🚨Israel Runs Nationwide Mass-Casualty Drills as 3 New Israeli Communities Announced for Gaza

**Ben Hilton** (0:00)
This week, Israel has been running full on nationwide mass casualty drills and joint tests of their missile defense system. What is Israel preparing for? This comes as protests happen across Gaza, exposing something critical, and the IDF also eliminated a key Hamas figure. But despite all of this, Israeli officials have just unveiled plans for three new Israeli communities in Gaza.
This video was released this week by Rafael, the Israeli weapons manufacturer who are responsible for the creation of the Iron Dome. The video details a joint drill Israel's Ministry of Defense conducted where the Iron Dome was used alongside Iron Beam, the laser system, to defend against a complex multi-threat scenario.
In the video, you can see the Iron Dome working to shoot down incoming drones and missiles. This is interesting because traditionally, Israel has relied more heavily on the longer range arrow systems to combat ballistic missile threats like this, leaving the Iron Dome to defend against smaller threats like rockets and drones. But with this test, IDF officials specifically stressed that the Iron Dome can in fact be used to intercept ballistic missiles. In this test, you can also see the Iron Beam being used to mainly intercept drones, which is what it was designed for. What's interesting, though, is according to the Jerusalem Post, the Iron Beam is being adapted to soon be able to actually intercept ballistic missiles as well. To date, the Iron Beam has already successfully shot down sub-40 drones along Israel's northern border. That represents a total cost of about $120 for the electricity used to power the laser. For all of those interceptions combined, it's about $3 a shot.
If Israel had instead used the Iron Dome to shoot down these drones, the total cost would have been at a minimum nearly half a million dollars. But amazingly, that isn't even the biggest advantage that the Iron Beam offers. During the most recent war with Iran, it's reported that the US fired somewhere around 150 FAD interceptors out of a pre-war stockpile of around 400 The issue here is that currently, the US is only able to build about 96 interceptors every year. What this means is that once a kinetic missile defense system, like the FAD, runs out of ammunition, it's likely useless for the rest of the entire war. The Iron Beam, on the other hand, requires no production of interceptors, since it's just basically focused heat powered by electricity. This means that as long as the power remains running, the Iron Beam essentially has an endless supply of ammunition on tap and ready to fire.
While Rafael was testing the integration of these new defense systems, the Israeli public was also being tested. Israel just conducted a nationwide mass casualty simulation. The official reason given was to prepare for a major earthquake. But with everything going on in the Middle East right now, I think there's probably a little bit more going on here than what official government channels are saying. The exercise was held in coordination with the National Emergency Authority. And like I said, the official purpose was to evaluate Israel's readiness for a catastrophic earthquake. Officials simulated mass casualties, infrastructure damage, power outages, and a breakdown of transportation. Officials didn't give a clear answer as to why they're conducting this drill right now, only that this is the first in a series of drills aimed at strengthening nationwide readiness. It's possible this is inspired by the tragic earthquakes that we just saw in Venezuela. With thousands of people still trapped into the rubble nearly a week after the event. But while this nationwide mass casualty simulation certainly could be useful in the event of an earthquake, it's also possible this is a quiet simulation for the possibility of a catastrophic war, like with Turkey or Egypt and the near future. Obviously, God forbid.
Both countries have been stepping up their rhetoric against the state of Israel, and both countries pose a massive threat to Israel militarily. Obviously, we hope and pray that this would never happen.
Before these drills took place, there was actually major movement across the Gaza Strip to initiate mass protests against the rule of Hamas.
Many expected crowds to show up in force, especially since Hamas is currently in a very weak position. But while there were some protests in different locations that involved a few people, the response was largely underwhelming. According to an interview with an anonymous Gazan to media outlets, people are simply too afraid to protest after all they have been through. He said, quote, No one can imagine the level of fear and intimidation Hamas has installed in people's hearts since its foundation in 1987
Hamas' reign of terror is in fact a huge deterrent to protests or any kind of dissent against him. We've seen countless videos of Hamas dragging people into the streets to torture and kill them in horrific ways. Intentionally, in plain sight of everyone. But even though the civilians of Gaza have every reason to fear Hamas, I think there may be more to this. In every anonymous poll that has been taken, Gazans have shown and continue to show an overwhelming level of support for a continued fight against Israel. It's mind-blowing to think about, but on October 7th, Gazan civilians committed some of the worst torture and rape of Israelis, even worse than Hamas. I'm sure you all remember seeing the responses of civilians in Gaza to Hamas parading the October 7th hostages through the streets of Gaza, dead bodies and living hostages. But despite Hamas largely losing the war and much of Gaza completely destroyed, the civilians of Gaza continue to support Hamas and still call for the destruction of Israel. But thankfully, the number of perpetrators who participated in October 7th continue to grow smaller by the day thanks to the hard work of the IDF. Israel just eliminated the PIJ terrorist who kidnapped and held Ram Brazlovski in Gaza. You can see in this video here the IDF calling him to share the good news.