259: Chapter 259 Pressing the Red Button

"Wait until all the tanks enter the intersection; the missile team on the roof will fire first," Khalid said to Muhammad, the young man in charge of the detonation. "When the time comes and you hear my command, press this red button. Not the green one, the red one. After you press it, we have thirty seconds to evacuate through this passage to the second basement level. Do you understand?"

Muhammad’s face was pale, but his gaze was firm: "Understood, Uncle Lynx. Press the red button, thirty-second evacuation."

Khalid patted his shoulder: "Don't be afraid. Allah will protect us. Even if we die, we are martyrs and will go to heaven."

He walked to the window, which had no glass, and observed the outside with binoculars. The street was empty, with only the wind kicking up dust and scraps of paper. In the distance, the faint roar of tank engines and sporadic explosions could be heard—that was the battle in the 'Oasis' area further north.

"They're coming soon," Khalid muttered to himself, his fingers stroking the bullet casing hanging from his chest—inside were photos of his wife and children.

The Squid Nation military's advance had been unusually 'smooth' in the first few hours.

On the northern route, the vanguard battalion of the 7th Armored Brigade met almost no decent resistance. Occasional sniper fire from the ruins was quickly suppressed by the tanks' coaxial machine guns and the fire of accompanying infantry. Remote-controlled mines destroyed a few armored vehicles, but they were also quickly cleared by engineers. Artillery and air support were available on call; any suspected sniper nest or fire point would be pulverized by a barrage of shells or missiles.

By noon, the vanguard battalion had penetrated eight kilometers into Gaza, occupying the 'Oasis' orchards and several small surrounding settlements. The battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Danny Cohen, reported to brigade headquarters over the radio: "Progress is smooth, enemy resistance is weak, and we are establishing forward supply points as planned. We expect to reach the outskirts of the Old City before dark."

Brigade Commander Colonel Levin's reply was brief and forceful: "Maintain pressure, but do not advance recklessly. Consolidate occupied areas and clear remaining enemies. Await progress from the central and southern routes."

In the middle route, the 401st Armored Brigade's advance met slightly stronger resistance. Anti-tank rockets and machine gun fire occasionally erupted from the ruins on both sides of the main road, causing some casualties to the lead units. However, relying on absolute firepower superiority, the Squid Nation military employed the standard tactic of 'tanks lead the way, infantry clear, and artillery covers,' chipping away at the defensive line step by step.

Infantry from the Golani Brigade cleared house by house, throwing grenades into every basement and alleyway, and using explosives to blow open suspicious walls. Progress was slow, but they were indeed moving forward.

On the southern route, the experience of the 35th Paratrooper Brigade was somewhat eerie. They moved north from the southern border and initially encountered almost no resistance. But once they had penetrated five kilometers, they began to notice strange phenomena: occasionally, abandoned but intact anti-tank missile launchers were found by the roadside; in some buildings, there were traces of recent habitation, with stoves still warm, but the people were gone; most tunnel entrances were either blown up or camouflaged, making them hard to find.

Paratrooper Brigade Commander Colonel Ilan Perez felt uneasy. This didn't look like a rout; it looked more like an organized retreat. Staring at the electronic map in his command vehicle, he felt as if countless pairs of eyes were watching them from those silent ruins.

"Order the units to tighten their formation and strengthen reconnaissance. Drone units, focus on scanning the areas to our rear and flanks. I have a bad feeling," Perez ordered.

But it took time for orders to be transmitted, and some things had already begun.

At two in the afternoon, the Squid Nation military's 'good luck' seemed to have run out.

First was the middle route.

A tank company from the 401st Armored Brigade was advancing cautiously along the main road. Company Commander Captain Yaakov Levi sat in the commander's seat of his merkava Mk4, observing both sides of the street through the panoramic sight. Ruins were everywhere, and visibility was poor.

"Alpha-1, one hundred meters ahead, intersection, stay alert," Levi reminded the lead tank over the radio.

"Alpha-1 copies... wait, what's that?" The lead tank commander's voice suddenly changed.

Levi saw it too—in the center of the intersection, over a dozen bulging sacks were piled up, with a white flag planted on top.

"Could be a trap, or something left by civilians. Slow down, machine guns ready," Levi had just finished saying—

Boom! Boom! Boom!

It wasn't the sacks exploding. It was the ruins on both sides!

From the roof of a five-story building on the left, three plumes of white smoke rose simultaneously! Three anti-tank missiles trailed exhaust flames, plunging toward the three merkavas in the middle of the tank company at a near-vertical angle!

"Missiles! Top attack!" Levi roared. "Smoke grenades! Maneuver!"

Too late.

The 'Red Arrow-12' missiles in top-attack mode specifically target the weakest top armor of a tank. The first missile slammed precisely above the engine compartment of a merkava; the shaped charge jet easily tore through the armor, igniting the fuel and ammunition inside. A secondary explosion occurred, and the turret was blown over ten meters high by the massive impact, crashing heavily onto another armored vehicle.

The second missile hit the top of a turret, destroying the commander’s sight and communication antenna, leaving the crew inside dazed and disoriented.

The third missile missed its mark, exploding on the ground next to a tank, with shrapnel wounding several accompanying infantrymen.

"Left roof! Suppressive fire!" Levi shouted.

The tanks' 7.62mm coaxial machine guns and 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns poured bullets frantically toward the left roof, sending concrete fragments flying. But the attackers had already rappelled down to the lower floors using pre-set ropes and vanished into the ruins.

Almost simultaneously, dense gunfire erupted from the ruins on the right, and RPG rockets trailed smoke as they flew toward the armored vehicles and infantry. The street instantly turned into a killing field.

"Call artillery! Coordinates E-7, request fire cover! Air support! We need air support!" Levi bellowed into the radio.

But the communication channel was filled with the noisy static of intense electronic interference.

This was only the beginning of a series of attacks. Over the next two hours, the 401st Armored Brigade's advance came to a complete standstill. They were constantly harassed by sniper fire and missile attacks from rooftops, underground holes, and even from behind. The enemy was like ghosts, hitting and running, never lingering. Tanks and armored vehicles were forced to contract into defensive circles, while the infantry were exhausted from trying to clear sniper nests and fire points that seemed never-ending.

Worse still, the artillery positions in the rear suffered a devastating blow.

At 3:10 PM, the Squid Nation's 282nd Self-Propelled Artillery Battalion, deployed eight kilometers north of the border, was providing fire support for the front lines. Suddenly, dense clusters of low-altitude, slow-moving targets appeared on the sentries' radar screens—over a hundred of them!