Operation Iron Swords - Day 21 - 27 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". PM Netanyahu stated "On October 7th, Hamas murdered 1,400 Israelis. Maybe more. This is in a country of fewer than 10 million people. This would be equivalent to over 50,000 Americans murdered in a single day. That’s twenty 9/11s. That is why October 7th is another day that will live in infamy."

More than 1,400 Israelis were killed as a result of resistance attacks, including 309 soldiers and officers, according to what was announced by the Israeli army, which also acknowledged the presence of at least 224 prisoners held by Palestinian factions.

Israel's war on Gaza, now in its 21st day, is the deadliest of the five Gaza wars, with over 7,000 Palestinians killed so far — more than three times the number killed in the six-week-long war in 2014. Ashraf al Qidra, a ministry spokesman, said during a news conference: "The death toll from the Israeli aggression on Gaza has reached 7,326, including 3,038 children, 1,726 women, and 414 elderly individuals. In addition, 18,484 citizens have been injured since Oct 7." The spokesman said "We received reports of 1,700 missing people, including 940 children still under the rubble".

Authorities in Palestine's Gaza enclave said that at least 2,000 people are reportedly under the rubble of destroyed buildings. They said 29,000 houses had been completely flattened by Israel in its "indiscriminate land and air strikes" since October 7. Israeli air strikes have ravaged swaths of besieged Gaza — leaving it looking like a wasteland from space.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said the death toll given by the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza had proved to be "credible" in previous conflicts after Washington raised doubts about figures from the current war. "In the past, the five, six cycles of conflict in the Gaza Strip, these figures were considered as credible and no one ever really challenged these figures," UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini told reporters in Jerusalem.

Many forces of the IDF, the Shin Bet and the Israel Defense Forces arrested wanted persons suspected of involvement in terrorist activities and confiscated weapons in many locations throughout the Judea and Samaria Division. As part of the forces' activity in the sector, 36 wanted persons were arrested, of which 17 were Hamas operatives.

Some reports claim over 10,000 Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli jails. Before October 7, the number of Palestinians detained in Israeli jails was a round 5,200, including more than 1,000 held under Israel’s administrative detention policy. The controversial policy allows Israeli authorities to detain anyone for six months without charge or trial, which can be extended indefinitely. Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank have led to the arrests of dozens of Palestinians and the number held in Israeli jails has more than doubled since the Hamas attack on October 7.

The Israeli army said that it informed the families of at least 229 people - both military and civilian - that their children were being held in Gaza. So far, since the beginning of the war, approximately 1,030 wanted persons had been arrested throughout the Judea and Samaria Division and the Bekaa and Emekim Division, over 670 of whom are affiliated with Hamas.

UN and other international agencies say there can be small discrepancies between the final casualty numbers and those reported by the Gaza health ministry straight after attacks, but that they broadly trust them. “We continue to include their data in our reporting and it is clearly sourced,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement to Reuters. “It is nearly impossible at the moment to provide any UN verification on a day-to-day basis.”

“It’s worth noting that the numbers that are coming out since October 7th are generally consistent or within logic for the scale of killings one would expect, given the intensity of bombardment in such a densely populated area,” Omar Shakir,Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, said. “Those numbers are in line with what one might expect, given what we’re seeing on the ground through testimony, through satellite imagery and otherwise,” he told Reuters.

The Russian newspaper "Kommersant" quoted a statement by a member of the Hamas delegation in Moscow, in which it was indicated that the movement would not release the detainees, except after reaching a ceasefire agreement. The newspaper quoted that member as saying that Hamas needs time to determine the location of all those transferred by various Palestinian factions from Israel to Gaza, in the current October 7 attack. Al Jazeera's correspondent had quoted Israeli media as saying that Tel Aviv would consider the possibility of bringing fuel into the Gaza Strip, if a serious deal was offered to release a large number of detainees held by Hamas and other resistance factions.

Sources told Al Jazeera that negotiations were progressing rapidly to achieve a ceasefire agreement and a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) with Qatari mediation. At the same time, the American CNN network reported from what it described as diplomatic sources familiar with the negotiations that “significant progress” had been made in the negotiations to release the Israeli detainees, but “there are still outstanding issues.” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also told ABC that Washington is still working with its partners to release all detainees. This came after Israeli sources said that Tel Aviv informed the mediators of its willingness to “offer a price” in exchange for the release of a large number of Israeli detainees in the Gaza Strip.

The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for an immediate humanitarian truce between Israel and Hamas and demanding aid access to Gaza. A total of 120 countries voted in favour of the resolution, 14 countries voted against including Israel and the United States, while 45 others abstained. Among the abstentions was Canada, which had introduced an amendment that would have more explicitly condemned Hamas for its October 7 “terrorist” attack on Israel and demanded the immediate release of hostages seized by the group.

For two nights straight, the Israel Defense Force launched targeted raids inside Gaza, saying that these are in preparation for an expected ground invasion. Amid fears over an imminent full-scale incursion, the international community continued to dissuade Israel, saying this would be a humanitarian disaster. Israel's ground operation seemed to have come a step closer, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement on 25 October 2023, that the country was "getting ready" for a ground invasion.

The IDF spokesperson revealed that fighters of the 13th Fleet carried out a targeted raid from the sea in the south of the Gaza Strip during the night. As part of the operation, the forces destroyed terrorist infrastructures of the terrorist organization Hamas and operated in a compound used by the organization's naval commando forces. Additional vessels of the navy and aircraft took part in the attack. The troops left the area upon completion of the mission.

Infantry, armor and engineering forces under the command of Gesh (36) and accompanied by IDF helicopters and helicopter gunships raided the center of the Gaza Strip in the last day. As part of the raid, IDF aircraft and artillery attacked targets of the terrorist organization Hamas in the Sajaya neighborhood and throughout the Gaza Strip. As part of the operation, the forces attacked dozens of terrorist targets, including positions for launching anti-tank missiles and operational headquarters, as well as terrorists of the terrorist organization Hamas. The forces left the area at the end of the mission and there were no casualties to IDF forces.

One expert, Paik Seung-hoon, told Arirang TV, that as Israel's goal is to eliminate Hamas, the real question is what comes next. "There are three options. One is that the Israeli Defense Force will stay there as long as possible until it can build up peace and stabilize the area. The second option is, it could build an interim government within the Gaza Strip, which could substitute for Hamas. Thirdly, Israel and the United States could bring in government from the West Bank."

Paik said that as Israel can not trust Al-Fatah, nor has it decided on who should be the new government in Gaza, the best option is for it to proceed with the war, and occupy Gaza until it removes Hamas's ability to rule there. However, according to the professor, the United States is against Israel's occupation of Gaza, as that could provoke another conflict in that, the longer it stays the greater the collateral damage that will happen, giving an excuse for Hezbollah or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to attack Israel.

The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), announced on Friday that it had thwarted an attempt to land Israeli forces on the Rafah beach in the southern Gaza Strip, and directed missile strikes at Tel Aviv, leaving 3 Israelis wounded. The Al-Qassam Brigades said - in a statement - that its fighters discovered the landing attempt that took place at dawn today, and clashed with the Israeli force, “which required the intervention of the Israeli Air Force, which saved the force, and it fled towards the sea, leaving behind a quantity of ammunition.” Al-Qassam's statement came shortly after the Israeli army announced that it carried out a new incursion into the Gaza Strip last night.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said that joint Israeli army forces carried out a raid inside Gaza, which ended successfully. Hagari added that the army maintains high readiness to deal with every emergency, as he put it. Before that, the Israeli army published a statement in which it said that infantry forces and the engineering and armor units led by the “Gash 36” formation participated in the operation, in addition to drones and military helicopters.

An opinion poll of a random sample of Israelis showed that 49% of those who participated in it believe that the ground operation against the Gaza Strip should be delayed, and they believe that Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity Party and minister in the Israeli emergency government, is most suitable for the position of prime minister. According to the Israeli newspaper Maariv, about 29% of the 522 participants in the survey said that they support immediate ground entry, while 22% do not have a specific answer. Compared to last week's poll, in which the newspaper noted that 65% supported a large-scale ground operation in the Gaza Strip. The newspaper attributes this change in the Israelis' attitudes to the developments that occurred this week regarding the issue of prisoners held by the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), which rose to the top of the agenda, according to its description. The poll revealed a sharp collapse in the popularity of the Israeli " Likud " Party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, in contrast to a significant rise for the "National Unity" Party, where Benny Gantz outperforms Netanyahu by 49% compared to 28%.

In a brief statement, less than 48 hours after the start of the fiercest rounds of operations against the Gaza Strip, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant announced that he had ordered the army not to allow fuel, food, or water to enter Gaza, and said that “there will be no electricity soon.”

The Egyptian authorities announced the allocation of Al-Arish Airport in North Sinai Governorate to receive emergency international aid to Gaza. As of October 24, the airport will receive a total of 34 planes loaded with 748.4 tons of medical and food aid and urgent relief materials. . Three ambulances and 19 doctors also arrived, according to data issued by the Egyptian Red Crescent, which is charged with receiving, storing, and bringing international aid into the Gaza Strip in coordination with the Egyptian authorities, the United Nations, and the occupation, with American mediation.

The first international aid convoys crossed through the “Rafah” crossing, which included 20 trucks, into the Gaza Strip on October 21, and the convoys continued to enter daily after that, and reached 4 convoys until the 24th of the same month, with a total of 74 trucks, after being subjected to inspection. As the conflict continued to escalate, there were now 2.2 million people in dire need of food. Before the hostilities, 104 trucks were delivering food daily to the besieged Gaza Strip, that is, one truck every 14 minutes. Despite allowing 62 A truck loaded with aid entered southern Gaza through the Rafah crossing. Since the weekend, only 30 trucks had food supplies.

This aid is not sufficient to cover the dire needs in Gaza, as it is delivered exclusively to UNRWA, and is limited to the south of the Gaza Strip, depriving areas in the north of the Gaza Strip that are threatened with displacement and continuous bloody bombardment. On the morning of October 24, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced in its morning briefing that 12 hospitals and 32 medical centers had been out of service due to Israeli bombing and the running out of fuel, before the Ministry of Health announced in the afternoon of the same day that the entire health sector in the Gaza Strip had collapsed.

The British newspaper "The Times" published a report that began by accusing aid agencies of Israel of using famine as a weapon of war, with the number of aid convoys to Gaza declining, and residents complaining of the increasing shortage of food and water. The newspaper pointed out that the number of trucks allowed through the Rafah border crossing in Egypt had decreased to 8 or 10 trucks per day, according to UN officials. This means that the supplies that arrived last week are much less than what is usually delivered within 24 hours, since US President Joe Biden negotiated progress on aid during his visit to Israel.

The relief agency also reported that bakeries were bombed in Israeli air strikes. ActionAid said in a statement, “Before the planned ground attack from Israel, famine is being used as a weapon of war, as bakeries remain targets of indiscriminate bombing and face severe fuel shortages.” For its part, Oxfam said that only 2% of the usual food supplies have been delivered to Gaza since the borders were closed at the beginning of the crisis.

Following a European summit in Brussels, French President Emmanuel Macron called for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza to ensure humanitarian aid reaches civilians and the release of Israeli detainees. Macron said, in a press conference, that several European countries are looking forward to building a “humanitarian alliance,” referring to talks taking place with Cyprus and Greece in this regard. He added that Cyprus could be a base for humanitarian operations.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said that the European Union Council accepted Spain's proposal to hold a peace conference in Madrid within 6 months. Sanchez pointed out during a press conference in Brussels that his country pushed during the European summit to demand an immediate ceasefire, but some countries opposed the proposed wording. He added that instead, the European Union countries agreed to call for a “humanitarian truce” and open humanitarian corridors, and the Union also accepted the proposal to hold a peace conference, which includes a new effort to revive the two-state solution.

Russia clarified its position on inviting the delegation of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) to visit Moscow, explaining that it maintains channels of communication with all parties to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This statement came after Israel expressed its dissatisfaction with Moscow's invitation to Hamas, and described the visit as "unfortunate." Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the delegation met with representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry, but they did not meet with President Vladimir Putin. Peskov stressed that Moscow will continue its dialogue with Israel. Peskov added to reporters, "We see it as necessary to continue our contacts with all parties, and of course we will continue our dialogue with Israel"