July 28

Monday pm

Tel Aviv

Day (long) 12 of the war

Maybe it was Kerry aligning with Turkey/Qatar against local Egypt/Abbas. Maybe Hamas was just waiting for the end of Ramadan. Or maybe Hamas needed to cover up the fact that it just now shelled its own hospital, killing10. And hit a refugee camp. Both were failed attempts to bomb Israel.

After days of lulling quiet-ish, sirens rang out in the north where rockets fell short, and in the south a  rocket hit land and killed 4 soldiers, while another soldier died in Gaza this afternoon, making the total 48 soldiers, and 3 civilians. Immediately following the sky attack from above, there was activity from below ground, as a band of terrorists entered Israel from a camouflaged tunnel the IDF apparently missed. So far the IDF got 4 terrorists, and is searching to make sure there weren't more.

We are not back to square one. Israel has made huge progress in exposing and disarming Hamas. They averted the initial sea attempt at Zikim, by a system of border scanning - dozens of female soldiers stare at computer screens aimed at every border - which paid off in a big way as enemy divers were stopped at the shore. While other terror tunnel infiltrations cost the life of 6 soldiers, so far all big Lucky Strikes from tunnels have gotten stuck in the box and hoped for attacks against civilians right in their homes has not - yet - come off. Since the IDF has been inside Gaza, it has so far avoided dastardly booby traps inside what look like private houses.

Every day of fighting breaks apart the terror organization, but endangers lives on both sides. The terror fortress took millions of dollars and five years of work to build, and it will take apparently a few more weeks (?) to uproot.

We are however, for now, back to chaos.