Videos published on social media in recent weeks show terrorists approaching military vehicles and shooting from point-blank range at soldiers.
Serious videos released by terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip in recent weeks indicate an escalation in audacity and an increased risk to IDF forces.
While in the past, terrorists used to document shooting at forces from distant traffic routes and hiding places, in recent weeks, there have been recordings of placing explosive devices at point-blank range targeting tanks, armored personnel carriers (APCs), and other vehicles, along with direct fire.
In footage that spread widely across Arab networks last week, terrorists are seen charging toward an IDF APC and shooting at it. One of them was apparently recorded attaching an explosive device underneath the vehicle. Afterward, the vehicle started moving.
In the most recent incident, which occurred yesterday (Tuesday) in Khan Yunis, a terrorist managed to approach an APC from the Engineering Corps Battalion 605, place an explosive device, and move away. The explosion ignited the vehicle, killing seven IDF soldiers.
MK Amit Halevi commented on the IDF's activities in the Gaza Strip during an interview with Knesset Channel today: "What’s happening in the Gaza Strip for the last twenty months is just madness. I’m not saying anything new here, I’ve been saying this for twenty months in the committee. For twenty months we’ve had to do one thing: defeat the Gaza enemy, and that is exactly what we’re not doing. We’re supplying them with fuel, food, and water."
He added: "After twenty months of a murderous organization slaughtering our children, taking our elderly, beheading them, all these horrific, genocidal acts, and it’s still standing. Not only is it still standing, but it’s receiving food, fuel, and water from us—everything that enables it to harm our soldiers. It has unrestricted control over the land, the population, and resources."
"The results are very bad," Halevi continued. "Our children are walking in alleys instead of carrying out an effective siege. Why is Hamas at its peak strength today? Why does Hamas have nearly 30,000 fighters, with an additional 10,000 from the Islamic Jihad?"
In conclusion, he said: "The Cabinet should have instructed Chief of Staff Eyal Zamiri to deliver the one thing he was appointed for—defeat and victory. Nothing else. The Gaza Strip needs occupation, control, and purification, as we learn in every ground operation of the military. This has not happened for twenty months."