(Daily Caller)—Israel’s military conducted a preliminary incursion into Gaza on Thursday with tanks, the largest raid since declaring war on the Hamas terrorist organization that invaded Israel on Oct. 7, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted a “limited raid” into Gaza on Thursday, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said, amid intense domestic pressure to proceed with the pledged ground invasion aimed at eliminating Hamas entirely and rescuing hostages in Hamas captivity, according to the WSJ. IDF tanks and personnel destroyed obstacles in preparation for “the next stages of fighting,” Hagari said.
No Israeli soldiers were injured during the raid, Hagari said, according to the WSJ.
“We are preparing for a ground operation,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address Wednesday, according to the WSJ. “I will not specify when, how, how much.”
Israel’s goal in the ground operation is to rescue as many hostages as possible and annihilate Hamas’ military and governance institutions, Netanyahu said, according to The Times of Israel.
Hagari updated the estimated total number of hostages, many of whom are dual nationals, in Hamas’ control to 224, up from a previous 222, the WSJ reported. One objective of the Gaza raids is to identify hostages and confirm whether any have been killed.
IDF soldiers have been conducting training exercises along the border with Gaza for weeks in preparation for the invasion, according to the WSJ. Since the Hamas invasion on Oct. 7, the Israeli air force has conducted some of the highest intensity airstrikes on Gaza in recent decades, claiming to hit about 7,000 targets, The New York Times reported.
The start of the invasion has reportedly encountered delays over efforts to negotiate hostage releases and establish a humanitarian corridor into and out of Gaza. The Biden administration also requested Netanyahu postpone the operation while the Pentagon rushes additional air defense systems to locations throughout the Middle East hosting U.S. troops.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
The same can be said about our preparedness sponsor, Prepper All-Naturals. Their long-term storage beef has a 25-year shelf life and is made with one ingredient: All-American Beef.
Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
