Inside deadly Hamas Israel war with arsenal of 30,000 rockets, kamikaze drones and 'skunk water' –

ISRAEL and Hamas have been building up a lethal stockpile of weapons that are being unleashed in the escalating conflict. 

The warring neighbours' deadly arsenals threaten to make it the bloodiest ever conflict between them.

🔵 Read our Israel-Gaza live blog for the very latest updates…

Some 119 people have been killed in Gaza and eight have died in Israel since fighting began on Monday.

With his high-tech fighter jets and multi-billion pound defence systems at his disposal, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no shortage of options to counter the mititants. 

THE IRON DOME

Israel's chief defence system is the multi-billion pound Iron Dome.

This is a mobile air defence system that aims to shoot down enemy missiles entering the country.

First deployed in 2011, the Dome typically intercepts between 85 per cent and 95 per cent of rockets,.

Israel Defence Fortce (IDF) claims it operating at a 90 per cent success rate.



RADAR PROOF WAR PLANES

In efforts to destroy Hamas' extensive hoard of rockets, Israel is able to call upon a squadron of world-leading fighter jets.

The nation has established close military ties with the US, which has supplied cutting-edge aircraft including the F-35 Lightning-II.

The plane allows pilots 360 degree views of targets, while boasting advanced radar avoidance systems that grant it near invisibility.

KAMIKAZE DRONES 

Last year, the IDF bought up the Hero-30 system.

This is a kamikaze drone and has been successfully used in combat, according to manufacturer UVision.

The lightweight drone is known as a "loitering munition", because it explodes when striking a target rather than returning to base.

SKUNK WATER

Skunk water is a liquid compound with an overpowering odour that has been described by those who have experienced it as the smell of sewage mixed with rotting corpses.

In reality, it is a concoction of chemicals that causes intense nausea, obstructing normal breathing, causing violent gagging and vomiting.

The company’s safety sheet also indicates that it can cause skin irritation, eye and abdominal pain.

Palestinians have also reported that it causes hair loss.

Security forces that use skunk water claim that it is non-lethal and non-toxic.

Yet high doses can have a lethal effect, and when it is fired from a water cannon, it is sprayed at extremely high pressure, which can cause serious injury.

'WEAPONS COTTAGE INDUSTRY'

But in Gaza, with help from Israel’s foe Iran, they have been busy making their largest stockpile of weapons ever. 

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) official Jonathan Conricus said the arsenal was "on a par with the fire capability of small European countries".

He said: “They have quite a nice cottage industry and they produce rockets based on blueprints and advice that they have gotten from Iran and others,” 

HAMAS ROCKETS

Israeli Defence Forces Lt Col Jonathan Conricus has estimated Hamas’s arsenal at 20,000 to 30,000 unguided rockets.

These are mostly built in underground workshops inside Gaza.  

It is also thought to have several hundred Kornet guided anti-tank missiles smuggled into Gaza by sea and tunnel

There are also 100 anti-aircraft missiles; and perhaps 10,000 mortar rounds.

'KAMIKAZE DRONES' 

Hamas has developed its own Kamikaze drone it calls Shehab.”

The terror group have showcased it in a video circulated online that shows them with several medium-size drones in Gaza. Hamas says its new drones are called “Shehab.”

Drone experts such as Nick Waters and others have pointed out the close connection between the Hamas “Shehab” and the Iranian Ababil.


TERROR TUNNELS

Israel has intensified its assault on Gaza targeting a network of Palestinian militant tunnels under Gaza that it dubbed “the Hamas Metro”, 

Some 160 aircraft flying simultaneously conducted a massive attack on a network dug by the Hamas terror group under the northern Gaza Strip around midnight last night.

Israel has long struggled to wipeout the system, despite top of the range military and intelligence equipment.

This is primarily because the tunnels, which are believed to have cost between $30 million (£21.3 million) and $90 million (£63.9 million) to build, are extremely difficult to detect from the air. 

Some of the three dozen tunnels built since the end of the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict are estimated to have cost $3 million ($2.13 million). 

The tunnels are reinforced with concrete to protect them from airstrikes and from caving in. 



Palestinian health officials say six Palestinians were killed by Israeli army fire in the West Bank on Friday.

The health ministry says five were killed in stone-throwing clashes with Israeli forces in several locations, and a sixth was killed during an attempt to stab an Israeli soldier.

The health officials said some 100 Palestinians were injured, most of them by live fire.

The protests took place in several locations across the West Bank, signaling a new wave of unrest there as part of the escalation of fighting between Israel and Gazas Hamas rulers.

The West Bank violence comes as Israel unleashed a heavy barrage of tank fire and airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Friday. Israel said it was clearing a network of militant tunnels ahead of a possible ground invasion.

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