Operation Iron Swords - Day 9 - 15 October 2023

Palestinian armed group Hamas launched thousands of missiles at Israel and deployed its militants to infiltrate Jewish settlements near the country’s border with Gaza on 07 October 2023. The 1,200 Israelis killed on the first day would be the equivalent of 36,000 Americans killed in an attack, as a proportion to Israel’s population of 9.3 million people (compared to 332 million in the USA). Israeli President Isaac Herzog stated: “Not since the Holocaust have so many Jews been killed in one day".

The death toll of Palestinians killed since Israel began the bombing campaign in Gaza on October 7 has risen to 2,670, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the territory, including 614 children and 370 women. More than 9,714 Palestinians were injuredin Gaza, and another 1,100 in the West Bank. More than 1,000 people are missing under the rubble of buildings that were destroyed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza, the Palestinian civil defence team said. IDF said it was holding a further 1,500 bodies of Hamas combatants. Over 1,400 people in Israel were killed by Hamas since the October 7 attack, Tal Heinrich, spokeswoman for the prime minister's office, told journalists. An Israeli military spokesperson said that 155 captives are being held in Gaza. More than 3,400 peoplens were also injured in Israel.

Medics in Gaza warned that thousands could die as hospitals packed with wounded people run desperately low on fuel and basic supplies. Hospitals are expected to run out of generator fuel within two days, according to the UN, which said that that would endanger the lives of thousands of patients. Gaza’s sole power plant shut down for lack of fuel after Israel completely sealed off the 40-kilometer-long (25-mile-long) territory following the Hamas attack. The majority of Palestinian families buy fresh water on an average day because tap water is mostly not suitable for human consumption. Because of Israeli shelling, “freshwater stations are closed and again we need electricity to pump water to our fresh water tanks,” he said.

Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that a decision to renew water supplies to parts of southern Gaza had been agreed between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden. "I have been in touch with my Israeli counterparts just within the last hour who reported to me that they have, in fact, turned the water pipe back on in southern Gaza," Sullivan told CNN. Israel had halted the flow of water as part of its siege of the Hamas-ruled territory since the war broke out last weekend.

The Israeli decision to renew water supplies to parts of southern Gaza should be taken with a “grain of salt,” some Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave said. “I think this is a publicity stunt and a distraction. I think only very few people will get water. The focus right now should be on food and fuel for electricity,” said Refaat Al Areer, a Gaza-based writer. “Many water pipes were damaged”, in the Israeli shelling, Al Areer said. And “without electricity, most households will not get the water as we need water pumps to fill the water tanks.”

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi said Israel's actions against Palestinians echo the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis during the Second World War, warning that the dimensions of the war will broaden if the Israeli regime persists with its attacks. "If the Zionist regime seeks to pay for its defeat through the continuation of these crimes [against Palestinians], the dimensions of the developments will expand," Raeisi said in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron. Raeisi stressed the necessity of an immediate halt to the bombardment of residential areas in Gaza, lifting the blockade, and providing essential supplies like water, electricity, fuel, and basic items to the besieged city, in addition to respecting the absolute rights of the Palestinian people.

Macron warned his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi in phone call on Sunday against any escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Macron's office said. "The president of the republic warned President Raisi against any escalation or extension of the conflict, especially to Lebanon," Macron's office said in a statement. "Given its relations with Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran has a responsibility in this respect. Iran must do everything possible to avoid a regional flare-up," it added.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned that the Islamic Republic will not be a bystander if the Israeli occupying regime presses ahead with its savagery against the Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip. Amir-Abdollahian made the warning in an interview with the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network's Arabic service on the 9th day of the barbaric Israeli shelling of the coastal area that has so far killed over 2,450 people and left thousands of others injured.

“If the Zionist entity decides to enter Gaza, the resistance leaders will turn it into a cemetery for its soldiers,” Amir-Abdollahian said, adding that the continuation of Israeli aggression against Gaza would expand the war fronts across the whole region.

Expressing optimism about political efforts aimed at ending the conflict, the top Iranian diplomat, however, warned that Tehran would not sit idly by if the Israeli regime failed to stop its brutal onslaught on Gazans. “We hope that political efforts will prevent the war from expanding, otherwise no one knows what will happen in the next hour; Iran cannot remain as a spectator to this situation,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

The Iranian foreign minister also underlined that the resistance front had expressed its readiness for all possible scenarios. "The United States has come forward to preserve the statue and puppet of Israel," Amir-Abdollahian told Al Jazeera network. “If the scope of the war expands, heavy losses will befall the US as well.”

Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian warned about the dire consequences of Israel’s relentless bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip. “In case Israel continues attacking the defenseless people of Gaza, there will be no guarantee that the situation would come under control and the conflict would not spill over,” Amir-Abdollahian said in a meeting with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Those who do not favor the expansion of the current war, the Iranian minister said, must stop Israel’s savagery. Amir-Abdollahian also censured Washington for its contradictory approach, saying the United States invites others to exercise self-restraint but at the same time evades commitment and ramps up its all-out support for Israel.

The American news website Axios reported that Iran sent a message to Israel through the United Nations stressing that it does not want further escalation in Gaza, but that it will have to intervene if the Israeli aggression on the coastal area continued. Citing two diplomatic sources with knowledge of the situation, Axios said Amir-Abdollahian had met with UN envoy to the Middle East Tor Wennesland in the Lebanese capital of Beirut and conveyed the message to the Israeli regime. “Iran has its red lines,” Amir-Abdollahian was quoted as saying. “If the Israeli military operation continues — and especially if Israel follows through on its promise of a ground offensive in Gaza — Iran will have to respond.”

Iran's armed forces will not engage in combat if Israel launches a ground operation in the Gaza Strip, unless Tel Aviv attacks Iranian territory, the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic to the UN told RIA Novosti. "Iran's armed forces will not be involved provided that Israeli apartheid does not dare to attack Iran, its interests and citizens. The (Palestinian - editor's note) resistance front can defend itself," diplomats answered when asked by an agency correspondent whether the country is going to intervene in the situation.

Interviewed by Ha'artez, terrorism expert Ariel Merari claimed that Israel brought the current disaster upon itself by needlessly turning prisoner exchanges into a very attractive deal for the terrorists. Benjamin Netanyahu, of course, was the worst, closing the deal to exchange Shalit for 1,027 terrorists. Merari urged waging the war in Gaza "‘as if there were no hostages" ... Empathy for the families must not be the deciding factor in negotiations for releasing captives.... It’s impossible to run a war when the guiding principle is what’s best for the captives."" But he also said "there is no justification for taking revenge on [Palestinian civilians], punishing them for nothing they did". Merari believes that Israel had no choice but to conquer Gaza and to topple the Hamas regime.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said more than one million people had already been displaced in the Gaza Strip, following the Israeli bombardment of the besieged enclave. Juliette Touma, UNRWA Director of Communications said “the number is likely to be higher as people continue to leave their homes” amid warnings of a ground invasion by Israel. On Friday, Israel ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate the area within 24 hours, in what is viewed as a precursor of a ground invasion by the occupying entity after suffering a serious setback by the Palestinian resistance groups over the past few days.

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, the UN's Palestinian refugee agency, has also warned that water has now become a “matter of life and death” for civilians across the Gaza Strip, adding that “more than two million people are now at risk as water runs out.”

Hamas’s Qassam Brigades said it fired 20 rockets from Lebanon on two Israeli settlements. Separately, Lebanon’s Hezbollah also said it had targeted barracks in Israel’s Hanita with guided missiles and said it had inflicted casualties on “enemy ranks”. Israel responded to the latest attack on one of its military posts close to its border with Lebanon. “Nine launches were identified that crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory,” the Israeli army said in a statement, adding that it intercepted five of them. The army also said it was firing artillery towards the area from where the shooting was carried out in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military planned to launch a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, but postponed it for few days due to weather conditions that would have hampered pilots and drone operators’ ability to support ground forces, US news outlet the New York Times reported. Media cited three senior Israeli military officers who outlined unclassified details about the offensive plan. According to the plan, the Israeli military is ordered to capture Gaza City and destroy the enclave's current leadership, the report read, adding that tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers, as well as tanks, sappers and commandos, were expected to participate in the offensive.

It quoted three unnamed Israeli officers as confirming that the imminent operation would involve tens of thousands of service members, including commando units, and tanks supported by warplanes, helicopter gunships, drones and artillery fired from land and sea. The alleged goal is the complete destruction of Hamas’ leadership, which has controlled the enclave since 2007.

The planned ground operation is expected to be the largest of its kind in over a decade, the NYT report continues, adding that it remains unclear if the IDF is planning to take control of only part of the densely-populated enclave or all of it. There is also a big question mark over whether Israelis are going to run Gaza or install a new Palestinian administration should they succeed in removing Hamas from power there, it wrote. As for the imminent incursion itself, the anonymous Israeli officers told the NYT that it is likely to take months and to exact a large number of casualties on their side, as they will have to clear a vast network of Hamas’ underground tunnels.

With the plan for Palestinian refugee relocation, Israel took a page from the US Vietnam War era playbook - the so-called Strategic Hamlet Program. Under the auspices of this program authorized by John F. Kennedy’s administration, Vietnamese civilians living in contested areas were forcibly relocated to housing built in the South Vietnam-controlled areas. “Their deserted lands were then declared to be Free Fire Zones where all who stayed could be targeted by American troops,” investigative journalist Seymour Hersh noted, referring to the Vietnam War era program.

Some believe the Israeli planners don’t trust their infantry, with the Israeli leadership concerned about their soldiers’ potential “disastrous lack of combat experience.” The Israeli planners thus seem reluctant to immediately send IDF forces into the Gaza Strip to engage in urban combat with Hamas militants, and seek to first flatten the city before commencing ground operations there.

The Israeli army is awaiting a "political decision" on the timing of a major ground offensive on the Gaza Strip, military spokesmen said Sunday as civilians stepped up desperate efforts to flee northern Gaza. Military spokesmen Lieutenant Richard Hecht and Daniel Hagari told separate briefings that "a political decision" will set off any action against Hamas. "We will be holding discussions with our political leadership," Hecht told one briefing.

Israel is not interested in having a war on its northern frontier with Lebanon, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said as tensions mount between the two countries. "We have no interest in a war in the north, we don't want to escalate the situation," Gallant said in a video released by his office, as he visited troops in the country's south. "If Hezbollah chooses the path of war, it will pay a very heavy price ... But if it restrains itself, we'll respect the situation and keep things the way they are, despite them being in a process of shooting from both sides."

Israel's actions in Gaza have gone "beyond the scope of self-defence" and the Israeli government must "cease its collective punishment of the people of Gaza", China's foreign minister Wang Yi said. Wang, who made the comments on a call to his Saudi Arabian counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Saturday, said "all parties should not take any action to escalate the situation and should return to the negotiating table as soon as possible", according to a foreign ministry readout.

The United States sent a second aircraft carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean "to deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts toward widening this war following Hamas's attack", Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said. The USS Eisenhower and its affiliated warships will join another carrier group already deployed to the region in the wake of a Hamas attack on Israel a week ago and Israel's ongoing response. The deployment signals Washington's "ironclad commitment to Israel's security and our resolve to deter any state or non-state actor seeking to escalate this war", Austin said in a statement.

Speaking on CBS, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan cited the possibility of a new battle front on the Israel-Lebanon border and added, “We can’t rule out that Iran would choose to get directly engaged some way. We have to prepare for every possible contingency.” Iran is a long-time backer of the militant group Hamas and of Hezbollah in Lebanon, providing them funding and weapons.

“That is a risk and that’s a risk that we have been mindful of since the start,” Sullivan said of the prospect of Iran getting involved in the war, which was triggered by the Hamas attack on southern Israel from Gaza. “It’s why the president moves so rapidly and decisively to get an aircraft carrier into the eastern Mediterranean, to get aircraft into the Gulf, because he sent a very clear message to any state or any actor that would seek to exploit this situation,” Sullivan added.

Hamas “must be stopped”, US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said as he reiterated United States support to Israel after last week’s attack by the group. Schumer led a five-member bipartisan Senate delegation which met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his cabinet, President Isaac Herzog and families of US citizens held captive in the blockaded Gaza Strip. “We say this to the Israeli people: we have your back, we feel your pain, we ache with you, and we... will stand by you in these difficult times,” Schumer told a news conference.

Schumer condemned the “vicious, horrible, inhuman nastiness of Hamas,” saying “the world can’t move on”.He vowed Washington would remain Israel’s “unrelenting partner” and said that in the senators’ meeting with Israeli officials, they discussed Israel’s needs to “defend itself” and “extinguish the threat of Hamas.” He added “If we don’t prevent the threat of Hamas from recurring, it will happen again... They must be stopped”.

US President Joe Biden believes that the United States can simultaneously support Ukraine and Israel, as well as ensure international security. "For God's sake, we, the United States of America, are the most powerful country <...> in the history of the world. We can take care of both and still maintain our overall international security," he said in an interview to journalists from the CBS television channel, excerpts from which were shown on air 15 October 2023, answering the question whether it is true that the United States will not be able to “simultaneously cope” with the conflict in Ukraine and with the worsening of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. “We have the ability to do this. And we have obligations to do this,” the American leader emphasized. Biden made the claim that the United States is an indispensable state."If not us, then who?" - he added.