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Resistance Report — 7 Jan 2024

How Palestinian resistance employs tunnels to fight invaders, with Jon Elmer

Jon Elmer covers the battle in central Gaza.

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Full transcript
John take us through uh some of the most recent uh Jelly Bean V videos um especially around the attack tunnels uh what can you say about uh you know the Israelis are talking a lot about tunnels we've we've got some videos um set this up for us yeah so a part of the Israel's uh attempt to exit the the war in Gaza is to say that they destroyed the tunnel Network and so we've got a couple videos here that um show the use and and um the significance of the tunnel Network that exists this is a war in B this is in central Gaza this war in this Central Gaza area is only about a week old um in intensity and you can see an uh engineering uh Troop Carrier there um with a soldier outside of it and in this video we're seeing them use an attack tunnel to come out into open space um and also if we note this one it's not a helmet cam so they're sending the C cameraman and the shooter out the same tunnel um and getting within you know a couple hundred feet uh of an Israeli armored vehicle and we can see in this video also that the um the spotter um is also the cameraman in that video so that's um uh using a tunnel um that the Israelis don't know are there to access um that close to an Israeli position and again we talk about this all the time on these videos but just the courage and commitment to to stand in an open field like that sort of like the number one rule of Guerilla Warfare um is is is is not to be out in the open space but to use concealment um to attack and and these Palestinians are using a tunnel which effectively operates as concealment um to access this area where the Israelis have just set up to start uh operating and so um it gives you a clue at the type of tunnel Network that exists and maybe if we can go to the next one um tomorrow this is also in ber this is this is again uh very close distance to uh Israeli armored vehicles so the tunnels are able to be either dug really quickly like that or already exist in these places um either way that's significant and now we've taken out and and one of the reasons we call them jelly beans was because we were worried about U about the uh the sensors um but in video so we've taken out the audio but in this video you can see also the shooter and the cameraman are separate and they both go here you can watch them go down into the tunnel together they sent two people out the same attack tunnel and then here at the end of this clip you can see them climbing over each other to get back into the tunnel um safely uh to fight another day um and so you can see that this attack tunnel um Network it's not just a defensive Network where they can um you know protect their Fighters um and have Logistics um but they're able to use the branches of uh this tunnel Network to access Israeli forces and this is something that will happen increasingly if Israel is attempting to set up a buffer zone what we're looking at right there is a shooter coming out the tunnel and firing into what Israel is calling the buffer zone and part of its uh a apparent part of its attempt to wind down the war in in Gaza um is to establish themselves in this buffer zone and right here you're seeing them bulldozing trees um in a in a forested uh you know Olive Tree area destroying the trees and then uh bulldozing the land and this video just shows you that the more they do that the more accessible they are uh by the fighters and this is in B this is in central Gaza um but we can see the use of tunnels also in conun um if we see this next clip in conun here you can see how the tunnel is dug there um so they're using and look at the proximity he goes checks see how close it is uh the armored vehicle right beside him he gets passed by his assistant here a shaaz magnetic uh uh explosively uh formed penetrator which we talked about on last episode and once again also on last episode we showed hand delivery hand delivery to the spot on the turret of the tank um that it's weakest um something we've also seen Kasam give their Fighters uh that kind of um that kind of um information about where to hit so again you can see the tunnel so the tunnel Network exists under the ground once they spot the positioning of the Israelis then they're digging that last little bit to make the attack tunnel um and is if the Israelis are setting up in the buffer zone this is something that we're going to see more of um again just incredible courage and U and Military Acumen to carry out your mission um that tank is operated somebody is inside that and there's also tanks all around that um and so we're seeing that attack tunnel uh be used um as a hint of what the massive tunnel Network that Israel is claiming you know with a lot of counting statistics like Israel saying like we've destroyed you know we've kind of covered it on this show like 500 tunnels and then they said 800 tunnels now they're saying 1,500 tunnels they John John one question I have that I mean what when I saw this I mean it's so incredible for so many reasons but you can see that's a freshly dug tunnel and so I think in a way that this tells us that thinking about the tunnel net Network as some static thing that's been built like a Metro System like yes occasionally every 50 years they might build a new line but that's the wrong way to think about it the tunnel network is dynamic it's living it's changing all the time is that a better way to think about it yeah and and it was described by the Israelis that were down there as a spider web right so it's not just a a street a straightaway uh that takes you from A to B it's the spider web and that SP web is both the reason why the Israelis won't be able to neutralize it but also gives you a clue of the efficacy of using it for different means so you can use it for Logistics you can use it for moving but you can also use it as an attack uh Network and it's the same tunnel Network it's not some separate Network um and so I think that this idea that the Israelis um part of their draw down you know they've uh they're saying they rotated out 30,000 troops or so they don't say numbers but um five brigades they said that they're rotating them out and they're beginning to draw down forces um and they're looking for an end game which involves them being in the buffer zone with the supposition by Israel that if you're in the buffer zone you're pushing Palestinian uh rocket fire or o you know October 7th military attacks um back from the border um but what we're seeing is that if that's the the plan for the Israelis that the Guerilla War element this fight um will take it to them in uh in these areas um it's just the the tunnel Network to say the Israelis to say 1500 so even if they're lying about that number the fact that they're using a number that that's that enormous um and you're still seeing that no com uh you know very few um senior uh Kasam leaders in Gaza are being hit so they're clearly being able to use the tunnel to protect their forces we have no idea how many of the you know 20 uh plus thousand people they've killed um are Hamas Fighters but um the the number that it suggests from everything that we've seen is nowhere near what the Israelis are saying and they're saying 8,000 and 8,000 of a 40,000 uh member Force um plus the 10 other groups that are involved um in the armed struggle plus any Palestinian in Gaza who becomes a gorilla um fighting this occupation so we can see that militarily they're not um anywhere near um where they can say they're they're um the Israelis told the economist which has sort of been the like uh the lead in in getting Israeli intelligence information about this that they have that the command and control structure of Kasam has been um completely disabled doesn't exist at all uh anymore uh for Kasam how they were able to and that's how they were able to fire those missiles at uh Tel Aviv at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve another thing uh just echoing your comments about and uh you know what what's the impact and this I'm not changing the subject I'm going to bring it back to this but I I want to say you know we can see the impact in terms of the strikes and demonstrations across the occupied West Bank uh that that this is only increasing the support for Hamas I mean Israel thinks they're taking someone out uh not to diminish his importance and his contribution that he made to to uh uh within the organization but it's increasing the appeal but I think one effect of what Israel has done is that uh they're just going to get an even bigger rocket named after him the the alori 300 I I don't know what they'll call it but yeah I mean like it's true he's an important leader there's no question about it but there's there's no way that there there's no if you look at the trajectory at at the cores like I remember when I was reporting uh in Gaza was the time that they were assassinating shik Yasin and abdulaziz ranzi and at the time it seemed like what is Israel doing this is the craziest thing um you know but the if you look back on it the group isn't imp acted by that and and that's the leadership but the actual fighting force when they're saying that they've uh disabled the command and control of the Fighting Force um they're cassam Bri Gades are an organized military they're an organized as you've talked about before order of battle um of a conventional Army alley and so when they lose their Fighters they replace them in a logical um you know a following on um their leadership it's easy it's it's obvious who they'll replace them with and maybe it's not quite as clear with aruri because of his relationships with nasala and and the Iranians who they'll replace him with but over the course of history when they've killed these leaders we can all in the public basically name who the next leader is going to be right it's not some Ser it's some mystery within the movement that we have no idea um the leadership in the movement is obvious and and it's known and so these kind of attacks um they don't have any significance on the functioning of the group over the long term again um he's a significant loss um there's no question about it but when we're talking about command and control and breaking down command and control um we're going to go into a set of videos here one from Kasam and one from SAR Al kuds that shows behind the scenes how these videos are made um and so it gives you a a sense so here they say after they pass we'll send you a signal we'll say they've gotten close you see them on the phone there he says after that you send the shooter you send the spotter then the shooter his helper and the cameraman then we see these guys go out they're on a phone on a closed phone line they move through the buildings these guys are saying look there he is there he is they're seeing the Israelis in the position you can see way the cameraman setting up the shot he's in a separate spot and he's saying look at the Upper Floor there they are there they are and the other fighter says to them relax relax let them collect so there's more of them there to carry out the attack again this is a behind the scenes that we've never seen this is the first time they've shown us this you can see the helper there passing the thermobaric grenade which is an anti- uh uh Personnel uh anti- fortification um it's built for this task let's put it that way um and you can see that there's multiple people involved involved so there's four people in that unit and he says we got them and that's the building after again so he says we're looking at the armored personnel carrier there um he's saying send the spotter after that comes the shooter and his helper and the cameraman he climbs out the window on the on a above ground window climbs across the alley into a separate house where the shooters obviously are because um we saw them on the phone they're not in the same spot they're coordinating these in multiple locations so whatever the opposite of command and control is is what we're watching here we're watching dudes on the phone phoning each other and setting up an operation in shua um again where the Israelis were hit very hard in this war and in each previous uh War again again the the Israelis in that video showing their love of Windows yeah it still hasn't changed they're in the windows all day all week this week it's not not clear um I I don't know if some of these are reservists that just have no idea and that's part of the thing they're rotating out um it it's not uh I mean people say it in the comments uh underneath there's soldiers saying that this is like literally the first day of basic training it's not it's not a sophisticated military assessment to not stand in a window but I mean is it is it you know John we've all seen these videos okay haven't they seen them are they in such a bubble of propaganda and indoctrination that do they know what's happening I don't know if that's clear I don't know if that's clear because we haven't seen that kind of Lessons Learned stuff I don't know if they're just all into their Tik Tok videos like there the the the the difference the juxtoposition between the Palestinian Resistance videos and the Israeli Tik Tock culture just couldn't be more it couldn't be more Stark um it's not clear that the Israeli I mean a lot of this let's say for the resistance this is very disciplined um they're blurring the buildings they're blurring obviously their Fighters um they're releasing the videos not necessarily the same day so they're not giving the Israelis that information in their field reports they' they write um basically Kasam um details all of their attacks but they generally detail them along an axis of fighting um not in a specific area necessarily but in a wider area um basically corresponding to the battalions that are fighting in this area um so this is the Shaya Battalion carrying out this behind the scenes um operation and and then we have another one from s kuds which is just from yesterday again go moving through the rubble which we'll show again um using a conventional uh rpg7 that uh sarel kuds uses moving through the neighborhood um with knowledge of of the neighborhood passing the Weaponry through these uh mous holes that are created that are part of the urban Warfare landscape um and SEL coulds as I said last time their their videos um take you a little bit longer uh shot on this um but so they they've moved through the neighborhood without ever coming out on the street and then he's creeping up here and watch when he turns the corner here it's right there and so they're they're scoping the neighborhood with spotters and then they're moving through the rubble um to get this shot um and again so that's a behind the scenes uh we saw the cameraman operating uh in this video as well and so we can see both the military Acumen but also the way that the um information War um is critical to these Fighters showing these videos is very important part of the war um in a in a war where it's difficult to get sort of on the ground um journalism of the fighting because of the Massac that uh Israel is carrying out they you can't do any kind of like on the ground following of these Fighters um in the same way that maybe covering the inap that we were on the ground with the you know the stone throwing kids and um with the fighters on the street this is uh Israel has created a massacre scenario in Gaza where it's impossible for journalists to get this kind of stuff and so part of the information war and that's a Mera tank getting hit from close up too close to um for this trophy uh active protection system to kick in um and so that's part of the thing that's part of the fighting style is to move through these walls to get into a better position not to Simply say oh there's a tank and fire at it um but you can see by these behindth scenes videos and that's what this video is showing it's a behind the scenes video by SEL kuds um that are showing you the way that the cameraman um you know the cameraman and the Spotter and the shooter all function together um and so that's one from Kasam and and one from sarel kuds um really showing us I think for the first time um you know 80 days into this exactly how these videos are made and sometimes the videos um you know with the explosions because of the the explosions the videos can look like chaos um but these videos show that they're clearly not chaos they're um and they're part they're not just staging some shoot here they're they're integrating the information operations within the war fighting um and so we have more of these uh moving through the rubble um because the the the foundation for Israel's war has been to destroy Gaza um as if you're going to um make the resistance hand back the prisoners by destroying the land um thanks for watching this video please subscribe to our YouTube channel hit like leave a comment these engagements help us with the YouTube algorithm and it helps us to 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