Jerusalem’s goal is to destroy the northern part of the territory completely and move civilians to a southern safe area for evacuation to other countries
Please follow us on Gab, Minds, Telegram, Rumble, Truth Social, Gettr, X, Youtube
Israeli Defense Forces under the direction of the Netanyahu government have begun Operation Gideon’s Chariot’ as troops move into the Gaza Strip in a final effort to destroy Hamas.
“Over the past day, IDF troops in the Southern Command, both the standing army and reserves, began a broad ground operation throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip, as part of the start of Operation Gideon’s Chariots,” the military said in a statement, wrote The Times of Israel.
Visiting Gaza on Sunday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said that the military would press forward with the offensive, but at the same time allow flexibility in order not to torpedo talks for a hostage deal that are ongoing in Qatar.
“The directive is clear: Defeat the enemy and destroy its infrastructure wherever we operate,” Zamir said, adding that “the IDF will allow flexibility for the political echelon to advance any hostage deal.”
“A hostage deal — this is not a halt; it is an achievement,” Zamir stressed. “We are working toward it.”
The development comes as President Trump’s Middle East trip ended, and American/Israeli former hostage Edan Alexander was returned to his family via negotiations by U.S. President Envoy Steve Witkoff.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared — From the beginning of the war, we said that in order to complete the victory, there was one necessary condition – we must not reach a state of starvation in Gaza. They will not support us if we reach that point.
We will take control of all the territories of the Gaza Strip. There is tremendous, intense fighting there. Our fighters are doing a great job there, including this morning – I can’t go into details.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance considered a visit to Israel on Tuesday but canceled due to the expanding military operation in Gaza, a senior U.S. official told Axios.
Vance reportedly didn’t want the trip to signal support for the operation while the U.S. pushes for a ceasefire and hostage deal.
Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich said of the operation, “What we are witnessing since yesterday is absolute madness. No aid will enter Gaza, and anyone claiming otherwise is lying. What happened in the past will not be repeated. We will allow only the bare minimum of food and medicine into Gaza. We should not even allow water in, but if we continue like this, the world will force us to end the war. We are destroying what remains of the Strip, and with God’s help, this will lead to the elimination of Hamas and the return of the hostages. The residents of Gaza will move to the south of the Strip, and from there to third countries.”
*Prime Minister’s Office Announcement*
The Prime Minister’s Office, today (Sunday, 18 May 2025) [translated from Hebrew]:
On the recommendation of the IDF and based on the operational need to enable the expansion of the military operation to defeat Hamas, Israel will allow a basic quantity of food to be brought in for the population in order to make certain that no starvation crisis develops in the Gaza Strip. Such a crisis would endanger the continuation of Operation ‘Gideon’s Chariots’ to defeat Hamas.
Israel will act to deny Hamas’s ability to take control of the distribution of humanitarian assistance in order to ensure that the assistance does not reach the Hamas terrorists.
