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IDF Soldier Killed Overnight as Israel Targets Tunnels

by TheTower.org Staff |

The IDF released information this morning about its first fatality during Operation Protective Edge’s ground operation.

Sergeant Eitan Barak, 20, from Herzliya, was critically wounded during an operation against rocket launchers in the area of Beit Hanoun and died of his wounds before he could be evacuated. Four other soldiers were injured, one moderately and the rest lightly. …

The IDF said in a statement that 14 Hamas terrorists were killed in a number of exchanges of fire overnight, 20 rocket launchers were destroyed and nine strikes were carried out on tunnels in Gaza.

More than 50 rockets were fired at Israel since the start of the ground operation Thursday, according to the latest military figures, out of more than 1,500 since the fighting began on July 8.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel only embarked on the ground invasion when all other options were exhausted:

Netanyahu said that Israel decided to embark the mission only after Hamas rejected ceasefire proposals: “The operation came after Israel agreed to the Egyptian and UN proposed ceasefires. In both cases Hamas continued to shoot, and in light of that we chose to begin the operation after exhausting all other options, understanding the without expanding the operation, the price we will pay will be higher.”

Elaborating on the mission, Netanyahu said “the IDF is working against Hamas and other Gaza terror organizations through the air, sea and now also land. Our ground forces have begun to hit terror tunnels spanning from Gaza into Israel.

“Our prime mission is returning the quite to Israel’s citizens… there is no army as moral as the IDF, and does not strive to harm any innocents, not even one.”

Mitch Ginsburg of The Times of Israel explains why Israel is targeting the tunnels.

Unlike the current rocket threat, which has been largely defanged by Iron Dome and early warning systems, the ancient threat of tunnels has no technological solution as yet. “We have no advantage in the underground realm,” said Brig. Gen. (res) Moshe Sheli, the former commander of the IDF’s combat engineering corps. On the ground, in the air, in the sea, he continued, technology offers the Israeli army a distinct edge. Underground, Israel employs a variety of means “but they don’t give us a dramatic advantage, and that’s why this is such a hard challenge to crack,” he said. …

Finding the entrances to these tunnels – often within houses – and charting their alignment and geology, allows the army to neutralize the threat and, at least, set back the timer on these strategic attacks.

In addition to being able to find and destroy the tunnels, having soldiers on the ground will allow Israel “to reach some of the rockets and launchers that were not targetable from the air” and to capture Hamas operatives who can be interrogated for intelligence.

[Photo: idfnadesk / YouTube ]

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