Tipsheet

What You Need to Know About War Against Israel: Day Five

Spencer Brown
Spencer Brown  |  October 11, 2023 11:45 AM

As the war launched against Israel by Hamas terrorists from the Gaza Strip late Friday night (ET) enters its fifth day, the stream of barbaric scenes continues to unfold. The bodies of burned Israelis, killed as they tried to flee the Hamas terrorists who breached the border and ransacked kibbutzim, continue to be found. Nursery walls splattered with blood show where Hamas terrorists slaughtered innocent babies while they slept. Car seats filled with the blood of young children provide searing reminders of the evil motivating Israel's enemies. 

As Townhall reported, IDF soldiers clearing Kibbutz Kfar Aza near Gaza found the unimaginable: whole families massacred by Hamas, including scores of babies and children, some of whom were beheaded by the monsters who raided their homes. 

In the days since the surprise attack was launched, Israel has, by and large, cleared its territory of Hamas terrorists, though continuous attempts to infiltrate Israel from Gaza have to be headed off by airstrikes and ground forces as Hamas continues to launch rockets at Israeli civilians across the country.

The Israeli Air Force has been almost continuously bombarding targets in the Gaza strip to take out Hamas terrorists, their weapons and munition stockpiles — some of which were kept in or under mosques — and other infrastructure used to support their vile aims. 

Beyond Gaza, Israeli forces have responded to attacks launched by Hezbollah terrorists from Israel's northern border with Lebanon that continued to escalate significantly — as Katie reported here — on Wednesday, as well as returning fire toward the origin of projectiles fired from Syria into the Golan Heights.

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According to the last update from the IDF at the close of day four, the number of Israelis killed in the initial attack and fighting since has surpassed 1,000 while there are more than 2,800 reported injured and 50 remain confirmed as hostages or missing.

Amid the more than 4,500 rockets launched by terrorists from Gaza, the IDF reported that it had successfully struck 2,294 Hamas targets since its response began. 

With the ongoing work to defend Israelis from continuing attacks and eliminate terrorists' ability to create more carnage happening on one front, Israel's government is forging ahead with an emergency unity government as well — proving those who were hoping to tear Israel apart from the inside with the stress of an external onslaught wrong.  

As for Americans, President Biden confirmed in remarks on Tuesday afternoon that "at least" 14 U.S. citizens are among the slain while a still-unknown number of Americans remain as Hamas hostages or unaccounted for. On Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. death toll was increased to 22 by the State Department. 

Hamas continues to threaten broadcasts of hostage executions, drawing warnings from Israeli officials for parents to remove popular social media apps from their kids' phones and a call not to share any videos that should emerge.

The USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group has been sent to the eastern Mediterranean, and an additional strike group with the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower was subsequently ordered to the region and is expected to depart Norfolk on Friday as part of the U.S. military's efforts to show power and deter any other malign actors from seeking to take advantage of the terror unfolding against Israel.

As always, Israel is not backing down from the critical work of eliminating Hamas — and other terrorist groups' — ability to kill more Israelis.