Operation Iron Swords - Day 30 - 05 November 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."

It is the second largest loss inflicted on the Israeli forces after the 1973 war, as the Palestinian resistance killed more than 1,400, wounded more than 5,132 others, and captured more than 250, most of them military personnel, some of whom were high-ranking officers in the army.

Butcher's Bill / Oasis of Martyrs

The spokesperson for the Gaza Ministry of Health said that the Israeli occupation had committed 24 massacres in just the past 24 hours, resulting in 243 martyrs. "The occupation set a record in the number of massacres committed, in which children and women were killed," Ashraf al-Qudra said, pointing out that "it has been conducting a genocide and ethnic cleansing for 30 days" since the start of the aggression on October 7.

Palestinian health authorities say that at least 9,770 Palestinians had been killed in Gaza, more than four times the number killed in the six-week-long war in 2014. The death toll included 4,800 children [up from 3,900 children previously reported] and 2,550 women [up from 2,509 women previously reported], and 596 elderly people [a subtotal not always reported]. These subtotals fluctuate inexplicably]. In addition, the number of injured rose to more than 24,000 [though some earlier reports had totaled over 32,000 Paletinians injured since October 7th, including at least 6,360 children and 4,891 women]. More than 2,200 were missing, including 1,250 children, and presumed buried under rubble, a substantial increase from earlier reports. On the West bank, at least 129 Palestinians had been killed, and more than 1,980 injured. IDF said it was holding 1,500 bodies of terrorists.

More than 1,542 Israelis were killed as a result of HAMAS attacks, including 342 [down from 345 reported a few days earlier] soldiers and officers, according to what was announced by the Israeli army. At least 5,431 were injured. Since the start of the ground incursion into Gaza in the middle of last week, about 30 members of the Israeli army had been killed.

The spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida, asserted that the number of Israeli deaths was “much greater” than what was announced by the Israeli leadership, and he vowed in a speech to make Gaza the “curse of history” for Israel. Abu Ubaida said, "The Israeli leadership is lying to its public about the number of soldiers killed in the Gaza Strip and in the course of the battles," and he addressed the Israelis, saying, "Watch for more of your soldiers returning in black bags.

Some 241 [down from 242 the previous day] hostages are being held by HAMAS in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said 03 November 2023. About 40 Israelis remained missing.

Late in October 2023, The armed wing of Palestinian militant faction Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said “almost 50” hostages had been killed in Israeli bombing raids in the three weeks since the war began. Qassam Brigades said that more than 60 hostages were missing because of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson for the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said on Hamas’ telegram account that 23 bodies of the 60 missing Israel hostages were trapped under the rubble. “It seems that we will never be able to reach them due to the continued brutal aggression of the occupation against Gaza,” he said. More than 50 people were killed in an Israeli air raid on the densely packed Jabalia refugee camp, Palestinian authorities said. Hamas said seven Israeli hostages, three of whom held foreign passports, were killed in this attack.

Operational Update

The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, announced that its members had destroyed six Israeli tanks with Al-Yassin 105 shells since Sunday morning and killed a number of soldiers. Al-Qassam said - in a series of statements on its Telegram platform - that its fighters destroyed an incursion tank northwest of Gaza City , two tanks in Tal al-Hawa (south of Gaza City), and 3 tanks in Beit Hanoun, north of the Strip. the Al-Qassam Brigades announced that they bombed Tel Aviv on Sunday evening with several missiles in response to the massacres committed by the occupation army in Gaza. Israeli Army Radio reported that rockets fell in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, and Petah Tikva. Al Jazeera's correspondent quoted eyewitnesses that the Iron Dome system intercepted a number of missiles without the Israeli ambulance reporting any casualties.

The Al-Qassam Brigades also announced that they targeted the Reim military base with a missile salvo, and sirens sounded in Beersheba and in Eshkol inside the Gaza Strip. The Al-Qassam Brigades had broadcast pictures showing the launch of a batch of missiles that it said targeted Israeli cities and towns in response to the occupation massacres in Gaza.

Hamas attacked IDF troops who operated to open the Salah Al-Din humanitarian route for the evacuation of residents southwards.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) announced that it had attacked one of the United States largest Bases in northeastern Syria. The Iranian-backed armed group said that it had targeted the base, which is located near the town of Tell Beydar in the northwestern al-Hasakah countryside, with suicide drones. Video footage released by the group showed the launch of a drone similar in design to an Iranian-made type codenamed by the U.S. military and intelligence as “KAS-04”.

Tell Beydar base has an airstrip for military cargo aircraft. Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and towed howitzers are also said to be deployed there. Syrian media confirmed that the base came under attack. However, some sources mistook the Iraqi drone for a Turkish one and alleged that it was shot down by U.S. forces.

Ofir Gendelman, the Israeli Prime Minister's spokesman for the Arab world, published a video clip on his account on the X platform, in which he claimed that army police dogs were pursuing Hamas members inside the Gaza tunnels and arresting them. "A must watch: IDF attack dogs go after Hamas-ISIS terrorists inside their tunnels in the Gaza Strip and take them down. Hear the terrorists scream."

The military correspondent for the Israeli “Ynet” website, Yoav Zeyton, tweeted, indicating that the video was old and that it was part of previous exercises. He commented on the video by saying, "I do not know who the Israeli official was who distributed this video. During a quick search I conducted, I found that the video is from previous training exercises." The same video shows the arm (covered by a special arm protector) of the Israeli canine trainer as well as his face and uniform.

During a simple examination of the clip, it became clear that the person who was attacked by the dog was wearing a dog training shield in his hand. Observers pointed out that he did not use his other hand to defend himself, and he could have shot the dog with it.

In response to the fire from Lebanon toward Israeli territory earlier today, IDF fighter jets struck Hezbollah terror targets over the last hour, in parallel to IDF tank and artillery strikes. The Hezbollah targets struck include terror infrastructure, rocket storage sites, and military compounds.

During ground operations in the Gaza Strip, combat engineering troops created access routes, cleared the area of explosive devices, neutralized terror infrastructure and terrorist cells found in the area. Furthermore, combat engineering and infantry soldiers located and struck military compounds used for planning and executing terror activities.

The military and strategic expert, Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi, said that the Israeli occupation army is seeking to carry out a double maneuver in order to besiege the Al-Shati camp, west of Gaza City, and place it between the jaws of pincers, revealing the goals of new tanks and boats entering the battle line. Al-Duwairi explained - in his military analysis segment on Al Jazeera - that there was an Israeli incursion from the northwestern side of the Gaza Strip that reached the outskirts of Al-Shati camp, where a fierce field battle took place after the scenes broadcast by the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas.

He pointed out that the occupation army's focus of its attempts on the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood, southwest of Gaza, comes within this framework in order to rush towards the Beach camp, pointing out that most of the bombing was concentrated in the area south of Wadi Gaza, with the aim of finding weak points to achieve a breakthrough and a foothold to develop the ground operation. In this context - according to Al-Duwairi - comes the ground maneuver carried out by the occupation army east of Khan Yunis. He indicated that a similar maneuver took place 48 hours ago, stressing that it is small in size, but it may turn the tide of the battle if it succeeds.

He added that the occupation army attacks at more than one point despite the difference in strength, indicating that if it succeeds at a point the size of a company with tanks, then it can send a tank division to develop operations. Regarding the use of mortar shells by the Qassam Brigades, Al-Duwairi said that they are effective against hostile groups such as individuals, wheeled vehicles, and military gatherings, but they are not as effective as RPGs and other shells. He pointed out that the effective range for confronting tanks must be less than 100 meters.

He touched on the use of other tanks by the occupation army other than the Merkava , including the Centurion tank from the 1950s, which was modernized, had its engine changed, and was armored, noting that its weight is 50 tons. Regarding its mechanism of operation, he explained that it has a device to launch missiles with a range of between 65 and 150 meters, and uses incendiary bombs to open gaps in minefields 100 meters wide and up to 165 meters deep, and is used against tunnels and individuals. In response to a question about the reasons for resorting to these missiles as long as aviation is available, Al-Duwairi explained that they are used in the presence of some unexploded mines, and he pointed out that this tank is well fortified to avoid tunnels and mines and pass on safe ground.

As for the entry of boats of various types into the battle, Al-Duwairi explains that the Al-Qassam Brigades succeeded in reaching Zikim Beach 3 previous times, and this indicates that Israel’s shores are unsafe. He added that Israel has 18 large naval vessels, and dozens of patrol boats roaming the waters for systematic bombing and destruction against all types of life, and cutting off access to Zikim and beyond.

The military expert stressed that what was dropped on the Gaza Strip in the ongoing war is more than three times what was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, and twice what was dropped on Hiroshima, when comparing the bombs dropped in World War II and the bombs of today.

As part of the expansion of ground operations over the last week, the 36th Divison has operated in the northern Gaza Strip and reached positions along the coast of Gaza. The role of the division is to encircle Hamas forces in Gaza City, and to strike and destroy select targets, including significant assets and command and control centers belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization.

During the battles in Gaza, the 36th Division have struck over 1,600 targets belonging to Hamas. The targets include the organization's infrastructure, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch and observation posts, and Hamas operatives.

Since the beginning of the war, the soldiers of the 36th Division eliminated over 300 terrorists in operations involving artillery fire, and coordination between the Israeli Air Force and infantry and armored soldiers. In the last 12 hours, the soldiers of the division struck around 50 targets, including combat zones, operational residences, outposts, military positions and underground infrastructure, and eliminated terrorists in close-quarter combat.

Bystanders

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed - during his meeting with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in the city of Ramallah - his readiness to “help manage the Strip” after “isolating” the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), calling on the United States to immediately stop the ongoing war on Gaza , according to what was reported. Reuters, according to an American official. The Blinken-Abbas meeting was the second of its kind since the start of the Israeli aggression on Gaza and the first in the West Bank. It came after a round of discussions conducted by Blinken in Israel and Jordan, amid fears of the expansion of the scope of the war.

Reuters quoted a senior American official as saying that Blinken informed the Palestinian President during the meeting that the Palestinian Authority must play a pivotal role in the future of Gaza. The American official added, "The future of Gaza was not the focus of the meeting, but the Palestinian Authority seemed ready to play a role," noting that Blinken thanked Abbas for his help in maintaining calm in the West Bank.

Blinken suggested that the most logical solution for the Strip was for an “effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority” to eventually take over its management, but acknowledged that other countries and international agencies would likely play a security and governance role in the meantime. For its part, Agence France-Presse quoted sources as saying that Abbas linked the return of the Palestinian Authority to the Gaza Strip to a “comprehensive political solution.”

Reuters quoted a senior American official as saying that "The future of Gaza was not the focus of the meeting, but the Palestinian Authority seemed ready to play a role," noting that Blinken thanked Abbas for his help in maintaining calm in the West Bank. Blinken suggested that the most logical solution for the Strip was for an “effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority” to eventually take over its management, but acknowledged that other countries and international agencies would likely play a security and governance role in the meantime.

Abbas said - during the meeting, which lasted about an hour away from the media - "Security and peace will be achieved by ending the Israeli occupation of the land of the State of Palestine, with its capital, East Jerusalem, on the 1967 borders." He continued, "The Gaza Strip is an integral part of the State of Palestine, and we will bear our full responsibilities within the framework of a comprehensive political solution for both the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip."

Abbas said, "We meet again in extremely difficult circumstances, and there are no words to describe the genocidal war to which our Palestinian people are being subjected in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli war machine, without regard to the rules of international law."

Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani received US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Baghdad and reaffirmed Iraq's position vis-a-vis the Israeli occupation's aggression against the Gaza Strip. He told Blinken "We reject the Zionist aggression against Gaza and demand an immediate ceasefire and the opening of the [Rafah border] crossing to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe." Al-Sudani further noted that the "international community must bear its responsibility regarding the massacres committed by Israeli forces against innocent women and children."

Blinken arrived in Baghdad amid secrecy in an unscheduled visit as he landed and departed from the US embassy in the Green Zone in Baghdad and not from the international airport. He was spotted wearing a heavy plate carrier used to protect against shrapnel and assault rifle rounds. "We are not looking for conflict with Iran. We've made that very clear. But we'll do what's necessary to protect our personnel, be they military or civilian," he said in Baghdad after meeting with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

Axis of Resistance

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi condemned the Israeli regime’s brutal killing of innocent people in Gaza, stressing the regime must be held accountable for these war crimes. Speaking in a phone conversation with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, the Iranian president hailed Oslo’s stance on the need to bring an end to the war on Gaza and the murder of civilians in the coastal enclave. He stressed the necessity for international efforts to end the siege on the Gaza Strip and provide humanitarian aid to its people.

Raisi also welcomed the Norwegian justice ministry’s readiness to launch an investigation into the war crimes committed in the Gaza war and said Iran is ready for cooperation in this regard. He underlined that the war crimes being committed by the Zionist regime and the US support for these crimes should not go unpunished. The Iranian president said the massacre of 10,000 Palestinian people, including 4,000 children, is the outcome of sending weapons and equipment by the US to the Zionist regime.

Iran’s foreign minister warned that escalation of the aggression against civilians in Gaza will cause the expansion of the war. Hossein Amirabdollahian and his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein exchanged views over the current developments in Palestine and the genocide in Gaza during a telephone conversation.

Amirabdollahian referred to the latest diplomatic moves and consultations on part of the Islamic Republic of Iran, describing the continuation of the war crimes by the Zionist regime and the mass killing of civilians, especially women and children, as well as the huge military support given by the United States to the Zionist regime as the main cause of the escalation of the current crisis. He stressed that the escalation of the war against civilians in Gaza will inevitably lead to the expansion of the war.

The Iranian Tasnim News Agency quoted Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani as saying that the United States would be severely harmed if it did not implement a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Ashtiani advised the Americans, saying that they must stop the war immediately, otherwise they would be exposed to severe harm, without adding further details. Iran considers the United States militarily involved in the war on Gaza as a result of its unconditional support for Israel following the Al- Aqsa Flood operation on October 7th.

“I think the Palestinian resistance and Hamas in particular are hoping that there will be a more aggressive response, a deeper penetration into or an attempt at least to address the presence of Israeli soldiers along the border and actually in parts of Lebanon,” international human rights activist, organizer and political analyst Ajamu Baraka told Sputnik, commenting on key points of Nasrallah’s address.

“I think there may be some dissatisfaction with that, but I think Hezbollah is very much concerned about the domestic situation in Lebanon and would like to avoid a deeper commitment since the situation that they are facing and the situation facing Lebanese citizens is so unstable right now,” the observer added, pointing to Lebanon’s years’ old political and economic crisis, which has threatened at points to explode into a new round of sectarian violence.

The Gaza crisis “is putting significant pressure on Hezbollah to become more aggressive, not just from Hamas, but from elements within Lebanese society and from elements across the so-called Middle East,” Baraka said.

“People are really outraged by what they see. Many people are concluding that with the diplomatic channels being blocked by the US – and the criticism that [Nasrallah] raised was in fact true, that when you have the US blocking any attempts to come to a ceasefire or to have a more effective humanitarian corridor, it’s quite clear that the US is fully implicated in the slaughter of Palestinians. So it’s putting tremendous pressure on everyone to act, and to act, at this point in a military fashion since the diplomatic and peaceful channels seem to have been preempted,” the observer emphasized.

Allied for Democracy

Israel’s far-right Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said on November 5 that one of Israel’s options against the Hamas Movement was to drop a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip. Eliyahu sparked great controversy after he stated to Israeli radio that bombing the Gaza Strip with a nuclear bomb was one of the acceptable options in his opinion. He said in an interview with the Israeli Kol Brama radio that one of the options is to drop a nuclear bomb on Gaza, although in this case it would also destroy Israeli cities, and he considered that “there is no innocent in Gaza.”

In response to a question about the fate of about 250 Israelis captured by the Al-Qassam Brigades in the “ Al-Aqsa Flood ” battle if Israel bombed Gaza with a nuclear bomb, Eliyahu said, “Their lives are not more precious than the lives of the Israeli soldiers” who were killed in the war on the Gaza Strip, but “there is a price for the war that must be paid” , according to him.

His statements sparked widespread criticism, prompting Netanyahu to exclude him from the mini-security cabinet meetings, and considered his statements “unrealistic.” Netanyahu quickly disavows Eliyahu’s contention that dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip is a possibility. “Amichai Eliyahu’s words are detached from reality,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “Israel and the IDF are acting in accordance with the highest standards of international law in order to prevent harm to uninvolved people, and we will continue to do that all the way to victory.”

Amichai Eliyahu belongs to Itamar Ben Gvir 's "Otzma Yehudit" (Jewish Power) party , a far-right party that supports building settlements and regaining control of the territory of the Gaza Strip. He was elected as a member of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) for the same party on November 15, 2022, then resigned from Parliament after he was appointed Minister of Heritage and Jerusalem Affairs on December 29, 2022 in the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid lambastes said Eliyahu’s remarks “a horrifying and insane remark by an irresponsible minister,” and called on Netanyahu to fire him immediately. “He offended the families of the [241 Gaza] captives, offended Israeli society and harmed our international standing,” Lapid said. “The presence of the extremists in the government endangers us and the success of the war goals — defeating Hamas and returning the hostages.”

Netanyahu said that there will be no ceasefire in Gaza without the return of Israeli prisoners held by Hamas in the Strip since last October 7. "I want you to know that there is one thing we will not do: there will be no ceasefire without the return of our kidnappers,” Netanyahu said during a visit to Ramon Air Base. He added, according to what his office quoted him as saying in a written statement, "For both our enemies and our friends. We will continue until we defeat them (Hamas). We have no alternative."

Netanyahu added that Israel will continue its ruthless aggression on the Strip until "we defeat them [The Palestinian Resistance]." Speaking to Israeli soldiers, Netanyahu stated that the issue of a ceasefire without the return of the captives should be "taken out of the lexicon altogether."

Former Israeli Mossad chief Danny Yatom said Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has caused a lot of harm to "Israel," affirming that he continues to do so during the war on Gaza. According to Israeli media reports, Yatom stated that "Netanyahu still prioritizes his own interests and then those of Israel," indicating that his "considerations are impure," and calling for his replacement.