House GOP’s Israel Aid Plan Would Add Billions to Deficit: CBO

The Fiscal Times

House GOP’s Israel Aid Plan Would Add Billions to Deficit: CBO

Yuval Rosenberg – November 1, 2023

Jack Gruber/USA Today

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s plan to cut IRS funding to pay for the cost of a $14.3 billion aid package to Israel would add billions to the deficit over the next 10 years, according to a new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.

The nonpartisan budget scorekeeper projected that rescinding more than $14 billion in IRS funding as the House GOP proposes to do would scale back the tax agency’s enforcement and consequently decrease revenues by $26.8 billion from 2024 through 2033. The revenue loss would far outweigh the spending cuts, resulting in a net increase in the deficit of $12.5 billion from the IRS portion of the plan — and the aid to Israel would bring the total cost of the bill to nearly $27 billion.

IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said Tuesday that the cuts to his budget in the House bill would increase the deficit by far more, estimating it would add $90 billion over 10 years — a figure that The Washington Post reports is “based on IRS modeling that shows a 6-to-1 ratio of money spent on tax enforcement to revenue collected.”

House plan is DOA in the Senate: The CBO score was seen as a blow to the House plan, particularly given that if the new speaker had not included the IRS cuts, the aid for Israel would likely pass the House with strong bipartisan support, potentially jamming the Senate and lawmakers who favor packaging aid to Israel with more money to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.

Johnson dismissed the CBO estimate, telling reporters: “We don’t put much credence in what the CBO says.”

In truth, the CBO report is likely little more than a formality at this point since Johnson’s plan — if it can even pass the narrowly divided House — would be doomed in the Senate, where Democrats oppose the IRS funding cuts and are looking to combine aid to Israel with the Ukraine assistance and other emergency funding requested by President Joe Biden.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday called the House plan “totally unserious and woefully inadequate” and criticized its fiscal effects. “Here, the House is talking about needing a pay-for to reduce the deficit – and they put in a provision that actually increases the deficit. Why? Because they don’t want their super-rich, mega-wealthy friends to be audited by the IRS, like every other citizen is,” Schumer said. “So the House GOP proposal is not going to go anywhere. It’s dead before it even is voted on.”

Schumer urged Johnson to start over in a more bipartisan fashion, but the speaker reportedly told a gathering of Senate Republicans that military aid to Israel must move as a standalone bill because a larger package cannot pass with the support of the House Republican majority. Johnson reportedly also told the senators that he backs more aid to Ukraine but that it would need to be paired with reforms to border security. The speaker, relatively unknown to his Senate counterparts, reportedly also said that he’s focused on passing what he can through the House and would worry later about reconciling those bills with Senate versions.

With the November 17 deadline to avoid a government shutdown approaching, Johnson also said he will look to pass a stopgap spending bill that runs through mid-January rather than the mid-April timeframe he had previously said was also a possibility.

Biden threatens a veto: The White House has made clear that the House plan is unacceptable to President Joe Biden, who would veto it if it somehow lands on his desk.

In a lengthy and forceful statement issued Tuesday evening, the White House slammed the GOP plan as unnecessarily politicizing aid to Israel, excluding essential humanitarian assistance and failing to meet the urgent needs of the moment. “It inserts partisanship into support for Israel, making our ally a pawn in our politics, at a moment we must stand together. It denies humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations around the world, including Palestinian civilians, which is a moral and strategic imperative. And by requiring offsets for this critical security assistance, it sets a new and dangerous precedent by conditioning assistance for Israel, further politicizing our support and treating one ally differently from others,” the White House said. “This bill is bad for Israel, for the Middle East region, and for our own national security.”

The bottom line: Even with the new CBO score, Johnson and House Republicans plan on passing their Israel aid bill on Friday, setting a confrontational tone for the series of budget battles that lie ahead — and making clear that they have priorities that take precedence over deficit reduction.

Kinzinger says family disowned him over loss of Hannity’s trust

The Hill

Kinzinger says family disowned him over loss of Hannity’s trust

Nick Robertson – October 31, 2023

Kinzinger says family disowned him over loss of Hannity’s trust

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said he was disowned by his family after he left Congress and “lost the trust” of Fox News host Sean Hannity.

“So, I had family that sent a certified letter disowning me,” Kinzinger said in a CNN interview Monday. “They said I’ve lost the trust of great men like Sean Hannity, which is funny, but they believe that. They said I was a member of the devil’s army.”

The prominent critic of former President Trump said his decision to leave Congress over his disagreements with the GOP caused waves of death threats against himself and his family.

“You know, we had people that would call and threaten to kill my, at the time, 5-month-old child, or say they wish he would die,” he said.

The former congressman was previewing his new book, “Renegade,” which was released Tuesday.

Kinzinger also said it’s a “tough question” whether he still considers himself a Republican.

“I do, only in that because I don’t wanna give up on that fight. And this country needs two healthy parties, a healthy Democratic Party and a healthy Republican,” he said. “So I’m not gonna give up that title.”

But he committed to voting for President Biden if he faces a rematch against Trump in 2024, saying another Trump term would be “authoritarianism,” warning about the potential for a second insurrection in the style of Jan. 6, 2021.

“Because in Jan. 6, we saw the guardrails of democracy held,” Kinzinger said. “The car hit the rails. It kept you on the road. That rail can’t take two hits. And now they know what they’re doing. Now they know where the tricks are in the system.”

Adam Kinzinger Shares The Only Reason Why He Still Considers Himself A Republican

HuffPost

Adam Kinzinger Shares The Only Reason Why He Still Considers Himself A Republican

Josephine Harvey – October 31, 2023

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said he still considers himself a Republican, but only because “I don’t want to give up on that fight.”

He told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Monday, “This country needs two healthy parties: a healthy Democratic party and a healthy Republican. So I’m not going to give up that title.”

He said he had voted Democratic in the 2022 midterms and would do the same in 2024 if it’s a Donald Trump-Joe Biden matchup.

“I really believe it’s down to one issue on the ballot,” he said. “Not taxes, not even abortion, nothing. The one issue is: Do you believe in democracy, or do you believe in authoritarianism?”

Kinzinger told the Washington Post last year that he voted for Donald Trump in 2020, but he felt “dirty” doing it, and “it’s not something I can square away in my soul fully.”

Kinzinger was one of the most prominent critics of the former president in the House Republican conference before he retired from Congress earlier this year.

He was one of two Republicans who served on the Jan. 6 committee, and one of ten who voted to impeach Trump for his role in the insurrection.

“There’s little to no desire to bridge our differences, and unity is no longer a word we use,” Kinzinger said in 2021 when he announced he would not run for reelection. “It has also become increasingly obvious that in order to break the narrative, I cannot focus on both a reelection to Congress and a broader fight nationwide.”

Adam Kinzinger said onetime Trump chief of staff John Kelly ‘could barely stay awake’ during a White House breakfast and told GOP lawmakers he was ‘barely holding it together’ in the role

Business Insider

Adam Kinzinger said onetime Trump chief of staff John Kelly ‘could barely stay awake’ during a White House breakfast and told GOP lawmakers he was ‘barely holding it together’ in the role

John L. Dorman – October 31, 2023

John Kelly
John Kelly at the White House on June 21, 2018.AP Photo/Evan Vucci
  • Kinzinger in his new book wrote of how he witnessed the work that John Kelly was putting in as chief of staff.
  • The former GOP lawmaker said Kelly spent a lot of time trying to restrain many of Trump’s personal instincts.
  • “I was surprised by the level of Kelly’s distress,” he wrote. “He clearly suffered from political shell shock.”

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger said former Trump White House chief of staff John Kelly was once so “exhausted” from his role that he “could barely stay awake” during a private breakfast at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Kinzinger made the revelation in his newly-released book, “Renegade,” where he spoke of the internal pressures that the retired Marine Corps general and former Homeland Security secretary faced as he sought to bring a sense of stability to a White House that was often guided more by Trump’s personal whims than the counsel of top advisors.

The former Republican lawmaker in his book detailed how Kelly arrived to the breakfast “looking gaunt and exhausted” as he intended to update five GOP lawmakers on developments in Afghanistan.

“It was 8:00 a.m. and he could barely stay awake,” Kinzinger wrote. “He told us he was trying as hard as he could but was ‘barely holding it together.'”

“I was surprised by the level of Kelly’s distress,” he continued. “He clearly suffered from political shell shock.”

Kelly served as chief of staff from July 2017 through January 2019, and Kinzinger in the book stated that the breakfast occurred sometime during the middle of the retired general’s tenure at the White House.

Kinzinger said that Kelly was intended to be a moderating force in the administration, but had to exert energy to combat Trump’s preference to trust his own judgment or the views of those fully aligned with him, which the former congressman said was a goal that Kelly pursued “in vain.”

“The problem with Trump, from a chief of staff’s perspective, was that he preferred to do everything informally and on his own with minimum staff engagement,” Kinzinger wrote. “Consequently, Kelly and others regularly discovered that Trump had considered advice from this crony or that social contact at his Mar-a-Lago resort and was serious about acting on it.”

“The work of diverting Trump’s attention away from terrible ideas and directing him to fulfill his duties obviously took all of Kelly’s energy,” he added.

In October, Kelly in a CNN statement confirmed several claims from a damning 2020 piece published by The Atlantic which alleged that Trump had called fallen US veterans “suckers” and “losers” for having died while at war.

“What can I add that has not already been said?” Kelly said in the statement. “A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.'”

“A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me,'” he continued. “A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family — for all Gold Star families — on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”

Kelly was unrelenting in his criticism of Trump as he concluded his statement.

“A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators,” he said. “A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.”

“There is nothing more that can be said. God help us,” he added.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung in a statement provided by NBC News at the time said that Kelly “totally clowned himself with these debunked stories he’s made up because he didn’t serve his President well while working as Chief of Staff.”

Hard-right Republicans say they hate government, but they sure love the power

CNN – Opinion:

Hard-right Republicans say they hate government, but they sure love the power

Opinion by Nicole Hemmer – October 31, 2023

Editor’s note: Nicole Hemmer is an associate professor of history and director of the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Center for the Study of the Presidency at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of “Partisans: The Conservative Revolutionaries Who Remade American Politics in the 1990s” and co-hosts the podcasts “Past Present” and “This Day in Esoteric Political History.”

The remarkable spectacle in the House of Representatives, where Republicans repeatedly failed for three weeks to fill the speaker’s seat they vacated in early October, has come to an end. The election of Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana to the seat, once the most coveted position in the House, has temporarily put the governing body back in session amid urgent foreign policy crises and a looming government shutdown.

It has been more than 150 years since the speakership sat vacant for so long. And this latest chaos only reinforces our current moment as a time when lengthy vacancies have become a regular feature of the federal government. The 422-day vacancy on the Supreme Court following Antonin Scalia’s death in 2016 was the longest since the court was set at nine members in 1869. The Trump administration was so rife with vacancies that record numbers of agencies had acting heads, which led The Washington Post to describe the executive branch as a “government full of temps.”

In each case, Republicans orchestrated these vacancies. But this government in absentia is not just a sign of the party’s dysfunction. While these vacancies emerged for different reasons, the driving force behind them all is a party that has radicalized to the point that it has created a crisis in democracy with catastrophic consequences for the entire country.

It is tempting to see these vacancies through the feature-not-a-bug lens of the Republican Party’s antigovernment politics. If a party doesn’t care about governing, why would it care that the government isn’t functioning? And certainly some on the right have made arguments to that effect. But that misses the much more insidious logic behind these vacancies: Many of today’s Republicans love government, because government is a form of power. You can’t ban reproductive and transition health care without government. You can’t ban books and drag shows without it. You can’t militarize a border or pardon your political allies without state power.

In many ways, the Republicans in the conference who are less radical are the ones more wary of how their colleagues deploy state power. But they have little power. They may have thwarted the nomination of Rep. Jim Jordan, the hard-right Trump ally who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, as speaker — but they fell in line behind Johnson, a far-right election denier. Right now, the party’s radicals run the conference, and they have found real power in the vacancy strategy.

The last time the speakership was vacant this long was in 1859, on the eve of the Civil War. The nation and its parties were riven by sectional divides over slavery that led politicians to contort the federal government to satisfy proponents of slavery. For eight years in the 1830s and 1840s, pro-slavery forces banned any discussion of antislavery petitions with the infamous gag rule. Conflict over slavery destroyed one political party (the Whigs) and gave birth to a new one (the Republicans). And in Congress, it ground all work to a halt in the House for two months as pro- and anti-slavery forces clashed over the speakership. Finally, a compromise candidate emerged, William Pennington of New Jersey, a freshly elected member who would serve just one term in office. And while the speakership crisis resolved, politics ultimately failed. War broke out a year after Pennington’s swearing-in.

We don’t need to draw the parallels too finely. The divisions in the US today are markedly different than those created by slavery. But the political failings that characterized the years leading up to the Civil War suggest we should pay attention when political institutions and procedures begin to systematically fail. Which is why we should spend some time thinking more seriously about these lengthy vacancies.

The first and most important thing to understand: The Republican Party has been responsible for nearly all these vacancies, at a time when a number of its members have also been responsible for one of the most serious incidents of political violence since the Civil War, the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. (There have been deadlier domestic terror attacks, consequential assassinations and widespread state violence against persecuted groups, but the coordinated effort to overturn a presidential election, aided by the leaders of a major party, stands out even among these.)

The motivations have varied. Scalia’s seat remained vacant so Republicans could seize the power to fill it, just as lower courts have had lengthy vacancies to deny Democrats the right to fill those seats. The Trump administration vacancies were devised to give Trump more power over agencies and their leadership, whereas the speaker’s vacancy resulted from intraparty factionalism.

Yet these seemingly disparate motivations spring from a single source: an increasingly radicalized, illiberal Republican Party. In the case of the speakership vacancy, that dynamic annoyed Republican members but did not shake their commitment to antidemocratic politics. After all, the new speaker not only voted to overturn the 2020 election but was an enthusiastic participant in the illegal effort to prevent Joe Biden from taking office.

Scalia’s seat sat empty so Republicans could radicalize the court (mission accomplished). Trump skipped confirmation of Cabinet officials so he could wield more power over them (mission accomplished). A small band of Republicans vacated the speakership in hopes they could install a more right-wing speaker (mission very much accomplished). When government gets in the way of those larger goals, then it must be emptied, contorted or violently rejected, but the goal remains not the destruction of government, but the control of it. Which is why these vacancies — and their resolution — remain one of the most important signs we have of democratic decline in the United States.

By vacating the speakership and elevating Johnson to the highest position in the House, Republican radicals have confirmed the value of this vacancy strategy. And while Johnson may enjoy a longer run than his predecessor, the right has learned that vacancies fit perfectly with its power-grab politics. With an election just a year away — and the memory of a violent attempt at seizing power still fresh in mind — their commitment to this approach portends even more chaos ahead.

Here’s Exactly How Much House Republicans’ Israel Bill Would Cost

The New Republic

Here’s Exactly How Much House Republicans’ Israel Bill Would Cost

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling – November 1, 2023

The House GOP’s quest to trade $14.3 billion in IRS cuts for $14.3 billion in emergency aid to Israel has an updated price tag, and surprise, surprise: It’s much steeper than it anticipated.

Instead of decreasing the deficit, the multibillion-dollar slash to the IRS proposed by newly minted House Speaker Mike Johnson would actually cost the government more than $26 billion in lost revenue by 2033, according to a Congressional Budget Office report issued Wednesday. The result would add nearly $12.5 billion to the national deficit over the next 10 years, the CBO predicted.

Some officials estimate that the true number could be even higher.

IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel believes the damages may be more to the tune of $90 billion in lost revenue over the next decade and that the cuts would reduce the government’s ability to audit large corporations and the wealthy, reported The Washington Post.

“All of those funds go to increased scrutiny on tax evasion going on at the highest wealth, and that is millionaires and billionaires and large corporations and large complex corporations,” Werfel told the Post. “When you reduce those audits, you reduce the amount of money that we can collect and return to the Treasury for other priorities.”

Ultimately, Republicans’ plan to “offset” funding for Israel with cuts to the IRS would backfire quite badly.

At stake is an already-approved $80 billion expansion to the IRS that is projected to cut the deficit by more than $100 billion by way of improved tax collections, operations support, free filing for taxpayers, an office of tax policy, and tax court. The Congressional Budget Office has repeatedly warned that cutting IRS funding will encourage tax cheating and increase the deficit, though that didn’t stop Johnson from attempting to chip some money off the arrangement.

“If you put this to the American people, and they weigh the two needs, I think they are going to say standing with Israel and protecting the innocent is in our national interest, and a more immediate need than IRS agents,” Johnson told Fox News on Tuesday.

US State and Defense secretaries to try to persuade Congress to approve joint aid to Ukraine and Israel

Ukrayinska Pravda

US State and Defense secretaries to try to persuade Congress to approve joint aid to Ukraine and Israel

Ukrainska Pravda – October 31, 2023

US State Secretary Antony Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will try to convince US congressmen on Tuesday that it is in the country’s interest to approve President Biden’s US$106 billion request to support Ukraine, Israel and US border security. Blinken and Austin will testify before the US Senate Committee on Appropriations regarding Biden’s request.

SourceReuters, reported by European Pravda

Details: Arguing that the support of American partners is vital to national security, Biden asked Congress to approve further assistance to Ukraine worth US$61.4 billion.

Biden also asked for US$14.3 billion for Israel, US$9 billion for humanitarian aid – including for Israel and Gaza – US$13.6 billion for US border security, US$4 billion for military assistance, and government funding to counter China’s regional efforts in Asia.

The way forward for Biden’s funding plan looks uncertain. Democrats and many Republicans in the Democratic-majority Senate support Biden’s strategy of combining aid to Ukraine with support for Israel.

But the Republicans who lead the House of Representatives are opposed to combining the two issues. Opinion polls show that public support for aid to Ukraine is decreasing, and many Republicans, especially those who are most supportive of former President Donald Trump, are opposed to it.

Background:

  • On Monday, Republicans introduced a bill to provide US$14.3 billion in aid to Israel separately from Ukraine.
  • Republican Mike Johnson, the newly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, said last week that he wanted aid to Israel and Ukraine to be considered separately in the House. He said that the aid provided to Kyiv should be considered more attentively.

‘Morning Joe’ Torches ‘Gross’ Mike Johnson for Picking Fight With Biden Over Israel Funding (Video)

The Wrap

‘Morning Joe’ Torches ‘Gross’ Mike Johnson for Picking Fight With Biden Over Israel Funding (Video)

Natalie Korach – October 31, 2023

MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” slammed new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson for “setting up a clash over how to approve the aid to Israel,” as his first move in the role.

Co-host Mika Brzezinski summarized Johnson’s latest move as House Speaker as taking “the bipartisan goodwill of providing aid for Israel and launching a fight with President Biden over his signature achievement while setting up a collision course with the Senate.”

The aid package for Israel released by House Republicans yesterday includes $14.3 billion in emergency funding, however, there’s a catch.

“The bill rescinds that same amount of IRS funding from the Inflation Reduction Act,” said Brzezinski. “The act is the major climate, health care, and tax law that President Biden signed into law last year.”

Brzezinski noted that the bill also excludes aid for Ukraine, “despite President Biden’s request for aid to both.”

“If the bill passes the Republican-controlled House, the IRS provisions are all but guaranteed to be rejected by the Democratic-led Senate and the White House,” continued Brzezinski. “Setting up a clash over how to approve the aid to Israel and of course, leaving Ukraine out.”

“Well, of course leaving Ukraine out,” co-host Joe Scarborough chimed in. “I mean, it’s a great start.”

“Remarkable how tone-deaf my former party is. They are actually putting billionaires between the protection of Israel and the United States Congress,” said Scarborough.

The “Morning Joe” co-host claimed “They’re taking the money that was passed and they’re gutting the IRS’s ability to go after billionaire tax cheats. And they think that’s the solution.”

“We got this Mike Johnson guy who was part of a Congress that spent more money and drove us deeper into debt over a four-year period than any Congress in the history of the United States of America,” said Scarborough.

“And now suddenly he won’t even help Jews protect themselves,” he continued. “It is so gross and making it even grosser, he says, here’s what we’re gonna do: We will protect the Jews if you protect the billionaires.”

Scarborough said he’s “never truly heard of a dumber plan to start a speakership than to put Jews’ lives in danger so you can protect billionaire tax cheats.”

“It’s just so grotesque,” Scarborough said.

Hamas ambushes Israel from tunnels near Gaza border

The Telegraph

Hamas ambushes Israel from tunnels near Gaza border

Danielle Sheridan – October 29, 2023

IDF troops on the ground in the Gaza Strip
IDF ground activity in the Gaza Strip

Israeli troops clashed with Hamas for the first time since the ground offensive began in an ambush from its network of tunnels in northern Gaza.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed several terrorists after spotting them “exiting the shaft of a tunnel in the Gaza Strip” near the Erez Crossing that was stormed on Oct 7.

Israel later said it believed the militants were attempting to cross the border into Israel for another surprise attack.

Hamas said its militants clashed with Israeli troops as they entered the northwest Gaza Strip, using small arms and anti-tank missiles against the armoured convoy.

IDF ground activity in the Gaza Strip
Tanks have moved across the border

Guided by troops on the ground Israeli aircraft also struck two Hamas staging posts, killing several Hamas members, the IDF claimed.

Israel intensified its war with Gaza over the weekend, sending in troops and tanks on Friday night as part of a ground operation aimed at destroying Hamas.

But it stopped short of a full invasion of its forces massing on the Gaza border.https://cf-particle-html.eip.telegraph.co.uk/63d27584-172c-4312-bbc6-2e6a01c01203.html?direct=true&id=63d27584-172c-4312-bbc6-2e6a01c01203&truncated=false&expandable=false

Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, said on Sunday that movement into Gaza would be a “gradual expansion”.

He said: “We will do everything we can from the air, sea and land to ensure the safety of our forces and achieve the goals of the war.”

Analysts have speculated that Israel’s preference for a low-intensity ground offensive betrays concerns about hostages held in Gaza and threats from Arab proxies linked to Hamas.

Israeli army buldozers crossing the border into Gaza, on October 29, 2023
Israeli army buldozers crossing the border into Gaza, on October 29, 2023 – MENAHEM KAHANA

As pressure has mounted on Israel to slow the offensive in order to negotiate the release of hostages, its defence minister Yoav Gallant spoke to families of captives on Sunday.

In an attempt to reassure them, he said: “The ground move is intertwined with the effort to return the kidnapped and is intended, among other things, to increase the chance of returning our people. If there is no military pressure on Hamas, nothing will progress.”

He added: “I have two goals: to return the abductees and win the war, the return of the abductees and locating the missing is a task of utmost importance.”

The ground assault resulted in an almost total communications blackout in the coastal enclave.

An Israeli tank manoeuvres inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from the Israel border
An Israeli tank manoeuvres inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from the Israel border – EVELYN HOCKSTEIN

Meanwhile, as clashes on the Lebanese border escalate, Rear Admiral Hagari said the IDF responded to the fire from Lebanon toward the northern border by striking military targets, infrastructure and posts belonging to Hezbollah overnight.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it shot down an Israeli drone over southern Lebanon with a surface-to-air missile.

Hezbollah added that the drone was hit near Khiam, about three miles from the border, and was seen falling into Israeli territory.

Capability to shoot down a drone

Two security sources in Lebanon said it was the first time Hezbollah had announced downing an Israeli drone.

Mohanad Hage Ali, of the Carnegie Middle East Center, said: “They have insinuated they have this capability but it is the first time they declare they have this kind of capability to shoot down a drone.”

The United Nations’ Lebanon peacekeeping force Unifil said one of its members was injured after shells hit its base near the village of Houla on the Lebanese-Israeli border on Saturday.

IDF soldiers with munitions
IDF soldiers with munitions

The clashes with Hamas in northern Gaza are thought to be the first in which militants have emerged from tunnels, but is likely to become a theme of the ground assault.

The Erez Crossing, which was built in 2005 when Israel withdrew its settlers and soldiers from Gaza, was at the time considered a symbol of passage between Israel and Gaza.

The IDF accused Hamas of having deliberately built tunnels next to the crossing, which was formerly used by Gazans to enter Israel for work or medical treatment, in order to “attack the humanitarian crossing and harm everyone in the area”.

Hamas spent two decades building a labyrinthine network of underground tunnels which makes a central part of its defences.https://cf-particle-html.eip.telegraph.co.uk/5bf20ca6-3f78-4b5f-97ec-f32a757dcfed.html?direct=true&id=5bf20ca6-3f78-4b5f-97ec-f32a757dcfed&truncated=false&expandable=falsehttps://cf-particle-html.eip.telegraph.co.uk/7a13177e-311d-4b5a-bc79-7786c96a919a.html?direct=true&id=7a13177e-311d-4b5a-bc79-7786c96a919a&truncated=false&expandable=false

Israel says the tunnels have entrances hidden beneath schools, mosques and houses and are said to be 300 miles long with lighting, electricity and rail tracks for transport.

Accused of psychological games

After Sunday’s clashes, Rear Adm Hagari said: “We killed the terrorists that were on the security fence, who were trying to infiltrate and were trying to attack Israel.”

Mr Gallant accused Hamas on Sunday of playing “psychological games” over hostages after it offered to free all captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

“The stories published by Hamas are part of their psychological games. Hamas is cynically using those who are dear to us – they understand the pain and the pressure,” he told relatives of some of the 230 hostages.https://cf-particle-html.eip.telegraph.co.uk/f0dff9cd-562a-4bcf-a740-6bd2c38091d9.html?direct=true&id=f0dff9cd-562a-4bcf-a740-6bd2c38091d9&truncated=false&expandable=false

On Saturday, Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, said the group was ready for an “immediate” prisoner swap with Israel.

Mr Gallant said: “They seek the collapse of Israeli society from within and are using the hostages in a brutal manner.

“The military operation is intended, among other things, to increase the chance of returning our people.”

Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, has said that about 50 hostages have been killed in Israeli strikes, a claim that could not be independently verify.

So far the group has released four hostages.

Those confirmed to be held captive rose to 239 on Sunday.

These are the elite special force units Israel could send into Gaza to clear Hamas’ labyrinth of tunnels and rescue hostages

Business Insider

These are the elite special force units Israel could send into Gaza to clear Hamas’ labyrinth of tunnels and rescue hostages

Nathan Rennolds – October 29, 2023

  • Israel has sent elite troops into Gaza as its ground invasion of the territory ramps up.
  • Herzi Halevi, chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces, said its “best soldiers” were in action.
  • They will be tasked with clearing the Hamas’ labyrinth of tunnels and rescuing over 200 hostages.

Israel has indicated that it had sent elite troops into Gaza as it intensifies its ground operations against Hamas following the October 7 terrorist attacks.

Herzi Halevi, the chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said in an update posted to X, formerly Twitter, that the IDF’s “best soldiers and commanders” were now taking part in the offensive in Gaza.

Halevi said that Israel had entered the next stage of the war as it set about its goal of “dismantling Hamas, securing our borders, and the supreme effort to return the hostages home.”

Here are the special forces units that could see action in Gaza.

Yahalom Unit

One squad that will be crucial in how Israel fares in underground warfare is the Yahalom Unit, which specializes in “locating and destroying” underground and hidden tunnels as well as carrying out sabotage missions, according to the IDF’s website.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently visited Yahalom fighters, who are known as “weasels,” telling them: “I rely on you. The people of Israel rely on you,” Reuters reported.

Sayeret Matkal

Another important unit will be Sayeret Matkal, Israel’s “field intelligence-gathering unit.”

It carries out intelligence operations behind enemy lines, and, crucially, it conducts hostage recovery missions.

Modeled on the British SAS, it has a storied history, seeing action in the Yom Kippur War and both the First and Second Lebanon Wars. In the latter, it led “raids deep inside Lebanon,” per the IDF.

It  is best known for its role in the 1976 Entebbe airport raid in Uganda, when its commandos saved 100 Israelis from Palestinian hijackers.

Shayetet 13

Shayetet 13 is a marine commando unit involved in ground, maritime, and airborne missions.

Its role encompasses attacking enemy marine infrastructure and intelligence.

The unit has already seen action in the conflict with Hamas, with footage reportedly showing it retaking a military post on the Gaza border following Hamas’ attacks.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=p4n4Ch5gBVo%3Fsi%3DP_d-mOfTFOaQTWna

Shaldag Unit

Shaldag is one of the IDF’s “most elite” squads. It’s tasked with performing many classified operations that are not public knowledge.

Video footage posted by the IDF on YouTube on October 25 appeared to show soldiers from the unit taking out Hamas militants and rescuing people in Kibbutz Be’eri.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=1z8AkAAJk4Y%3Fsi%3DFmTO9t81H4VhXxUW

Duvdevan Commando Unit

The Duvdevan Unit specializes in working in “densely populated civilian areas,” which could prove crucial in Gaza, where a population of more than 2 million people live in a strip of land that’s around 25 miles long and around just eight miles wide at the widest point.

Its forces go undercover among local Arab populations, according to the IDF.

One of its highly-trained specialists, Sgt. First Class Itai Bausi, 22, fought Hamas fighters with his bare hands at  Supernova desert party on October 7, before he was killed, said witnesses, per The Times of Israel.

Egoz Unit

Egoz was specifically created to tackle the threat of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which Israel has been increasingly battling over the last few weeks.

Despite this, the unit now works across any region using guerrilla warfare, but it maintains a special focus on northern Israel.

Maglan Unit

Another unit that operates in enemy-held territory, Maglan’s role is to destroy “specific targets” and build intelligence. It was initially formed in 1986 as an anti-tank warfare unit, per the IDF.

Three soldiers from the unit were killed in southern Israel during the October 7 terrorist attacks, The Times of Israel reported.

Oketz Unit
Solider and dog from the IDF's Oketz (“Sting” in Hebrew) is the IDF's canine unit.
Solider and dog from the IDF’s Oketz (“Sting” in Hebrew) is the IDF’s canine unit.Israeli Special Forces/Facebook

it is Israel’s special forces K9 squad. It works in counter-terrorism and search and rescue missions, and it played a key role in rescuing more than 200 Israeli citizens on October 7, say reports.

The unit was created in 1974 to combat a rise in terrorist attacks on Israel, the IDF says.

Israel’s ground offensive

Israel began its ground offensive on Saturday following an increased wave of airstrikes on the territory — the heaviest bombardment of the conflict so far.

Its military also dropped leaflets across Gaza City, telling people living there to evacuate.

“To the residents of the Gaza Strip: The Gaza governorate (Gaza City) has become a battlefield. Shelters in northern Gaza and Gaza governorate are not safe,” read one leaflet in Arabic, per The Telegraph.

A picture taken from near the southern Israeli city of Sderot on October 28, 2023
An explosion seen from the southern Israeli city of Sderot.ARIS MESSINIS/AFP via Getty Images

Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas militants utilize civilian buildings as bases and storage areas, while also building tunnel complexes beneath them to faciliate their operations and transport equipment.

The key to the offensive for Israel will be clearing this “spider’s web” of tunnels that lie beneath the territory, say the IDF.

IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus said earlier this month that Hamas had built “a network of tunnels from Gaza City and under Gaza City” down to Khan Yunis and Rafah, turning the strip into “one layer for civilians and then another layer for Hamas.”

“These aren’t bunkers for the Gazan civilians to have access to when Israel is striking. It’s only for Hamas and other terrorists so that they can continue to fire rockets at Israel, to plan operations, to launch terrorists into Israel,” he added.

‘Waiting to get punched in the face’
Soldiers marching with automatic weapons
Israeli soldiers march toward a possible ground fight with Hamas in GazaIlia Yefimovich/dpa

Fighting in the densely populated streets of Gaza and in Hamas’ labyrinth of tunnels could help level the playing field between the two sides, however, as it may diminish the impact of some of the Israeli forces’ technological advantages, The Associated Press reported.

“I usually say it’s like walking down the street waiting to get punched in the face,” John Spencer, a former US Army major and the chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, said, per The AP.

In such situations, those defending “had time to think about where they are going to be and there’s millions of hidden locations they can be in. They get to choose the time of the engagement — you can’t see them but they can see you,” he added.

More than 1,400 Israelis have died since Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attacks, and over 200 Israelis were taken hostage and abducted to Gaza. Gaza’s Health Ministry said the Palestinian death toll is now over 8,000, as a result of Israel’s relentless bombing of the enclave, The AP reported.