Operation Iron Swords - Day 78 - 23 December 2023

Ccontents

NEW - Operations NEW - Operations Maps NEW - By-Standers NEW - Axis of Resistance NEW - Allied for Democracy UPDATED - Oasis of Martyrs UPDATED - Hostages

Operational Update

Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), suggested that 5 Israeli prisoners were killed as a result of the ongoing occupation raids on the Gaza Strip , after the brigades announced that they had lost contact with the group responsible for them. Abu Ubaida added - in a brief statement on Telegram - that among these prisoners were Haim Peri, Yoram Metzger, and Amiram Cooper, who appeared in a video clip broadcast by the Qassam Brigades a few days ago, demanding that their leaders not leave them in captivity and “not to grow old in it.”

One of the Israeli prisoners - named Haim Berri (79 years old) - said that he is from Kibbutz "Nir Oz" and is in captivity with a group of elderly people, who are sick with chronic diseases and suffer from very harsh conditions. He added, "We are the generation of the children of Israel, and we participated in building the army, and I do not understand why we are left here?" Before continuing, he apparently appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , saying, "You must release us at any cost." The prisoner continued, "We do not want to be victims of air force attacks. Release us without any conditions, and do not let us grow old."

This is not the first time that Al-Qassam has announced that it has lost contact with groups responsible for holding prisoners in Gaza. On November 18, it announced the loss of contact with a group charged with protecting Israeli prisoners, and that the fate of the prisoners and detainees is unknown.

Al-Jazeera military expert Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi said that Israel has reached the turning point in its war on the Gaza Strip , stressing that the 78th day of battles “will be recorded in history” due to the strikes directed by the resistance against the occupation forces. Al-Duwairi explained that when the forces find themselves unable to continue the attack, they resort to positioning or retreat, stressing that the withdrawal of the 13th Division of the Golani Brigade means that Israel has reached this area.

The strategic expert based this hypothesis on leaks in the Israeli media saying that Defense Minister Yoav Galant asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to re-evaluate the situation and consider the goals that can be achieved. On the ground, Al-Duwairi believes that the withdrawals taking place in Jabalia and other areas in the northern Gaza Strip indicate this transformation.

On the contrary, the strategic expert says that the Israeli forces have not reached this transformation in the south because they still have the initiative operationally. Al-Duwairi inferred Israel's lack of control in the south by the battles taking place in areas including Khuza'a, Bani Suhaila, and the Philadelphia crossing, from which Israel is trying to reach Al-Rashid Street.

Al-Duwairi said that the 78th day of the war “will be recorded in history” in terms of the painful strikes directed by the resistance against the occupation army. The military expert pointed out that the resistance re-equipped two Israeli missiles that did not explode, and detonated them at an Israeli force, destroying 5 tanks.

In Juhr al-Dik, more than one specific operation took place - according to Al-Duwairi - where 4 jeeps were blown up, including (4 to 5 individuals in each car) after they were lured into a minefield in Jabalia. The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) - said that it destroyed a tank that rushed to the site of the bombing, and then targeted the rescue and evacuation force. Al-Qassam also announced the bombing of a tunnel after luring an Israeli group into it, and said that it had sniped 4 soldiers from zero distance in the Al-Qassasin neighborhood in the Jabalia camp, noting that it had targeted field command rooms south of Gaza City.

Al-Duwairi said that the Israeli army's movement towards the Philadelphia axis aims to separate the Gaza Strip from the Sinai desert and Egypt, but he ruled out that this goal would be achieved. According to Israeli media, Israeli tanks began a ground operation from Kerem Shalom to the Philadelphia axis on the Gaza Strip border with Egypt.

Al-Duwairi believes that the occupation, after its loss at the strategic level, is seeking to place all crossing points leading to the Gaza Strip under its absolute control, and described the Israeli move towards the Philadelphia axis as a “dangerous matter.”

Regarding the buffer zone that the occupation seeks to create in the Gaza Strip, Al-Duwairi suggested - in his analysis to Al Jazeera - that it will be from three directions: the northern front, the length of the strip, and the border with the Republic of Egypt, and to this he will add an attempt to position himself in the Gaza Valley to separate the north from the south.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously informed US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken that, at the end of the war, Israel intends to establish a “deep buffer zone” in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Channel 11 also revealed that the IDF is preparing to end the ground operation within weeks, stressing that the third phase includes reducing the number of forces, forming a buffer zone, and continuing focused attacks.

Commenting on the Israelis’ talk about Gaza’s security future, Al-Duwairi said that after Netanyahu was talking about eliminating the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) and what comes after Gaza, he turned 180 degrees, and issued his instructions to begin easing and withdrawing and talking about a buffer zone. The military expert ruled out that the IDF would be able to achieve the goals he was talking about on the ground, pointing out that it had entered the Juhr al-Dik and Beit Hanoun areas in the northern Gaza Strip, and after 56 days it was unable to control these areas.

Maersk - the second largest container company in the world - expected that navigation in the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Red Sea will continue to be disrupted for months due to the increasing security risks and the threats of the Yemeni Houthi group to target ships linked to Israel, in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who have been subjected to continuous assault for more than 7 weeks left more than 20 thousand martyrs and more than 52 wounded.

Bloomberg News Agency reported that the company, based in Cunebagen, published a statement yesterday, Friday, showing that 15 container shipping lines between Asia and Europe were damaged, in addition to those coming from the East Coast of the United States to the Middle East. The agency quoted the statement as saying that in light of the chaos in the Red Sea, shipping and energy companies have changed the routes of their ships since the beginning of last week in order to avoid attacks launched by the Houthis on ships in the Red Sea, which leads to prolonging the travel times of commercial ships and energy tankers.

The American shipping company Flexport expects that about 180 cargo ships have changed their destinations away from the Bab al-Mandab Strait, diverting their route around Africa, or have stopped awaiting instructions from the companies operating them. The Derori Global Container Price Index showed that the cost of transporting goods in a 40-foot container from Asia to Northern Europe jumped by 16% over the past week.

While the cost of transportation increased by 41% this December, which applies to fuel shipping bills, with a sailing period that may extend for an additional two weeks, by taking the Cape of Good Hope route. Additional costs and delays pose risks to the global economy, at a time when inflation is beginning to slow. Bab al-Mandab is an inevitable sea route for any ship seeking to reach the Egyptian Suez Canal, which shortens the journey between Asia and Europe. Avoiding that means sailing thousands of miles around Africa.

German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd announced additional fees on the goods it transports to and from the Middle East, thus joining its competitors, Danish Maersk and French CMA-CGM, which took this step earlier. On November 19, the Houthi group announced the seizure of the “Galaxy Leader” cargo ship, owned by an Israeli businessman, in the Red Sea and taking it to the Yemeni coast.

The Houthi group has vowed on more than one occasion to target ships owned or operated by Israeli companies, in solidarity with Palestine, calling on countries to withdraw their citizens working on the crews of these ships.

It is noteworthy that the United States announced, through its Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, last Tuesday the formation of a multinational coalition, in which Britain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Bahrain, Seychelles, and Spain participate, through joint patrols in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, as part of what was called Operation “Guardian of Prosperity.” The Pentagon also said Thursday that more than 20 countries in total have agreed to participate in the new US-led coalition to protect trade in the Red Sea.

The Houthi group also responded that this coalition will not stop its operations in the Red Sea, which aim to support the Palestinian people in confronting the Israeli aggression on Gaza, and “are neither a show of force nor a challenge to anyone,” according to the group’s spokesman, Muhammad Abdel Salam.

Maps

All maps are lies. But it is impossible to comprehend the war in Gaza without reference to maps, otherwise the entire conflict is reduced to an endless series of meaningless acts of random violence and the suffering of civilians. Evidently, different mappers have different ideas of how to depict the war in Gaza, notably those that seek to depict Israeli progress in the ground campaign. Part of the problem is latency. The news that forms the basis of the maps takes time to filter out to mappers, and the cartographers take time in crafting their maps, and it takes time to curate them. Thes processes are uneven among mappers, so their maps may differ in detail. Probably there is some ideological bias, or at least thematic apperception, which is understandable in wartime. It may come as no surprise that al-Jazeera maps depict rather less Israeli territorial progress than other sources. Finally, there remains the epistemological question of just exactly what are the colored in areas depicting. Naively, this might be understood as areas of Israeli control, that are no longer contested by the HAMAS. Or possibly these are areas of Israeli presence, in many of which the possibility of an RPG-wielding HAMAS militant popping out of a tunnel unexpectedly remains a live possibility. With the "zero-range" combat characterized by small unit tactics on both sides, maps may be prey to a fallacy of misplaced concreteness.

Bystanders

The Tunisian thinker and academic Abu Yaarub Al-Marzouqi believes that the majority of Arab intellectuals “distance people from resistance,” considering that “if they truly believed in the resistance that achieves the liberation of nations and human liberation, they would not have been the biggest warriors of the Spring and the most defenders of civilizational dependency.”

Al-Marzouqi - who holds a degree in philosophy from the Sorbonne University and a doctorate in Arabic and Greek philosophy in 1991 - considered that "the Western democratic system makes political success dependent on corrupt money and misleading media. In this, they are no different from Arab authoritarian regimes."

Al-Marzouqi worked as a professor of Arabic and Greek philosophy at the Tunisian University, and was a member of the Scientific Council of the Tunisian Academy of Sciences, Literature and Arts - House of Wisdom, where he took over the management of its translation department. He spoke to Al-Jazeera Net about the cultural and strategic implications of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, so to the dialogue:

What are the implications of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation in light of the ongoing transformations Arab and international?

"The answer to this question about the significance of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” process may relate to the significance that occurred after the flood, so that it would be its fruit and indicate its global effectiveness, or before it, so that its fruits would be the results of being affected by it. "In the first case, the significance is related to action in the ongoing transformations in the Arab and international levels. In the second case, the significance is related to emotion and the transformations in it. The process would be lacking in its desired dimensions, because in the most extreme cases it would not go beyond adding an Arab protectorate to the 22 that make up the Arab League.

"This is the second meaning sought by everyone who wants to limit the effect of the flood, to end the effect of the earthquake that resulted from its effectiveness, and the two victories that are intended to be hidden by all means that explain the Arabs’ abandonment of Gaza and Palestine and their hasty efforts to kill the cause and complete normalization, and even eliminate all hope of liberating the homelands in order to prevent liberation. Man in the Arab countries from water to water.

"If it really deserves to be described as the Al-Aqsa Flood, the significance would be the liberation of the 22 countries from the status of protectorates, half of which are subject to Israel, and the West, its protector, especially its leader, i.e., America, and half of which are to Iran, and the East, its protector, and especially its leader, i.e., Russia.

"If it is an emotion, then it does not deserve to be described as the Al-Aqsa flood. Rather, it is an opportunity to add another Arab protectorate to the one that makes up the Arab League, so that it will be like it, defenseless and subordinate like it to either the East or the West, and after that it will not stand for the Arabs.

"As for the second case, the meaning is Al-Aqsa, that is, if it is an emotion, then it does not deserve to be described as the Al-Aqsa Flood, but rather it is an opportunity to add another Arab protectorate to the one that makes up the Arab League, so it will be like it, defenseless and subordinate like it to either the East or the West, and after that it will not stand for the Arabs. Thus, the regimes that are working hard with Israel and America to liquidate the issue and end Hamas’ resistance have ended the issue, and have proven their dependence on Israel and its protectors, and on Iran and its protectors.

"The most dangerous thing in this case is the completion of what the West seeks to build the alliance between India and Israel to surround the Arabs and prevent them from material and scientific development, the condition of sovereignty, and what the East and Iran seek to surround the Arabs for the same purpose, so the Arabs, and with them all Muslims, will be removed from history once again, as happened in the wars. Restoration when the West - which was the only pole - surrounded the geography of Islam by fragmenting it, splitting its history, distorting its civilization, and distorting its elite, and by making it resemble the Red Indians, it waited for others to determine their fate, then gradually annihilated them as a breeding ground for its power over the world, and most of its wealth and all its paths passed through the land of Islam.

"What is meant by the contrast between stagnation, decline, and natural growth? What is the reason for the connection between its occurrence and its meeting among the Palestinian people in particular and the world in general? This is because most of those allied against Hamas and those who deny the legitimacy of the flood see what happened as an indication of stagnation and retreat, as evidence of describing Hamas as “terrorism and the second ISIS.”

"It is a description whose goal is to explain the official Arab disappointment and try to persuade the people to accept this official position. The intention is to combine the attempt to eliminate the citizen liberation revolution in the spring and the attempt to liberate the homeland in Palestine. Therefore, the main concern of the Arab regimes is to wait for Israel’s decision as quickly as possible so that they can be relieved of the liberation of the homeland liberation revolution in Palestine after they thought they had achieved relief from the liberation of citizens in the spring.

"In fact, what terrifies the Arab regimes of both types, which are enslaved by Israel and America, and which are enslaved by Iran and Russia, is the two dimensions of victory in the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood - which is a battle, not a war - and it can be considered the fourth of the intermittent battles in Gaza and the ongoing battles in the West Bank in different ways: The Al-Aqsa flood demonstrated the fragility of Israel's power, as evidenced by its resort from the second day to American and Western support.

"The first dimension is ending the myth of the invincible army and ending the myth of the resistance alliance led by invincible militias at the same time. The Al-Aqsa flood demonstrated the fragility of Israel’s power, as evidenced by its resort from the second day to American and Western support. The Al-Aqsa flood demonstrated the lies of Iran’s fanaticism and its militias, as it asserted that it was weaker than Israel, as evidenced by its previous defeat in Syria, and its resort to Putin, who protected it with Arab funding.

"What the flood achieved militarily, in one day, exposed the Arab subordination to their enslavers from the West and the East, and it is frightening for the regimes, because it may encourage peoples to resume the liberation revolution after the fragility of the protectors of those who seek to thwart it became clear, thus bringing together the liberation of the homelands and the liberation of people, and the Arabs and Muslims would return to their role in global history.

"No one today in the West - if we exclude official politicians and elites - still believes Israel’s narratives and the pretense that Israel is a symbol of civilization, progress and democracy, besieged by primitive peoples threatening it with a second Holocaust, after the West saved them from the first, while it is the source of all the Holocausts that the Jews went through. .

"But the second dimension, although not military, is more important than the first: it is overthrowing the Israeli and Iranian narratives. No one today in the West - with the exception of official politicians and elites - still believes Israel’s narratives and the pretense that Israel is a symbol of civilization, progress and democracy, besieged by primitive peoples threatening it with a second Holocaust after the West saved them from the first, while it is the source of all the Holocausts that the Jews went through after Babylonian captivity, Persian protection, and Roman dispersion to Catholic, Russian, and Hitlerite.

"The flood liberated the youth of the West and its free elite from Zionist blackmail, both Jewish and Christian, in the United States in particular, which is the secret of their power. This is the biggest advantage of the effectiveness of the flood: it is a slow-impact creation tsunami, but it is more than a cosmic earthquake that will change the face of the entire Earth.

"In this sense, the flood liberated the youth of the West and its free elite from Zionist blackmail, both Jewish and Christian, in the United States in particular, which is the secret of their power. This is the biggest advantage of the effectiveness of the flood: it is a slow-impact creation tsunami, but it is more than a cosmic earthquake that will change the face of the entire Earth. "As for the second gain, it has freed the gullible from Iran’s illusion that it seeks to liberate Palestine with the slogans of the Quds Force, which uses this slogan to cover up the plan that it is gradually achieving with Arab hands that enabled it to occupy Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen, and is preparing to occupy the entire Gulf, especially Mecca and Medina, until the conditions for recovery are met. The Persian Empire: They announced this when their elders said, “Here we have recovered 4 Arab capitals from the land of Persia.”

"Therefore, all of Iran's Arab militias are preparing to achieve this goal, so that since the Iraq-Iran war until now, Israel has not received a threat from them to respond at the appropriate time and at the appropriate time. Because they are dedicated to occupying the Crescent and Yemen and surrounding the primary goal, i.e. the Gulf and the holy landmarks, until Iran becomes a court in the holiest of holiness in Islam and tampers with it just as it tampers with its history in revenge for the family of Khosrau, and not for the family of the Messenger. "Some Arab thinkers, intellectuals, and religious scholars expressed their willingness to participate in the Al-Aqsa flood and fight the Israeli occupation. Does this indicate their preference for the option of military resistance and loss of hope in the existing intellectual and political projects in the Arab world?

"Don't talk to me about what the intellectuals say. The overwhelming majority of them are the farthest people from the resistance, neither military nor intellectual, but they are “Ayasha.” Therefore, I do not want to comment on this lie. If they truly believed in the resistance that achieves the liberation of nations and the liberation of mankind, they would not have been the biggest warriors of the Spring and the most defenders of civilizational dependency, especially in the Maghreb. The ones in control of the scene are the regimes’ loved ones and their agents and the agents of French colonialism in particular, because they derive fame and stardom from it."

The Al-Aqsa flood showed the bias of major Western scholars and intellectuals against the right of the Palestinian people to live in their homeland and resist the occupation, even though they were defending the necessity of all peoples to enjoy human rights. How do you read that?

"This is a ruling that does not match reality. Few Western scholars and intellectuals took this position. In fact, the majority of Western scholars and intellectuals were closer to justice and history, and had it not been for them, the qualitative change in Western public opinion would not have occurred to the extent that made 70% of Western youth support Palestine and denounce Western and Zionist narratives against Palestine. This is evident in the student and university movements.

"The Western democratic system makes political success dependent on corrupt money and misleading media. In this respect, they are no different from Arab authoritarian regimes. Hence, the deep state that controls the Western political elite is the same as the one that controls the Arab political elite.

"The insistence of Western countries to rescue and assist the Israeli occupation, despite the continued Western popular rejection of the war on Gaza has to do with two things. The first is that the Western democratic system makes political success dependent on corrupt money and misleading media. In this respect, they are no different from Arab authoritarian regimes. Hence, the deep state that controls the Western political elite is the same as the one that controls the Arab political elite.

"The second, which is related to long history, is that the change in popular public opinion is influential, but in the long term, political success in the elections becomes dependent on the fruit of this change. It is known that this is slow, and for this reason I advised the Palestinians to help develop the impact of this change through diplomacy that is very facilitating in their demands. Therefore, the abundance of talk about Palestine from the river to the sea is only a service to Israel’s narrative, in addition to the fact that it is currently impossible to achieve. While demanding the application of international law and acceptance of partition, and not what comes after 67, is sufficient to achieve this demand without need to mention it.

"The Israelis will not accept it and will be fooled, because they are cutting off the foundation on which they are sitting, thus helping to bring down all their narratives, and it will become clear to the world that the terrorist is the occupier and the racist who does not want coexistence with the Palestinians.

"Therefore, accepting partition is a bait for diplomats, because Israel cannot respond to it convincingly, and set it as a goal so as not to lose international public opinion with unnecessary extremist positions, because putting it means supporting the Israeli narrative that the Palestinians want to throw the Jews into the sea with the same mentality that was one of the slogans of Voice of the Arabs. We have seen that it was words without action, and what benefited from it was Israel’s narratives, not Palestinian rights."

Axis of Resistance

Iranian Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday called on Islamic countries to impose an oil embargo on Israel, while President Ibrahim Raisi accused the United States of being an accomplice in the massacres committed against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Khamenei said that it is the duty of Islamic countries to prevent sending oil, fuel and goods to Israel. The Iranian guide added that providing support to the resistance is a duty, considering standing by Israel a crime and treason.

For his part, Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi said that the Palestinian people will win and that Israel will be defeated, considering that ending the war in Gaza and opening corridors for humanitarian aid is a priority at the present time. He stressed the necessity of a ceasefire and lifting the siege on the Gaza Strip, stressing his country's refusal to displace the Palestinian people.

Raisi accused the United States of being a party to the aggression against the Palestinian people, saying that its hands are stained with the blood of the Palestinians, and that the Gaza issue revealed to the entire world that Washington is committing massacres and genocide, and that it is responsible for what is happening in Gaza.

He pointed out that Israeli war crimes are being committed against the Palestinians in light of the silence and failure of international institutions, stressing that continuing the occupation does not grant the occupier legitimacy. He said that the Palestinian people have the right to defend themselves, stressing that the final solution is to expel the occupation from the Palestinian territories, and that the Al-Aqsa Flood operation launched by the Palestinian resistance on October 7 came in response to the injustice to which the Palestinian people were exposed.

Regarding the situation in Gaza after the war, Raisi said that the Hamas movement represents the choice of the people of Gaza, and that the fate of this region is determined by the Palestinians, stressing that the final solution is to expel the occupation from the Palestinian territories.

For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said that the UN Security Council failed to stop what he described as the brutal killings carried out by Israel against the residents of the Gaza Strip. Abdullahian added that the United States and Israel's supporters bear responsibility for the failure to cease fire in Gaza. The Iranian Foreign Minister said that his country's goal is to stop Israeli attacks on the Palestinian people and the ongoing violation of human rights in Palestine.

Iran intensified its military experiments and had been revealing a series of strategic weapons since the first days of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood last October, which raised questions about the justifications for the step, its goals, and the messages to be conveyed at the current stage.

Among the strategic weapons that Tehran revealed during the past two months are the Fattah 2 hypersonic missile, the Karrar drone equipped with the Majeed thermal missile, two upgraded versions of the 9D anti-missile system, a new model of the T-72 tank, and the drone Shaheed 147.

Not a day had passed since Iran revealed the formation of a “ Basij Naval Force” in response to the American announcement of the formation of a multinational naval task force to protect trade in the Red Sea, until the Revolutionary Guard announced the next day the installation of long-range missiles equipped with artificial intelligence on its ships and naval vessels. He described the new achievement as “a revolution in national deterrence capabilities.”

A team of Iranian researchers believes that the unveiling of the military achievements comes within the framework of the national arms policy aimed at strengthening Tehran's defense capabilities and marketing the Iranian military industry following the lifting of UN sanctions on Iran on October 28. For his part, the editor-in-chief of the Iranian newspaper Al-Wefaq, Mukhtar Haddad, considers that the timing of the discovery of modern weapons was remarkable, due to its coincidence with the Al-Aqsa flood battle in Gaza and the continuing Israeli threats against Iran, stressing that his country continues to strengthen its deterrent industries according to what it had planned in advance.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Haddad said, "His country is employing its weapons to establish regional security, such as opening its military arsenal to friendly countries to combat terrorism, which has spread over the past decade in the region," stressing that Tehran will repeat its previous policy of combating terrorism and gangs that want to destabilize the region. Security in the region.

He pointed out that all restrictions imposed on activities and transfers related to Iran’s ballistic missiles had expired, in accordance with the so-called “transitional day in the nuclear agreement ” on October 28, stressing that after Iran received many requests from countries of the world - including European ones - to purchase It sees no objection to exporting its weapons abroad.

Brigadier General Mehdi Farhi, Deputy Ministry of Defense and Support of the Iranian Armed Forces, announced last November that his country's exports of military equipment amounted to one billion dollars last year. The Iranian Minister of Defense confirms his country’s intention to reveal more military achievements during the coming period.

Despite the Islamic Republic's policy aimed at constantly developing its military industries, the intensification of disclosure of its military achievements and its confirmation that it intends to reveal more of its strategic weapons during the coming period leaves no doubt that it comes in the context of regional and international developments, most notably the ongoing aggression against Gaza and the escalation of tension. in the region, especially in territorial waters and the high seas.

Political researcher Mossadegh Mossadegh Pour believes that what Tehran recently revealed regarding strategic weapons cannot be read apart from regional developments, especially the Israeli aggression against Gaza and Western mobilization in the Middle East.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Burr refers to the secret war that has been ongoing for decades between Washington and its Western allies with Tehran because of the latter’s position rejecting “Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories,” describing the war on Gaza as “an episode in the context of the existing confrontation between the Western-Israeli axis and the axis of resistance, with the aim of defeating From the Islamic Republic as the spearhead of the final axis.”

He saw his country's display of some of its military industries and the activation of part of the capabilities of the Axis of Resistance as an effective factor in blocking the way for parties "that saw the Gaza battle as an opportunity to attack the rings of the Axis - led by the Islamic Republic - because of its regional policy and its fulfillment of the Islamic and humanitarian duty towards the Palestinian issue."

When referring to strategic weapons - including guided and incendiary bombs for fortifications that Western countries supplied to Israel and the naval fleets that they sent to the region - Bur confirms that “Tehran does not skimp on its allies in providing them with military technology,” and he sees Tehran’s disclosure of military achievements as a message to the supporters of the Israeli entity. To deter the aggression against Gaza.

The Iranian researcher saw in his country’s intensified disclosure of strategic weapons “Iranian messages and signals to allies and enemies,” which he summarized as follows:

• Moral support for friends and allies in the axis of resistance, and confirmation that Tehran has its fingers on the trigger and will not allow enemies to isolate its regional allies.
• Messages to the countries of the region stating that the Zionist-American axis is unable to guarantee regional security, and that stability in the Middle East will not pass without fulfilling the rights of the Palestinians.
• Emphasizing to the American side that the Iranian armed forces are ready and have the appropriate weapons to strike back against those who want to undermine its national sovereignty and national security, because what is hidden from Iranian weapons is greater than what it reveals from time to time, and this is what foreign intelligence knows.
• Messages of deterrence to Western countries and Zionist lobbies in order to reconsider their blind support for the Israeli entity.

Emphasizing that Tehran will not leave its allies in Yemen alone and will not give up their control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait .

Allied for Democracy

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured US President Joe Biden that Israel will continue its war on the Gaza Strip until its goals are achieved, at a time when the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir , threatened to withdraw from the government if the war is not resolved. Netanyahu's office said in a statement that the Prime Minister - during a phone call with the US President today - expressed his appreciation for the United States' position in the Security Council, in an apparent reference to the Council's discussions on the Gaza war, as Washington has prevented, during the past weeks, the issuance of any resolution stipulating a halt. shooting. The Israeli statement stated that Netanyahu "also made clear that Israel will continue the war until all of its goals are fully achieved."

For his part, Biden told reporters in Washington that he had a lengthy call with Netanyahu, and did not ask him for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Netanyahu stated since the beginning of the war that their goal was to recover those detained by the Palestinian resistance and eliminate the Hamas movement , but neither of these goals was achieved despite 78 days having passed since the war, amid skepticism from within Israel and from its allies about the possibility of achieving them.

Ben Gvir called for dissolving the war council due to the failure to manage the battle in Gaza. The Minister of Security hinted at the possibility of withdrawing from the government if Israel does not resolve the war in Gaza. Ben Gvir said in an interview with Channel 12, "My withdrawal from the government is possible during the coming period, if we do not achieve a resolution in the war."

Last Thursday, Ben Gvir called for the dissolution of the war ministerial council, due to what he considered “the council’s failure to manage the battle over the Gaza Strip.” Ben Gvir, who leads the "Jewish Power" party, threatened on more than one occasion to withdraw from the government if the latter stopped its war against the Gaza Strip.

On the other hand, Israeli Channel 14 today quoted Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter as saying that even if the detainees in Gaza are not recovered, the war will not end. Dichter's statement is consistent with the statements of other ministers - including Ben Gvir - who support the continuation of the war and reject any ceasefire before achieving the prime minister's declared goal, which is "eliminating Hamas."

An article published by the American magazine "The Intercept" asked about the danger of the people who run the world not knowing the most basic political facts, against the backdrop of a recently published article about the Israeli attack on Gaza , written by the British politician Ben Wallace, who was the United Kingdom's Minister of Defense until a few months ago.

Writer John Schwarz stated that the problem is that Wallace attached great importance to the original charter of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) of 1988, without knowing that Hamas issued a new charter in 2017, in which it affirmed that “its struggle is with the Zionist project and not with the Jews because of their religion.”

The amended charter rejects the legitimacy of Zionism, and accepts "the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital, along the lines of June 4, 1967, with the return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes from which they were expelled, as a formula for national consensus."

The author noted the necessity of recognizing that many of the people who sit at the top of the power structures in the world have no idea what they are talking about. In this context, Jimmy Carter once wrote that he wished he had read about the history of American aggression in Central America before he became president, and perhaps the peoples of Central America wished that as well.

The writer adds that in a similar way, the Palestinians would be happier if people like Wallace - whose term as Defense Minister of the United Kingdom lasted 4 years - could gain knowledge of their history that at least matches what is available in the Wikipedia blog. For additional information, Wallace could have learned the basics of the Likud Party, which is currently headed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The party's original 1977 platform declares that "between the sea and the Jordan River there will be nothing but Israeli sovereignty."

The writer stresses that there is no pressure on Wallace and others like him to learn these important facts. Rather, all the pressures push them in the other direction. For example, for his trite observations about the reality of oppression that breeds extremism, Wallace has been accused of potentially “stirring up anti-Semitic hatred.”

Butcher's Bill / Oasis of Martyrs

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 1,200, 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.

The HAMAS Ministry of Health in the besieged sector announced that the number of victims of the Israeli operation its beginning had risen to about 20,258 martyrs. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The number wounded was 53,688. The Palestinian Government Media Office in Gaza had said many days earlier that the number of missing people had risen to more than 7,500 [double the 3,750 previously reported], including 1,800 children still under the rubble, including 4,700 children and women.

Palestinian Ministry of Health has announced that the total number of Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank by the Israeli occupation this year has reached 505 people, including 111 children. The Palestinian Ministry of Health earlier explained that the death toll in the West Bank since the beginning of this year has risen to 465, including 257 martyrs since last October 7.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry released an official casualty numbers in fighting, saying 77 people were killed and 251 wounded since the start of the war on Gaza.

Israel revised down the death toll from the October Hamas attacks in southern Israel from 1,400 to 1,200. IDF had said previously it was holding 1,500 bodies of terrorists, a total that now would increas to about 1,700.

The IDF acknowledged the death toll to 127 between officers and soldiers since the start of the ground incursion, while the number of wounded since the beginning of the ground operation rose to 652, including 146 seriously injured. This brings the total number of dead officers and soldiers whose names the Israeli army allowed to be published to 434 since the Palestinian resistance launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7th.

At least 1q,213 Israelis were injured, according to i24 TV. The IDF updated the number of soldiers injured in the war and attacks on October 7 to 1,683.

Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper had reported that 5,000 soldiers had been wounded since the beginning of the war on October 7, and that the Ministry of Defense had recognized 2,000 soldiers as disabled so far.

Hostages

Israel estimated there were 116 living hostages in Palestinian custody. Israel declared 19 out of 135 people in Gaza captivity dead in absentia, after announcing its forces had recovered the bodies of two hostages. Israel considers those still held by Hamas to be hostages regardless of whether they are dead or alive.

Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy earlier had told reporters that Hamas still held 137 captives. The resistance released 10 Israeli detainees, 4 Thais and 2 Russian women, who were released outside the agreement. Over the course of 6 days, Israel has received 102 detainees, women and children, including 78 Israelis, in exchange for the release of 234 Palestinian prisoners, women and children.

Eylon Levy, the Israeli government spokesperson, told reporters 01 December 2023:

• Hamas still held 137 hostages from the October attacks, in addition to four others who went missing before the war
• The hostages include two children aged four and 10 months, who, Hamas now claims, are dead
• 117 male hostages are still kept in Gaza, including the two children, as well as 20 females
• 126 hostages are Israelis, and 11 others are foreign nationals
• Foreign nationals are eight Thais, one Nepalese, one Tanzanian and one French Mexican citizen
• Ten of the remaining hostages are 75 and older.
• There are seven missing people since the October 7 attack
• Hamas had released 110 hostages so far – 86 Israelis and 24 foreign nationals.

Some of the rest are soldiers, seized when Hamas raided military bases in Israel. They may end up being held the longest. The Israeli military had not specified how many soldiers were captured, nor their ranks.

According to some estimates, Hamas was initially holding nearly 210 of the 240 hostages, while Palestinian Islamic Jihad was holding the remaining 30. About 40 Israelis remained missing. More than 40 hostages taken from Israel into Gaza on October 7th are not currently in the custody of Hamas, the group responsible for the attack, according to a CNN report based on a diplomatic source briefed on the negotiations, CNN's prior reports had indicated that an estimated 40 to 50 hostages were held by Palestinian Islamic Jihad or other unidentified groups or individuals.

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.

Palestinian institutions concerned with prisoners’ affairs announced that the Israeli authorities have arrested 4,400 Palestinians in the West Bank and the 1948 territories since last October 7. Some 150 women have been arrested thus far, both from the West Bank and the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948. Additionally, more than 255 children have been arrested. Israel had earliers aid that, since the beginning of the war, about 2,100 wanted persons have been arrested throughout the IOS Division and the Bekaa and Emekim Brigade, about 1,100 of them are affiliated with Hamas.