From the Liveblog of
Sunday, October 6, 2024
Military preparing for possible long-range rocket launches from Gaza on Oct. 7 anniversary
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The IDF says it has bolstered forces on the Gaza border, as it anticipates possible long-range rocket fire or other attacks from the Strip on the anniversary of the October 7 massacre tomorrow.
Military sources say that while Hamas has been largely dismantled as a military organization, its operatives can still carry out rocket attacks.
The IDF has been anticipating Hamas attacks on the first anniversary of the onslaught and assesses today that such attacks from Gaza could include rocket fire, possibly even at central Israel.
As part of the anticipation for attacks on the October 7 anniversary, the military says it is bolstering defenses both along the Gaza border and in the Netzarim Corridor area in the Strip’s center, where the IDF maintains a semi-permanent presence.
“The Southern Command is prepared in defense and attack for several scenarios during the coming month, along with allowing memorial events in the [Gaza border communities] to be carried out safely,” the IDF says in a statement.
The military says several companies are being deployed to defend the Israeli border towns, and that it is coordinating with police and medical services in the event of attacks.
“We are on heightened alert for the coming days. At a high level of readiness… with offensive actions,” the chief of the Southern Command, Maj. Gen. Yaron Finkelman, tells officers in a video distributed by the IDF.
Meanwhile, the IDF says there has been no reduction in forces in the Rafah and Philadelphi Corridor — the Egypt-Gaza border area — as the 162nd Division, which was previously deployed there, launched a new operation in northern Gaza’s Jabaliya.
The Rafah area was handed over to the Gaza Division, the first time that the regional division has been given responsibility over a large portion of the Strip.
The 162nd Division left Rafah and launched a surprise offensive in Jabaliya overnight, encircling the area from two directions with its 401st and 460th armored brigades.
The offensive is aimed at thwarting attempts by Hamas to regroup in the area, the IDF says.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians are believed by Israel to still be in northern Gaza, among them thousands of terror operatives who survived previous IDF operations which saw Hamas’s battalions in the area dismantled.
In the overnight offensive in Jabaliya, several dozen terror operatives were killed in airstrikes and tank shelling, according to the IDF.
The Times of Israel Community.