Israel-Gaza War (and Iranian Distractions)

[Yazata]

The Israelis are very close to cutting the Gaza strip in two. They are probably close enough to the coastal road, the second main road south from Gaza city, to direct gunfire at vehicles on the road but (this is my speculation) might be leaving it open for the time being so that people can still escape from Gaza city before they go in and the city is torn apart by street fighting.

They have advanced a very small distance (a few hundred yards) further along the coast to the north. And they have made some progress penetrating into the neighborhood of Beit Hanoun in the northeast corner of the strip.

Map by @War_Mapper (the dotted lines indicate where the front was yesterday and indicate the day's gains).

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[RainbowUnicorn]

The large crater (conspicuously missing at the supposedly-bombed hospital) suggests to me that this bomb was a so-called "bunker buster", a penetration warhead designed to penetrate into the ground and then explode. From the photos and videos of earlier Israeli attacks, large geysers of dirt were visible when bombs struck which suggests explosions underground throwing debris upwards. These kind of bombs are used to collapse hardened concrete bunkers (and tunnels).

The Israelis say that this particular blast succeeded in killing the high ranking Hamas officer who commanded the October 7 attack on southern Israel.

looks like there was a big underground cavern there
big command bunker im guessing

[Yazata]

Interesting events involving the Americans are unfolding that may (or may not) prove to be important in coming hours. Six USAF KC-135 aerial refueling tankers took off from Al-Udeid air base in Qatar and headed west over Saudi Arabia. Two appear to have peeled off with one heading north towards Iraq and the other apparently returning to Al-Udeid. The remaining four continued west across Saudi Arabia towards the Red Sea. Then they turned their transponders off and disappeared from radar.

Speculation is that they might be intended to refuel a long distance Israeli Air Force strike package intended to hit the Houthis in Yemen. The one over Iraq might have a similar mission if US F-16's are striking back at the Iranian-backed militias that have been firing rockets at bases housing American soldiers.

Something appears to be happening, though some are saying that it's probably just an exercise.

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[RainbowUnicorn]

azataInteresting events involving the Americans are unfolding that may (or may not) prove to be important in coming hours. Six USAF KC-135 aerial refueling tankers took off from Al-Udeid air base in Qatar and headed west over Saudi Arabia. Two appear to have peeled off with one heading north towards Iraq and the other apparently returning to Al-Udeid. The remaining four continued west across Saudi Arabia towards the Red Sea. Then they turned their transponders off and disappeared from radar.


Speculation is that they might be intended to refuel a long distance Israeli Air Force strike package intended to hit the Houthis in Yemen. The one over Iraq might have a similar mission if US F-16's are striking back at the Iranian-backed militias that have been firing rockets at bases housing American soldiers.

Something appears to be happening, though some are saying that it's probably just an exercise.

houthi smash time hopefully

[Yazata]

Live stream from Gaza City - you can hear constant gunfire and flying-lawnmower buzzing in the sky from Israeli observation drones

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/oqLav6DV1iY

Location of the webcam - I believe it is looking north towards where the Israelis are advancing down the beach. The fighting we hear seems to be in the distance at the left of the webcam view.

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[Yazata]

Photo taken in Gaza City released by the Israeli army showing their use of armored Caterpillar D9 bulldozers to clear obstructions in this rat's-nest of a city, along with armored personnel carriers. The dozers are mostly driven by reservists who are heavy equipment operators in civilian life.

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[Zinjanthropos]

The photo is probably meant to show Palestinians/Hamas that Israel isn't kidding about levelling the place. I like how it appears the dozer is heading over to the next pile of rubble/buildings.

Edit: Probably wrong but....I'm looking closer at the photo and it doesn't seem right. The foreground basically clear but background not so, dust hasn't settled yet. Looks like bulldozer, foot soldier/operator(?) and levelled ground pasted onto another pic. Person on foot in open territory while an armoured troop carrier only yards ahead, but could be suggesting is he was just dropped off.

Still....photo coverage not changing much, the only pics of women that i've seen in this shitty mess is that of Israeli soldiers and officers plus some rescued hostages.

[Yazata]

I would guess that nighttime is when the Israelis make most of their advances, since they are probably better equipped to fight in darkness at night with night-vision goggles, thermal sights etc.

The sound is different at night. Apart from the incessant drone buzzing, I'm not hearing small arms fire at night, just periodic louder booms that I take to be tank fire.

And I guess that I found out why they call drones "drones".

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11-2-2023 map by Levent Kemal

According to this, the Israelis have completed cutting the Gaza strip in two. (About an hour ago Hamas acknowledged this is true.) The Israelis appear to be advancing now slowly from the north.

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[Yazata]

The United States has verified that mysterious drones that have been flying out of the Greek island of Crete, circling over Gaza for hours, then returning to Crete, are indeed American MQ-9A Reapers.

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[Yazata]

It appears to me that Israel's advance has slowed yesterday and today. The story seems to be that Israel was advancing in armored vehicles without infantry support, in hopes of keeping their casualties down. So Hamas was able to get up close with Iranian anti-tank rockets and knocked out a few Israeli armored vehicles.

So the Israelis seem to be rethinking their tactics and are depending more on airstrikes at the moment. Haven't seen any airstrikes in central Gaza city. They are to the north, hitting locations where Hamas fire has come from.

Just from the nature of the Israeli advance through Gaza from north to south, it will be agonizingly slow. They have to check every building, room by room, searching for weapons caches. If they find any tunnel entrances, deal with them. (By sealing them up? By pumping poison gas into them?) If they are fired on from a building, flatten the building.