IDF preps ground op as rockets batter Israel
Gantz authorizes call up of 9,000 reservists • 3 rockets fired from Lebanon land in sea
The IDF is prepared to continue carrying out strikes on Hamas and other terror groups in the Gaza Strip for several days, and has called up 7,000 reservists as rocket barrages continue pounding central and southern Israel.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz authorized the IDF on Thursday evening to call up another 9,000 reservists in accordance with operational needs.
The reservists would be drawn from combat units and command center operators, and will be deployed to Southern Command, Central Command and Northern Command so that soldiers regularly stationed there can be diverted to other missions.
Late Thursday night, three rockets were fired from southern Lebanon. The rockets landed in the sea and the IDF said that it was investigating the incident.
Earlier in the day, the IDF called up artillery reservists, Iron Dome battery operators, doctors, paramedics, IAF, intelligence and other combat units. Another Iron Dome battery was also added to the ones already positioned around the country.
Combat troops will not be able to leave their bases, and additional ground troops have been redeployed to the border ahead of a possible ground operation, including from the Paratroopers’ Brigade, Golani Infantry Brigade and 7th Armored Brigade.
The announcement came shortly after the IDF said that some 160 rockets and mortar shells had been fired toward Israel since 7 a.m. on Thursday.
Dozens of rockets aimed at populated areas were intercepted by Iron Dome. Another 40 failed to make it across the border and landed inside the Strip.
On Thursday afternoon, dozens of long-range rockets were fired toward central Israel, including Tel Aviv, and as far south as Eilat. Several people were injured.
Israel continues massive bombardments against Hamas targets,
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ISRAEL UNDER ATTACK
As many as 1,600 rockets have been fired at Israel since Monday, a third of which have fallen inside Gaza.
IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Hidai Zilberman said that options remain on the table including a ground invasion. The plans were to be presented to IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi and then to the cabinet for approval later on Thursday.
Col. Elad Goren, head of the civil department of the COGAT (the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories), accused Hamas of diverting for rocket use fuel earmarked for Gaza’s desalination plant that provides water to Gaza citizens.
“Now 250,000 in Beit Lahiya do not have water because of Hamas’s decision,” he explained in a briefing with reporters.
Hamas rockets intended for Israel fell short and took out three electricity lines, cutting off 250,000 people from electricity. The lines were among 10 provided by Israel to help increase Gaza’s electricity supply.
In addition, Gaza residents have only five hours of electricity per day, Goren said, down
with concern and sadness the violence and riots flaming up in many mixed cities, but also vouching that tensions will not affect their ability to work in harmony.
From all over Israel, doctors and nurses offered testimony that coexistence is possible, and asked Israeli society at large to learn from what happens in hospitals, such as the need to avoid talking about politics, or that some doctors were not ready to speak publicly about the topic for fear of backlash in their communities.
“Between 20% and 25% of our 5,000 employees are Arab, which is about the same rate of Arab patients we have,” said Prof. Jonathan Halevy, co-director of Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem. “I believe that our multi-ethnic, multi-cultural group well represents our multi-ethnic multi-cultural city.
“Shaare Zedek began operations 119 years ago. I have run it for 31 years. There have never been tensions among the staff on an ethnic basis. We are all united by the mission to work for the patients. I know it sounds very banal but it is true. Politics remains outside the hospital.”
Halevy described these times as “very trying. I don’t think there is a single Israeli citizen today who is not worried for this unprecedented situation. “Medical staff is not different except that no matter what, they always report for duty.”
Halevy pointed out that the head of Shaare Zedek’s corona department was an Arab doctor from East Jerusalem, while his head nurse was a haredi (ultra-Orthodox) mother of seven.
“They worked hand in hand,” he said.
In order to respond to the tragic ethnic tensions that have seen both Jewish and Arab mobs turned violent, many hospitals have chosen to send out a message of coexistence.
“We call on everyone: it’s time to take a deep breath, stop the violence and return to dialogue and sanity,” said the heads of Shaare Zedek, Hadassah-University Medical Center, , Netanya’s Laniado Medical Center, Ma’aynei Hayeshua Medical Center, Bnei Brak, and the Italian, French and English hospitals in Nazareth. “We know that the extremists we have seen in recent days do not represent any population here, and they must not be allowed to dictate the agenda of us all.”
The Galilee Medical Faculty in Safed of Bar-Ilan University created a video featuring its doctors and nurses from different sectors standing together side by side with the soundtrack of the iconic Israeli song “I have no other country.”
The Bnei Zion Medical Center in Haifa organized a meal for its Jewish and Arab staff to celebrate coexistence and to call on everyone to face this dramatic period with patience and tolerance.
The Rambam Medical Center, Haifa, promoted a social media campaign featuring Arab and Jewish personnel holding “shalom-salam” signs.
“When I look at what is happening, the life in our hospitals feels like a dream,” said Linda Hashem, an Arab senior nurse who has been working at Rambam for 26 years. “I have never felt anything unpleasant here, I have never experienced racism.”
The staff does not take into consideration the origin of the patients, she added, while it has occurred that some patients were a little hesitant about the identity of the staff caring for them, but very rarely.
“As a Christian, I think that what is happening in the streets is more connected to the religion aspect than to the ethnic group or to the language spoken,” Hashem added.
The good relations among staff at Rambam are not limited to the working hours. Jews, Muslims and Christians also see each other and spend time together outside the hospital, explained Khalid Namora, another Arab nurse.
“All year long I wait to go and celebrate Mimouna,” he said, referring to the traditional Jewish Maghrebi festival that is held at the end of Passover.
“My closest friends are the people I work with,” he added. “Here we have a sense of community, a feeling of family and of mutual respect that it would be very good if we could transfer to the society as a whole.”
According to Namora, it is very hard to watch what is happening, the disruption of the order, the lack of quiet.
“I hope all of this will end quickly,” he said. “It is not good for the country.”
“At work we do not feel who is an Arab or who is a Jew,” said Rambam senior nurse Hagar Baruch. “During the corona pandemic, we celebrated together the Jewish holidays, the Muslim holidays and the Christian holidays. In the field of medicine, everyone has to help everyone. We are like a family. We do not talk about politics.”
Health Minister Yuli Edelstein and ministry Director-General Chezy Levy sent out a letter on Thursday night to all the health workers.
Edelstein and Levy praised their mission to save life and the ability of the health system to lead the way for Israel in terms of coexistence, but they also warned the workers that any support for violence and against equality or sanctity of life would be sanctioned with disciplinary actions.