The Palestinian Resistance yesterday came as a new surprise to Tel Aviv by targeting six key Israeli air bases in various parts of occupied Palestine, along with other occupier ground military bases.
The resistance group “Kataeb Izz al-Din al-Qassam”, the military branch of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), announced last night (Tuesday, May 18) that on the ninth day, in response to the continuation of the Zionist regime’s aggression and crimes against Palestinian civilians, several regime air bases were targeted.
The statement from Kataeb al-Qassam stressed that the operation was specifically in response to the continuing bombardment of various areas in the southern Gaza Strip.
According to the report, the Palestinian Resistance Forces specifically targeted the six air bases “Hatsour”, “Hatsrim”, “Navatim”, “Tel Nof”, “Palmachim” and “Ramon”.
“Arabi 21” news site published a report introducing these six Zionist air bases, which are as follows:
Ramon Air Base
Ramon Air Base is one of the air bases of high strategic importance for the occupying regime. Ramon Air Base is one of the air bases of high strategic importance for the occupying regime.
According to the report, the Ramon base is also known in Hebrew as “Knauf 25” or the 25th faction, who includes the most powerful combat squadrons in the Israeli Air Force, and Israeli planes take off from there to target the Gaza Strip.
The base was built in 1982 with US funding as part of the re-establishment of the Israeli Air Force outside Sinai, Egypt. The move came after Egypt took control of Sinai under the Camp David Accords signed in 1979. One of the clauses in the agreement was Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai for three years.
Hatsour Air Base
The base is a military airport located off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, parallel to the occupied city of Jerusalem. Historically, the base is located in the eastern villages of Qastina and Al-Batani, or Tire, both 35 km from the Gaza Strip.
Hatsour military base is the headquarters of the 105th Squadron, which is known by the same name because of its “Aqrab” logo. The base contains two-man F-16 fighter jets that have been used in various wars against the Gaza Strip, especially the 2008 war.
The Hatsour base was established by the British Air Force in 1942, and after the British withdrawal from Palestine and its occupation by Israel in 1948, the base was given to the new occupying air force.
Hatsrim Air Base
The base is also an Israeli air base based in the occupied city of Beersheba, and its fighter jets are often used for attacks against Gaza.
Navatim Air Base
This military base is also known as the 28th Air Force Base. It includes a military airport and an international airport, located in the city of Beersheba, which houses squadrons of F-35 fighters about 70 kilometers from Gaza.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin visited the base last April during a visit to occupied Palestine. The base was established in 1947 as an airport called “Melhata” and was rebuilt at an advanced level with the help of the United States after the signing of the Commodity Agreement between Egypt and the occupiers.
The reason why Navatim is so important is that it has the Israeli Air Force’s Strategic Underground Air Command. This is not the case at other Israeli air bases.
Tel Aviv Air Base
It is also one of the most important air bases in Israel, located in the Zionist city of Rakhout, southeast of Tel Aviv, at the headquarters of the Palestinian municipality of Zarnouqa, and houses the 210th Air Force Squadron, which includes drones and is about 45 km away from Gaza.
It is one of the three most important air bases in the Israeli Air Force, and the other two are Ramat David and Navatim.
According to security assessments, the base is in addition to having a flight test center – where aircraft are tested and systems and weapons carried by aircraft – is a place to store Israeli nuclear weapons.
Palmachim Air Base
The base is a military base and airport located in the coastal areas near the city of Rishon Listion (east of Tel Aviv) and the center of occupied Palestine.
The base has a large number of helicopters and drones and is the center for launching Arrow space rockets. The base is also used to launch the Shavit space rocket into orbit, launching it over the Mediterranean Sea.
The Palmachim base is also home to the Shaldag, or 5101, a commando unit of the Israeli Air Force. This unit is used in offensive operations and intelligence operations. This unit is responsible for covert and secret operations.