Operation Iron Swords - Day 10 - 16 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 latest death toll in Gaza stands at 2,865 Palestinians and at least 10,859 injured. In the occupied West Bank at least 57 had been killed and at least 1,200 injured. The Gaza Health Ministry said it estimated 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded. At least 1,400 people had been killed in Israel since October 7 and at least 3,400 injured. The Israeli military said that 199 hostages are being held in Gaza by Hamas, which is higher than previous estimate thst 126 hostages were being held captive.

For the tenth day in a row, the Gaza Strip, which had been besieged since 2006, was subjected to intense Israeli air strikes that destroyed entire neighborhoods, in response to the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation launched by the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas). The IDF is continuing to strike in the Gaza Strip. Over the last few hours, dozens of military command centers and mortar shell posts were destroyed. In addition, the operational command center of Ali Qadi, one of the commanders of the Hamas “Nukhba” commando forces who was killed several days ago, was struck. Furthermore, IDF fighter jets killed several Hamas terrorists inside of a military compound.

The Gaza Strip is suffering from a "very severe" shortage of drinking water, amid the ongoing Israeli bombardment of the strip. The bombing is a response to Hamas terrorists attacking Israel, killing 1,300 people, the overwhelming majority of whom were civilians. Gaza's Interior Ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging platform that Israel has not pumped "a single liter of potable water into any of the strip's provinces for the tenth day in a row." Citizens were forced to drink unsuitable water, the ministry added, warning of "a dangerous health crisis that threatens citizens' lives."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced during a speech at the opening of the winter session of the national parliamen that Israel was now fighting for its very existence. He expressed confidence that his country would eventually win total victory over Hamas, the Palestinian resistance group that launched a surprise assault on Israeli territories near Gaza last week, killing and wounding hundreds of people. “This is a time of decisive struggle against those who are trying to destroy us. Our goal is victory, complete victory over Hamas, eliminating once and for all its power and the threat it poses to Israel,” Netanyahu said.

During his speech, the prime minister insisted that Israel was also ready to retaliate against the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group if it attempted to interfere in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “I also have a message for Hezbollah: Do not test us in the north, do not repeat the mistake you once made, because now the price you will have to pay will be much higher,” Netanyahu said, adding that both Hezbollah and Hamas were “part of the axis of evil,” which he claimed was being led by Iran.

Netanyahu also said that Hamas was the same as the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and represented a “new version of nazism.” He called on the “entire civilized world” to join Israel in this fight, and suggested that “just like the whole world united to defeat the Nazis and ISIS, it must now unite to defeat Hamas.”

About 600 thousand Palestinians were evacuated from the north of the Gaza Strip to the south. Earlier, the representative of the UN Secretary General, Stephane Dujarric, said that the Israeli authorities had informed that 1.1 million residents of the northern part should leave their homes and move to the south of the enclave. The Israel Defense Forces explained the call by saying that Hamas militants could be hiding in civilian buildings and in tunnels under houses.

Israel dropped leaflets telling civilians to use the two main north-south roads, the coastal road and Salah al-Din Road further inland. Crowds on those thoroughfares would deny the Palestinian fighters the ability to move towards the north, against the human flow. Either aim, creating demoralisation or denying military movement, follows classic military logic, so whichever Israel intended as the main purpose would be a good military move in a fight with a regular army that operates on standard military practices. In the case of Hamas, they are almost worthless militarily and indicate a deep and worrying planning failure.

In most conventional military situations, sowing panic among a civilian population will unavoidably reflect on the military. Soldiers seeing their relatives, friends and neighbours flee in panic inevitably ask themselves: “Who am I then to fight for?” Once civilians leave, the military wonders if it is worth dying for empty land. Thus, one aim of the evacuation order could have been the desire to produce that trigger effect. When civilians flee in panic they block communication lines, making it difficult for the fighting units to manoeuvre, bring reinforcements from the rear and keep the front line supplied with ammunition.

Israel announced that it was preparing for a large ground operation in Gaza with the aim of eliminating Hamas, while the United States sent two aircraft carriers to the region to support Israel and warn other parties against engaging in the conflict.

Israel's former premier Ehud Barak (1999-2001) said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has neither the trust of the Israeli people nor that of the army following a devastating attack by Hamas last week. He also said Israel had no choice but to launch a ground offensive in Gaza in response if it wants to defeat Hamas definitively. He admitted that the war would inevitably cause "collateral damage" in Gaza, but said Israel was careful to warn inhabitants to move out of the area targeted, brushing aside criticism from the UN that Gaza was under complete siege.

Barak acknowledged that a ground invasion of Gaza would take weeks, perhaps even several months, after which he suggested control of Gaza should be gradually handed over to the Palestinian Authority. When asked about comments by US President Joe Biden that it would be a "big mistake" for Israel to occupy Gaza, he said that the staunch support of the US was highly appreciated in Israel, but that no "recommendations" should be given by the US when it comes to strategy.

Israel, which had become a major gas exporter in the past few years, has closed several major energy sites since the Palestinian resistance launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood in southern Israel on October 7, followed by Tel Aviv declaring war on the Gaza Strip.

On October 9, Israel suspended production in the Tamar gas field, which is managed by Chevron and whose platform is located 25 kilometers on the Mediterranean coast south of Israel. The Tamar field produced 10.25 billion cubic meters of gas in 2022, and 85% of this production was used in the local market, with the remaining 15% exported to Egypt and Jordan. Chevron owns a 25% stake in Tamar, while Esramco owns 28.75%, the UAE Mubadala Energy Company 11%, Union Energy 11%, Tamar Petroleum 16.75%, Dur Gas 4%, and Everest 3.5%.

Chevron said on October 10 that it had stopped exporting natural gas through the Eastern Mediterranean Gas (EMG) pipeline between Israel and Egypt, and that it would supply it through an alternative line that passes through Jordan. The Eastern Mediterranean gas pipeline extends from the city of Ashkelon in southern Israel, about 10 kilometers north of Gaza, to Al-Arish in Egypt, where it connects to a land pipeline. The 90-kilometre-long pipeline is the main link between Egypt and the giant Israeli offshore gas field Leviathan, which is managed by Chevron. The Leviathan consortium includes the operating company Chevron, the Israeli company Neomed Energy, and Ratio Energies.

Reservist soldiers from Unit 8200 (Elite intelligence unit) assembled a task force in order to investigate, analyze and examine the wide array of items collected from the terrorists. The items, including equipment, documents, phones, and certificates, were examined and destroyed by the Yahalom Unit. Among the documents collected were detailed attack orders against communities near the Gaza Strip, which illustrate Hamas’ plan to carry out a terrorist attack and commit atrocities against both civilians and soldiers.

In addition, a pamphlet and breakdown of the combat doctrine used by the Hamas forces that carried out the terror attack were found. The documents contained coordination actions, stages of attack and code words. One section details the treatment and abduction of civilians of communities near the Gaza Strip.

"Since the beginning of the war, the fire center of the Gaza Division has destroyed many hundreds of terrorists, infrastructure, a tunnel route of the terrorist organization Hamas," said the commander of the Fire Brigade in the Gaza Division, Lt. Col. Y., "Operational successes are made possible through cooperation Action between all branches and in full cooperation with the Southern Command. We did this to protect the fighters in the field, to reduce the firing of the Israel Defense Forces to the rear and ultimately, to bring about the destruction and defeat of the murderous organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip."

Coordinator for the Captives and Missing Brig.-Gen. (Ret.) Gal Hirsch, today, met with Deputy US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Steven Gillen, who arrived with his team. Their second meeting was held at the national control center for the families of captives and abducted, which was established at IDF Home Front Command headquarters, where Deputy Envoy Gillen was briefed on the activity at the Center.

the US State Department announced the appointment of David Satterfield as a special US envoy for humanitarian issues in the region. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that Satterfield will lead efforts to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and coordinate with partners to provide life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable groups. For his part, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that the new envoy will focus on ensuring that aid reaches people in need throughout the region.

The US Embassy in Israel began evacuating its citizens wishing to leave Israel through the port of Haifa. It also asked its citizens to remain near the Rafah crossing, awaiting an assessment of the situation. The United States resorted to the option of transporting its citizens by sea, in light of the suspension of air traffic through Israeli airports due to the rockets fired by the resistance in Gaza.

The US Embassy said in a statement that the Rafah crossing is expected to open at around nine o’clock local time, and it expected the situation at the crossing to remain volatile. It added that it is unclear whether travelers will be allowed to cross; The embassy also denied knowledge of the timing of this happening. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said - in an interview with CNN - that Washington hopes that the Rafah crossing can be opened for a few hours. Kirby explained that the United States continues to discuss with Egypt to open the Rafah crossing in a way that protects Egyptian national security interests, as he put it, noting that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is continuing his efforts in the region.

The United States asked its citizens in Gaza to go to the Rafah crossing in preparation for their evacuation via Egypt, and Washington estimates the number of Americans - of Palestinian origin - in Gaza at about 500 to 600.