan Alian, was also lightly injured. According to Channel 2, there were several incidents that involved IDF deaths that occurred one after the other after midnight. In the most serious incident, around 1:00 a.m., an armored personnel carrier hit a large explosive charge, or may have been hit...

Israeli Arab MK Hanin Zoabi (Balad) continued to openly encourage Hamas in the battle against Israel's self-defense operation, giving another inflammatory interview to Al-Jazeera Saturday " " . "The Israeli Home Front Command is afraid of casualties rising following a ground operation," Zoabi said. "The Israeli public cannot stand [the idea that] confrontation will injure more and more IDF soldiers." "Israeli society is interested in a brief ground offensive, to reduce IDF casualties," she added. Zoabi stated that the Hamas escalation took Israel "by surprise." "The Israeli public was certainly surprised that rockets reached Tel Aviv," she boasted. "Israel tried...

Hamas threatened Israel on Thursday evening and warned that it will pay a "high price" for launching a ground assault on Gaza. "The start of the Israeli ground attack on Gaza is a dangerous step, the consequences of which have not been calculated," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a statement quoted by AFP. "Israel will pay a high price and Hamas is ready for the confrontation," he declared. "With this action the Israeli government seeks to restore the morale of its soldiers and the morale of its army leadership - a leadership that is collapsing because of the qualitative...

The Prime Minister's Office has issued a statement that says the IDF has embarked on a ground assault into Gaza against Hamas's tunnels. The operation is deemed as "limited" and will probably not go further than two or three kilometers into Gaza's territory. This is deemed to be deep enough in enemy land to find the openings into Hamas's attack tunnels, like the one that was used in Thursday morning's infiltration into Israel by 13 terrorists. Egypt, meanwhile, has issued a statement saying that Hamas is to blame for the possible deaths of hundreds of Gazan civilians. The statement appears...