Israeli media pin 'Israel's' calamity, failure on Netanyahu
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Israeli Haaretz daily discusses Netanyahu’s failures, holding him responsible for yesterday's unfolding events in the Gaza Envelope settlements.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to use a red marker on a map of "The New Middle East," as he addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. (AP)
In its Sunday editorial, the Israeli occupation’s Haaretz newspaper said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “responsible for the catastrophe that befell Israel on Sukkot [a Jewish holiday].”
The daily noted that Netanyahu will attempt to “evade responsibility and lay the blame on the heads of the Army, Aman [military intelligence], and the Shin Bet.”
Haaretz further said in its editorial, “The prime minister, who prided himself on his vast political experience and his irreplaceable wit in security matters, completely failed to recognize the danger into which he knowingly led the country when he established the government of annexation and expropriation when he appointed Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir to its key positions, and when he pursued a foreign policy that publicly ignored the presence and rights of the Palestinians.”
Read next: Gaza's Al-Aqsa Flood: Resistance makes history, day one highlights
The newspaper further accused him of underestimating "the enemy and its military capabilities…However, the intelligence and military failure does not absolve Netanyahu of his overall responsibility for the crisis, as he is the supreme decision maker in Israeli foreign and security affairs.”
Meanwhile, other Israeli media reported that alongside Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, which was launched by the Palestinian Resistance yesterday, the northern front with Lebanon witnessed shelling targeting three Israeli military outposts on occupied Lebanese soil in the Shebaa Farms, for which the Lebanese Resistance claimed responsibility.
The Islamic Resistance in #Lebanon has announced that a large number of artillery shells and guided rockets were used, and the sites were directly hit.
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) October 8, 2023
The targeted military sites are ar-Radar, Zebdine, and Ruwaisat al-Alam.#Palestine#Gaza#طوفان_الأقصى#OperationAlAqsaFlood… pic.twitter.com/6TulARxaRV
300 killed, 750 missing
Earlier, Israeli media reported that unofficial estimates reveal that close to 750 Israelis are still missing, with Palestinian fighters still present in Israeli settlements.
The Israeli media confirmed that confrontations are still ongoing in "Kfar Azza" and "Be'eri", with "control yet to be established" over areas in "Sderot", "Zikim", "Re'im", and "Sufa".
Concurrently, the Israeli Health Ministry reported that the death toll has risen to 300, while 1864 are injured, including 19 clinically dead and 326 are in critical condition.
Additionally, Israeli media reports indicated that an Israeli soldier committed suicide in the "Re'im" kibbutz using his personal firearm in the wake of the Palestinian operation.
Furthermore, the Israeli occupation forces said, "The entire zone of responsibility of the Gaza Division has now been declared a closed military zone," in a statement on X.
Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, have announced that confrontations between the Resistance and Israeli occupation forces are ongoing on several fronts, including "Sufa" and "Kibbutz Holit".
Al-Qassam Brigades spokesperson Abu Obeida confirmed that the number of Israeli prisoners is "several times greater than the Zionist entity thinks." He directed a message to the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, stating that his threats to Gaza are a "losing bet after the soldiers fell like locusts, and hundreds of them fled." He emphasized that the entity is facing a deep crisis, "after witnessing the courage of our men.”
Read more: 'Israel was humiliated and defeated': The Washington Post
What you need to know
On Saturday, Mohammad Deif, Commander-in-Chief of al-Qassam Brigades, announced the launching of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood following a barrage of rockets fired and an infiltration operation into Gaza Envelope settlements.
The leader said the operation comes in response to the Israeli occupation's desecration of al-Aqsa Mosque and multiple assaults against women in its yards.
Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, issued a military statement regarding the operation.
Later in the day, Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "Israel is at war" after Hamas fighters initiated a large-scale surprise attack on settlements in the Gaza envelope.
In a filmed statement published several hours after the Palestinian Resistance launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, Netanyahu confirmed that he convened the heads of the Israeli security establishment and directed that Palestinian Resistance fighters who crossed into Gaza envelope settlements be "neutralized".
Towns and cities quickly fell into complete control of the Resistance units as Israeli occupation military and police forces collapsed within the first hour of the attack.
The Resistance's operation comes in the context of continued and unchecked Israeli aggression against Palestinians in the West Bank and occupied al-Quds, as well as a suffocating siege on the Gaza Strip.
