Operation Iron Swords - Day 31 - 06 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

According to the Gaza Ministry, the Israeli occupation committed 19 massacres over the past few hours, killing 300 people at the very least, most of whom are women and children.

Palestinian health authorities say that at least 10,022 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 4,104 children [up from 3,900 children previously reported] and 2,641 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 at least 25,408 [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 155 Palestinians had been killed, and more than 2,100 injured. IDF said it was holding 1,500 bodies of terrorists.

More than 1,542 Israelis were killed as a result of HAMAS attacks [though Israeli Medical Services reported 1,405], including 342 [down from 345 reported a few days earlier] soldiers and officers, according to what was announced by the Israeli army. At least 5,600 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.

So far, since the beginning of the war, over 1,350 wanted persons have been arrested throughout the Judea and Samaria Division and the Bekaa and Valleys Division, over 850 of whom are associated with the terrorist organization Hamas.

The New York Times quoted US officials on Sunday saying that their estimates of the number of Palestinian casualties in the Gaza Strip resulting from the ongoing Israeli aggression are in line with the figures released by the Ministry of Health in Gaza. This csme a few days after US President Joe Biden expressed doubt about the number of casualties announced by the Ministry of Health in Gaza, saying: "I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I’m sure innocents have been killed, and it’s the price of waging a war," the US president claimed. "But I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using." In response, US media reports refuted Biden's suspicions and confirmed the accuracy of the numbers reported by the health authorities in Gaza.

The United States acknowledged there have been “thousands” of civilian casualties in Gaza as Israel battles Hamas in the narrow coastal territory, but did not provide an exact figure. “As it relates to civilian casualties in Gaza... we know the numbers are in the thousands,” Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder told journalists when asked about the health ministry’s toll in Hamas-run Gaza. “This is a reason why it has been a point of emphasis with the Israelis and others in the region on how important it is to get humanitarian assistance and aid into Gaza,” Ryder said.

Operational Update

Jeremy Corbyn, Member of UK Parliament for Islington North, is the former leader of the UK Labour Party and a human rights advocate. "The Israeli army has dropped 25,000 tonnes of bombs onto a tiny strip of land, populated by 2.3 million people. There is no meaningful sense whatsoever that they are trying to avoid civilian deaths. More than 9,900 people in Gaza have been killed, including more than 4,800 children.... The attack by Hamas, which killed 1,400 Israelis and took 200 hostages, was utterly appalling and must be condemned.... This cannot justify the indiscriminate bombing and starvation of the Palestinian people, who are being punished for a heinous crime they did not commit. In the aftermath of horror, we need voices for de-escalation and peace. Instead, politicians around the world continue to give the Israeli government the green light to starve and slaughter the Palestinian people in the name of self-defence....

"Genocide is a term that should be used carefully. There are many horrors in history that are hideous enough on their own terms without warranting that label. The term has a legal definition, a legal basis and legal implications. That is why, when international experts in this field warn us about genocide, we should sit up and listen. And that is why we need an immediate ceasefire, followed by an urgent investigation by the International Criminal Court."

The military and strategic expert, Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi, said that the confrontation of the Al-Qassam Brigades , the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), against the Israeli occupation army with such strength, competence and power, after 11 days of ground war, is considered extraordinary and uncharacteristic.

Al-Duwairi explained - during his analysis of the events of the aggression against Gaza on Al-Jazeera channel - that the progress of the occupation army inside the Gaza Strip is being talked about in meters, 11 days after the start of the ground operation, indicating that this means that the conversation about the ground incursion will extend for many months.

Regarding his comment regarding Israel’s separation of the north of the Gaza Strip from its south, the military expert said that it succeeded in separating the surface of the land and not its depth, reiterating his assertion that the occupation army is trying to find a loophole to advance to divide it into squares and neighborhoods and then fight in it.

Al-Duwairi reviewed the progress of the Israeli forces on the various axes of the incursion, referring to the northeast, northwest, and Wadi Gaza, and pointed out that they are still present on the outskirts of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia. He touched on the attempts of the occupation army to penetrate from the far northwest of the Gaza Strip and reach the outskirts of the Beach camp, west of Gaza, where fierce fighting occurred, which the brigades spokesman, Abu Ubaida, said, saying that a tank battalion had been destroyed. He pointed out that the occupation army is seeking to surround Al-Shati camp and place it between the jaws of pincers, and that the Israeli forces entered the outskirts of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza using fire belts.

He added that this plan explains sending additional Israeli forces with the aim of assigning each unit to a specific unit. He acknowledged that attrition is occurring on both sides of the fighting, but he said that Gaza is working to supply itself internally and internally, while there is a Western supply open to Israel.

As for anti-tank missiles, the military expert stated that their effective range is up to 150 meters, but he said that the attacking fighter must be within a circle of less than 100 meters for their effect to be ideal.

Regarding the northern front between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah , the military expert reviewed the details of expanding the circle of clashes, starting from two kilometers, then five kilometers, then eight, until 20 kilometers, but he wondered: Will it be intense and its time frame long?

He explained that the answer to this question depends on the intensity of the clash and the time frame, adding, "If it continues, it can be said that Hezbollah has changed the rules of engagement and entered the broader circle of fighting."

Al-Duwairi said that the operations whose photos the resistance published on Saturday indicate a significant development in field operations, but he completely ruled out the reports received about the withdrawal of Israeli forces from some locations. During an analysis on Al Jazeera, Al-Duwairi confirmed that the battle map indicates the stability of the contact lines despite attempts to penetrate the occupation forces from Al-Rashid Street, to which the resistance responded in a sophisticated manner.

Despite the great development that appears in the pictures published by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), al-Duwairi does not agree with the idea of Israeli forces withdrawing from the Atatreh area. Al-Duwairi said that when forces suffer heavy losses and destroy vehicles, they begin a retreat process to compensate for losses and ammunition, reorganize themselves, and study the situation.

More importantly, Al-Duwairi adds, this retreat gives the Air Force an opportunity to impose a belt of fire and destroy this area in preparation for the advance of the ground forces again. In addition, the front forces are not all the forces trying to penetrate, but rather they are the vanguard, according to Al-Duwairi, who pointed out that the ground forces do not march on a single line, but rather at distances so that they are not all exposed to a single attack.

Regarding the specific clashes that Al-Qassam published when its fighters clashed with Israeli vehicles and forces from a “zero” distance, Al-Duwairi said that it means that Israel must pay a tax for every meter it tries to advance on the ground. Violent battles took place yesterday, Saturday, between the resistance factions and the occupation forces that were trying to advance towards the Beach camp, and clashes also took place in Al-Zaytoun and Tal Al-Hawa, south of the Gaza Strip.

The Al-Qassam Brigades published pictures showing its fighters destroying Merkava tanks, Tiger armored vehicles, and military bulldozers from a distance of very few meters, some of them by ramming into the body of the vehicle. Al-Qassam also published photos of clashes its fighters fought with an Israeli special force that was holed up inside a building in the Beit Hanoun area.

The Izz al-Din al -Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), announced that it had killed Israeli soldiers and destroyed vehicles during the ongoing battles with the occupation forces in Gaza , and bombed Tel Aviv and other Israeli areas in response to the massacres committed against civilians in the Strip. The Al-Qassam Brigades said that on Sunday, they fought fierce clashes in the northern Gaza Strip, resulting in the killing of Israeli soldiers.

• Al-Qassam Brigades' mortar units targeted Israeli occupation groupings to the east of Juhor ad-Dik, and to the southeast of Gaza City.
• Since Monday dawn, Resistance fighters destroyed a total of 4 Israeli armored vehicles using 105 mm tandem charges in al-Shati camp, near the coast of Gaza City, and Hay al-Sheikh Radwan, located between al-Shati and the Jabalia refugee camp.
• These 4 vehicles add to another Israeli Merkava tank that was destroyed in the southern areas of Tal al-Hawa, located in the southern outskirts of Gaza City.
• At noon mortar units attacked Israeli occupation forces to the northwest of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.
• An hour later the Brigades announced that they had destroyed another Israeli tank in the same area with a locally produced al-Yassin charge.
• Al-Qassam's rocket artillery also targeted the Re'im military site to the east of Bureij in the central Gaza Strip.
• In the afternoon, al-Qassam fighters destroyed the third Israeli Merkava tank in Hay al-Israa to the northwest of Gaza City.
• The Brigades announced that its fighters in the north of Beit Lahia, continue to fiercely confront occupation forces in the area.
• Later the Brigades announced their largest tally yet, saying they destroyed 5 occupation Merkava tanks in the same area.

The Brigades added - 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 in the north of the Strip, and indicated that it destroyed most of those tanks with “Al-Yassin” shells . 105 ". According to Al-Aqsa TV, which is close to Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades fighters have destroyed 12 Israeli vehicles, including tanks, since dawn on Sunday.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine's National Resistance Brigades targeted several occupation outposts and groupings around areas of engagement on Monday.

• Al-Quds Brigades' mortar units targeted the occupation's military groupings north of Gaza City.
• The Brigades also launched mortar attacks to the northwest of Beit Lahia and the south of Tal al-Hawa where fighting was concentrated.
• In the afternoon, al-Quds Brigades targeted several Israeli occupation military sites and evacuated Kibbutzim, which housed occupation soldiers, with concentrated rocket fire.
• On the other hand, the National Resistance targeted the "Sufa" military site in the southern Gaza Envelope with mortar shells.

The Yemeni Armed Forces launched a large batch of drones at several Israeli targets in occupied Palestine, with confirmed casualties, Yemeni Armed Forces spokesperson Yahya Saree said. The operation caused the bases and airports that were attacked to go out of service for several hours, Saree said. The Yemeni armed forces "will continue to carry out military operations in support of the oppressed Palestinian people and in response to the calls of the great Yemeni people and the various peoples of the Ummah until the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip ends. Yemen has launched several attacks against the Israeli occupation, with the first attack being intercepted by the US and Saudi Arabia, and raising the concerns of some neighboring Arab states, as others made their way to occupied Palestine, striking Israeli military targets.

Yemeni Armed Forces spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Wednesday that the Yemeni Armed Forces launched a large batch of loitering munitions, i.e., kamikaze drones, toward several Israeli targets deep in occupied Palestine. "We launched a large batch of drones during the past few hours at targets deep in the Israeli entity in occupied Palestine, and they have, due to the grace of Allah, reached their targets," Brigadier General Saree said. Sanaa underlined that the Yemeni Armed Forces will "continue to carry out military operations in support of the oppressed Palestinian people and in response to the calls and demands of the Yemeni people and all the people of the Ummah until the Israeli aggression on our brothers in the resilient Gaza ceases."

IDF troops took control over a Hamas compound, struck 450 aerial targets, and killed Hamas commanders in cooperation with the ISA. The compound contains observation posts, training areas for Hamas operatives and underground terror tunnels. During the operation, several Hamas terrorists were killed. Over the last day, IDF fighter jets struck over 450 Hamas targets, including tunnels, terrorists, military compounds, observation posts, anti-tank missile launch posts and more.

Moreover, IDF naval soldiers struck command centers, anti-tank launch posts and additional observation posts belonging to the Hamas terrorist organization. As part of the activities to target Hamas terrorists, based on ISA and IDF intelligence, IDF fighter jets struck and killed additional Hamas terrorists, including Jamal Mussa who was responsible for the special security operations in the Hamas terrorist organization. Furthermore, IDF soldiers killed Hamas battalion commanders in battles on the ground.

During ground operations in the Gaza Strip, IDF troops located and exposed evidence of Hamas' use of civilian compounds for terrorism. During activity by a team of soldiers of the 460th Brigade to locate terrorist infrastructure and clear the area, rocket launch pits found by the soldiers in a mosque were destroyed. In addition, during several activities in the past day, the soldiers found over 50 rockets ready to be launched into Israel from inside a youth movement compound in Northern Gaza.

"In the last day, Battalion 614 exposed Hamas infrastructure, rockets that are inside civilian territory and are aimed at the territory of the State of Israel," said Battalion 614, Lt. Col. Adniram, "mining infrastructure that is inside civilian territory, destroyed terrorists and destroyed enemy infrastructure. We will continue in the coming days to destroy the infrastructure and the destruction of the military power of Hamas and from here we will continue and win."

Over an hour, approximately 30 launches were identified from Lebanon toward northern Israel. The IDF responded with artillery fire toward the origin of the launches. IDF warplanes attacked Hezbollah targets in response to the shooting that was carried out from Lebanon earlier today, at the same time as the attacks using artillery fire. Among the targets that were attacked: a number of sites where Hizbullah's technological means are located, a warehouse of weapons, launching positions and terrorist infrastructure.

The commander of the Southern Command, Major General Yaron Finkelman, held a situation assessment that dealt, among other things, with the issue of the tunnel and the exposure of the shafts in the territory of the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces are poised to attack Hamas fighters in their underground tunnels and bunkers in the northern Gaza Strip after having isolated the area with troops and tanks, a military spokesperson said. “Now we are going to start closing in on them,” Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Hecht told reporters. “When I say ‘Closing in on them’, it’s also above-ground, and also it’s going to be underground.”

"We are already a month into the war," said the Chief of Staff, "hitting Hamas very, very hard, hitting the leadership of Hamas, hitting commanders, hitting terrorists, destroying Hamas's infrastructure in Gaza, and we are also constantly ready for other areas. This base knows how to reach anywhere in the Middle East. I happened to see now in squadron 140 the assistance of a huge plane to the force within 200 meters of the force. We didn't do anything like that, with very heavy armament, a very good connection between what the force needs and what the plane knows how to give, and this connection of air and land together, we always knew it was strong, we see that it is much stronger than we knew."

The Israeli army announced on Sunday evening that its forces had surrounded Gaza City and separated the northern Gaza Strip from its south. Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said that the 36th Armored Division reached the shore of Gaza City and surrounded it. Hagari added that the Israeli army was able to divide the Strip into “north Gaza and south Gaza,” indicating that Israeli forces will deepen their ground operations there. In the words of the Israeli spokesman, “Gaza City has now completely surrendered,” and this was considered a “decisive step.” Hagari claimed that the 36th Division was able to kill 300 Palestinian militants and bombed 50 targets within 12 hours with the support of artillery and air forces, saying that the bombing included military sites and underground facilities.

Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee renewed his warning to the people of Gaza and asked them to move towards the south for their safety, as he claimed. Adraee wrote on the “X” platform, addressing the residents of Gaza, that the army will again allow traffic today (Sunday) on Salah al-Din Road between ten in the morning and two in the afternoon. He continued, "For your safety, take this next opportunity to move south beyond Wadi Gaza. If you care about yourselves and your loved ones, go south according to our instructions."

14:13 | Following the repeated calls to the residents of Gaza City to evacuate their homes, in view of the military activity taking place in the area, even in the last 24 hours, in accordance with the pre-arranged hours, the IDF secures an axis and opens a population evacuation corridor in order to allow the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to move south for their protection.

The IDF is continuing its efforts to facilitate the southward movement of civilians in the northern Gaza Strip with the reopening of an evacuation corridor. Following the IDF's repeated calls on the residents of Gaza City to evacuate from the area, over the last day and in accordance with set hours by the IDF, the IDF has reopened an evacuation corridor to allow civilians in the northern Gaza Strip to move southward for their own safety.

Dr. Iyad Abu Zaher, General Director of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip , warned "the nature of the wounds is complex, as it seems that the weapons used by Israel are new and strange. For example, martyred children arrived at the hospital from Al-Maghazi camp this morning, including a girl who did not show any signs of wounds or shrapnel, but rather had all of her abdominal tissues and internal organs destroyed. There are also burn injuries that we have not seen before, complex burns that dissolve children's organs. I can say that the situation in the hospital is catastrophic. Yes, we receive the wounded, but the quality of service is poor in the face of this great need."

Bystanders

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, warning that the Strip was turning into a "cemetery for children." In a statement to journalists at the United Nations headquarters, Guterres stressed that the unfolding catastrophe makes the need for a humanitarian ceasefire more urgent with every passing hour. The Secretary-General added that the Rafah crossing alone does not have the capacity to handle aid trucks of the required size, and “we need more food, water, medicine and, of course, fuel to enter Gaza,” stressing the need for the protection of civilians to be of utmost importance.

The UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights said that the blockade of Gaza and cutting off supplies to civilians amounted to collective punishment. The UN spokeswoman added that the disproportionate strikes may amount to war crimes. She explained that hundreds are facing death due to the collapse of the health sector and the depletion of fuel, noting that the aid allowed into Gaza so far is insufficient. The UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights called on "the parties to the conflict to stop actions in violation of international humanitarian law." Click here to share on social media.

In light of the continuation of daily massacres committed by Israel in the besieged Gaza Strip without the United Nations being able to deter them, questions have increased about the feasibility of the existence of this international organization, which the five permanent members have been accused of controlling since its founding.

Doubt made United Nations expert Rodrigo Aguilar Beninhos rush to publish an article in the American magazine Newsweek in which he said that some people’s discussion of the feasibility of the existence of the United Nations leads to the question: Is it really possible to live without it? Accusations of the United States and Western regimes of supporting Israel in carrying out its massacres have grown, as Washington still refuses to call for a ceasefire and stresses Israel's right to defend itself, while the United Nations seems unable to take any decision to end the crisis.

The United Arab Emirates is set to establish a field hospital in the Gaza Strip to provide medical assistance to Palestinians as part of a humanitarian operation ordered by UAE’s President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the official Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported. On Monday, a convoy of five aircraft departed from Abu Dhabi International Airport, loaded with medical equipment and supplies. The cargo is expected to be transported to Egypt before being forwarded to the Gaza Strip, WAM added. According to WAM, the 150-bed field hospital will include departments for general surgery, orthopedics, pediatrics, gynecology as well as anesthesia and intensive care units for children and adults.

Larry Fink, the chief executive of Blackrock, the world's largest asset manager, stressed that geopolitical instability will lead to a withdrawal in consumption, aggravating the risk of European and American recession. "Geopolitical risk is a major component in shaping all our lives. We are having rising fear throughout the world, and less hope," Fink explained to the Sunday Times.

Fink pointed to the Israeli action on the Gaza Strip and the war in Ukraine as two of the main factors that have influenced the global economy. "Rising fear creates a withdrawal from consumption or spending more. So fear creates recessions in the long run, and if we continue to have rising fear, the probability of a European recession grows and the probability of a US recession grows."

On his part, Jamie Dimon, the chair of JP Morgan, the United States' largest bank, pointed to the Sunday Times the same factors, saying that they were "quite scary and unpredictable." "What’s happening on the geopolitical front right now is the most important thing for the future of the world – freedom, democracy, food, energy, immigration," Dimon asserted. Earlier, Dimon had claimed that this is "the most dangerous time the world has seen in decades," as the realization of potential conflicts in the Middle East draws closer, due to Israel's policies.

Axis of Resistance

Hassan Khraisha, Vice President of the Palestinian Legislative Council, stressed that Washington is a partner in the aggression against the Gaza Strip and is one of the planners of it and its continuation, and therefore Blinken’s repeated visits to the region and his talk about managing the Gaza Strip after the war come within this framework. He pointed out that the scenarios being talked about revolve around the formation of a new political system in the Gaza Strip that will be linked to the occupation forces and international or Arab administrations, considering this to be premature because the battle is not over yet, as the Palestinians are still steadfast.

The spokesman for the HAMAS Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf Al-Qudra, announced on Monday that the Israeli occupation continues to lie about the existence of safe corridors for displaced persons and medical personnel, adding that the safe corridors that the occupation talks about are nothing but corridors of death. The Palestinian government announced reports that there were bodies of hundreds of displaced Palestinians on roads that Israel had declared safe.

Al-Qudra added that the occupation committed 19 massacres during the last hours, claiming the lives of 292 martyrs, stressing that the occupation is waging a frenzied war on hospitals and ambulances in the Gaza Strip. Data indicated that the Israeli occupation targets roads and places that it declares safe.

Last Friday, a video shown by Al Jazeera showed shocking scenes of displaced Palestinians who were subjected to Israeli bombing on the Al-Rashid coastal road in the besieged Gaza Strip. The scene showed dozens of martyrs, including women and children, along the main road, in a scene that reflects the brutality and terrorism of the occupation army that targeted these displaced people.

The HAMAS government in Gaza reported reports indicating the presence of the bodies of hundreds of displaced Palestinians on roads that Israel had declared safe towards the south of the Strip. The government media office said in a statement via Telegram, “We have received dozens of reports and appeals about the presence of hundreds of bodies of martyrs in the streets in different areas of Gaza City who tried to go to the alleged safe passage and who tried to take refuge from the raids last night (Sunday - Monday).”

The head of the HAMAS government media office, Salama Marouf, said in a press conference that the exit orders promoted by the occupation through air leaflets, communications, and sponsored advertisements on social media networks are evidence of condemnation of the occupation and not in its favor. The Israeli army was accused of ordering citizens to go to the south of the Gaza Strip, bombing them on the roads, and cutting off the arrival of ambulances to them.

Hamas will not accept a puppet government in the Gaza Strip and will remain in the territory, said on Monday the leader of Hamas in Lebanon. Israel has said it intends to destroy Hamas in retaliation for the group’s October 7 attack which Israeli officials say killed at least 1,400 people. “To those who think that Hamas will disappear, Hamas will remain entrenched in the conscience of our people, and no force on earth can annihilate or marginalize it,” Osama Hamdan told a news conference.

The senior Hamas official said Israel ally the United States planned to replace its rule in Gaza, likening such a move to Nazi Germany’s puppet state in France during World War II. “Our people will not allow the United States to impose its plans to create an administration that suits it and that suits the occupation (Israel), and our people will not accept a new Vichy government,” he said.

Allied for Democracy

After the shuttle tour conducted by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in the region, and his discussion with the Palestinian Authority and Arab officials, his country’s vision for the future of the Gaza Strip after the Israeli war, analysts believe that this comes to implicate the Palestinian Authority in the scene, as well as in the context of psychological pressure on the Palestinians, by adopting the hypothesis The war ends with the defeat of the resistance.

Blinken said at the conclusion of his visit to the Turkish capital, which followed a tour that began with Israel, then Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Emirates, Cyprus and Iraq, “We held very important discussions to create the conditions to achieve a lasting and sustainable peace for the Israelis and Palestinians, and we continue to work on this issue, and think about the future while we try to resolve this crisis.” He believes that progress will be achieved on these issues.

Reuters had quoted a senior American official as saying that Blinken informed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas - during his meeting with him in Ramallah - that the Palestinian Authority must play a pivotal role in the future of Gaza, while the latter expressed his willingness “to help manage the Strip” after “ Isolating the “Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ),” according to the same source.

Commenting on this as part of the analytical pause, “Gaza...what next?” Bilal Al-Shobaki, head of the Department of Political Science at Hebron University, said that talk about governing Gaza after the war is based on a non-existent and unexpected hypothesis, which is that the war has ended and Israel has won. Al-Shobaki agreed that Abbas's meeting with Blinken in this circumstance should not have taken place, given that any return to Gaza with the remains of Palestinians and their blood would only take place on the back of an American or Israeli tank, and "no free Palestinian would accept to return in this proposed way."

Le Monde newspaper said that the United States finds it difficult to take into account both sides of the tragedy, the tragedy of Israel, which shattered its concept of national security on October 7, and the tragedy of civilians whose suffering in Gaza reached unprecedented levels under Israeli bombing, after putting its credibility and resources on the side of Israel. Its government is dominated by racist nationalists, and its army is accused of committing war crimes in Gaza.

However, for US President Joe Biden , this support is not a matter of partisan calculations, but rather a matter of a necessary moral stance in the face of the evil embodied by “Hamas terrorism” - in the words of the newspaper’s correspondent in Washington, Piotr Smolar. However, as the war crimes committed by the army accumulate, The impact of the horror that Israel suffered on public opinion is eroding. the Biden administration immediately provided full political and military support to Israel, handed over weapons and deployed massive forces in the eastern Mediterranean, and intensified bilateral exchanges regarding intelligence information as well as military analyses, thus proving the United States’ partisan commitment to stand by Israel if its security is threatened.

But the perception of this commitment turned against the White House and it was isolated - according to the correspondent - especially because of its skepticism about the official reports of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, and its placing full responsibility for the deaths on the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), given that its fighters were hiding among civilians, as well as its public adoption of actions Israel, which created a rift between him and the Arab countries, and a disagreement between him and a large portion of the democratic voters.

A request from the Israeli government to acquire 24,000 assault rifles from the United States is raising concerns among US lawmakers and some State Department officials, The New York Times reported. US lawmakers and some State Department officials are extremely worried that these weapons could potentially end up in the hands of Israeli settlers and settlers' militias involved in forcibly displacing Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, where violence has been on the rise.

The three proposed batches of semiautomatic and automatic rifles have an estimated value of $34 million and are set to be procured directly from American firearm manufacturers, the report said. However, the acquisition requires approval from the State Department and notification to Congress. Israel claimed that the rifles are intended for use by the so-called "national police force" but there have been indications that they could be distributed to settlers, according to sources familiar with the arms procurement mentioned in The New York Times.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at the Kirya in Tel Aviv, met with approximately 80 foreign ambassadors, "What we see is a broader battle between civilization and barbarism. The barbarism is led by an axis of terror. The axis of terror is led by Iran. It includes Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis and their other minions. They seek to bring the Middle East and the world back to a dark age. They seek to torpedo, to derail any progress towards peace and the progress and the promise that we had in our budding peace treaties with our Arab neighbors. If they go strong, if they're not defeated, they will derail this process, they will imperil the entire Middle East. If the Middle East falls to the axis of terror, Europe will be next and no one will be safe. This is not a local battle. This is a global battle. The paramount need is to defeat this axis.

"That battle is now being waged by us against Hamas in Gaza. There is no substitute for victory. We will defeat Hamas. We will dismantle Hamas. We will offer the people of Gaza and the entire peoples of the Middle East a real future, a future of promise and hope. But this requires victory. We have the will and we have the power to do so. We will win. And we believe that all civilized powers should back us in this effort because this battle is your battle and our victory is your victory."