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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">‘Operational Control’? - What Newly-Released Resistance Videos Tell Us about the Gaza Battles<br></h1>January 10, 2024</div>
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<img src="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Resistance_Day95_video.png" alt="" title="Resistance_Day95_video" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" width="391" height="262" style="margin-right: 25px;">
The Palestinian Resistance is
engaging the Israeli military in tough battles in Gaza. (Photo: video,
via Al-Qassam military media)
<p><strong>By <a href="https://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/palestine-chronicle-editors" title="Display all articles for Palestine Chronicle Editors">Palestine Chronicle Editors</a></strong></p>
<blockquote>
<h3><span>On Tuesday, the two main fighting Resistance forces in Gaza, Al-Qassam Brigades and Al-Quds Brigades, released two videos.</span></h3>
</blockquote>
<p><span>The videos may appear just another addition to the damning
evidence of the heavy casualties sustained by invading Israeli troops in
Gaza. </span></p>
<p><span>However, these two particular videos tell us much more about
the state of the Palestinian Resistance in the Strip and the changing
tactics used by Palestinians in the longest war ever fought by Israel in
Gaza. </span></p>
<p><span>They also help us answer the questions, did Israel truly
control northern Gaza as Israeli military spokesman continue to claim?
And how is the fighting in Khan Yunis progressing?</span></p>
<p><b>Al-Qassam Brigades Video</b></p>
<p><span>The newly released video by Al-Qassam Brigades, the military
wing of the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas, took place in the
Zaytoun neighborhood in northern Gaza. </span></p>
<p><span>Israel has claimed to have achieved operational control over
Zaytoun many days ago. The video, however, demonstrates that Israel has
little operational control in that area. </span></p>
<p><span>True, Daniel Hagari, the military spokesman for the Israeli
army, has said that, per his language, ‘terrorist attacks’ continue to
be launched against the Israeli military in the north. </span></p>
<p><span>But a close examination of that video shows that what has taken
place in that specific operation cannot be classified as a random
attack by a small Qassam unit, operating without centralized leadership.
Why?</span></p>
<p><span>The timeline of the events shows complete military preparedness: </span></p>
<blockquote><p><span>0:15 – Monitoring Israeli forces advancing towards the ambush.</span></p>
<p><span>0:24 – The ambush begins with the support group striking the Israeli forces.</span></p>
<p><span>0:32 – The escape of the remaining part of the force towards one of the houses.</span></p>
<p><span>0:44 – Clashing with the special force by the execution group.</span></p>
<p><span>1:24 – Striking the enemy’s rescue forces by the rescue cutting group.</span></p>
<p><span>2:08 – (Voice over by Al-Qassam fighter) “Now, the detonation
of an explosive device on the zionist pig soldiers in a tunnel in
Al-Zaytoun neighborhood.” </span></p></blockquote>
<p><span>Indeed, the video shows this whole process done with complete
accuracy, up to the point where a tunnel beneath that area was detonated
along with the remaining soldiers. </span></p>
<p><span>An operation of this nature must have involved a complicated process, including: </span></p>
<ul><li><span>Monitoring the Israeli military movement in that area in advance; </span></li><li><span>Communicating information to the various Qassam cells on the ground; </span></li><li><span>Coordinating and dividing the roles of the various Qassam units that ultimately engaged in the operation; </span></li><li><span>Carrying out all stages of the operation; </span></li><li><span>Engaging with remaining Israeli special forces, ultimately luring them into a tunnel; </span></li><li><span>Blowing up the tunnel; </span></li><li><span>Retreating; </span></li><li><span>Communicating the outcome of the operation; </span></li><li><span>Developing the media content; </span></li><li><span>Sharing the content with international media.</span></li></ul>
<p><span>This, by no means, indicates that the Hamas command in
Al-Zaytoun is in tatters. To the contrary, it is Israeli ‘special
forces’ who were seen running back and forth, while increasingly being
surrounded by Al-Qassam fighters. </span></p>
<p><span>At one point in the video, it becomes clear that the Hamas
fighters are moving forward, in more open positions, while the Israeli
soldiers go into hiding.</span></p>
<p><span>And finally, the language. The fighters were communicating
throughout the video. Their voices did not seem stressed or shaky. They
used code words that only they could understand: ‘Isahb’, meaning
‘pull’, and ‘Ammin’, meaning ‘Secure’.</span></p>
<p><span>In the background, you hear another voice, chanting encouraging
words to his colleagues, which indicates that the fighters must have
felt safe to be able to declare their positions so openly. </span></p>
<p><span>Even Israeli units that arrived to rescue the soldiers, themselves came under the fire of the Resistance. </span></p>
<p><span>None of this indicates that Israel has operational control over
the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood and, by extension, over many other parts of
northern Gaza. </span></p>
<p><b>Al-Quds Brigades Video</b></p>
<p><span>The second video was released by Al-Quds Brigades, the military
wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, in the Khan Yunis area,
in southern Gaza Strip.</span></p>
<p><span>While the Israeli military admits that Khan Yunis is, indeed, a
site for fierce clashes between advancing Israeli soldiers and the
Resistance, the video does teach us about the degree of preparedness of
the Resistance in southern Gaza as well.</span></p>
<p><span>Second 14 in the video, shows an Al-Quds Brigades fighter
walking slowly in an area greatly damaged in the fighting. He is clearly
being filmed by another fighter. Later on, we discover that there is
another camera that is placed in the opposite direction of the targeted
area.</span></p>
<p><span>Israeli soldiers begin appearing on second 37 in the video.
First, a masked Israeli soldier hiding behind a slightly opened curtain
inside a Palestinian home in the area. </span></p>
<p><span>A few seconds later, another Israeli soldier carefully peaks from the other side of the curtain. </span></p>
<p><span>On the 50th second, a third Israeli soldier, stationed in the
same building, cautiously breaks a small hole in a wall using the barrel
of his gun.</span></p>
<p><span>Eventually, a Palestinian fighter takes position, aims, fires,
using an RPG-like device and blows up the building with the soldiers
inside. </span></p>
<p><span>The Israeli army has said that it could take months for them to advance in Khan Yunis. They are not wrong. </span></p>
<p><span>Indeed, a small group of fighters, being able to monitor, film
from several directions, surround the area, kill or wound the soldiers,
retreat safely, and communicate the message to the world is proof that
the Khan Yunis battles are not going very well for Israel.</span></p>
<p><i><span>(The Palestine Chronicle)</span></i></p>
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