Operation Iron Swords - Day 79 - 24 December 2023

Contents

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

The IDF army announced that 10 officers and soldiers were killed in one 24 hour period in the Gaza battles. Israeli Channel 12 quoted the army as describing the end of the last week as the toughest since the beginning of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, after 15 soldiers and officers were killed and 44 others were injured, 10 of whom were in serious condition, on the last day of the week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that Israel is "paying a heavy price" in the war that has been taking place in the Gaza Strip since October 7. “We pay a very high price in the war, but we have no choice but to continue fighting,” Netanyahu said at the beginning of the weekly government meeting. In a report today, the Associated Press described the occupation army’s announcement of the killing of these soldiers in Gaza as one of the most violent days of battles since Israel began its ground attack on the Strip at the end of last October.

However, the daily losses acknowledged by the occupation remain less than what the Palestinian resistance announces. The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades - the military wing of Hamas - announced that it killed a large number of Israeli soldiers in ambushes it set up for the occupation forces in the Gaza Strip.

The American newspaper "The Washington Post" said that there is evidence proving that the damage inflicted by Israeli forces on Gaza exceeds what happened in other conflicts in the current century, and that this war is one of the most destructive wars. It added that this war has displaced the vast majority of the population, and destroyed large areas of the besieged Gaza Strip. Perhaps the most ferocious attacks came from air strikes that flattened entire residential blocks and created craters in courtyards and gardens. The American newspaper stated in its report that it analyzed satellite images, air strike data, and the United Nations assessment of the resulting damage, and conducted interviews with health care providers and experts in munitions and air warfare.

The Post reported the evidence collected shows that Israel launched its war in Gaza at a pace and level of destruction that likely exceeds that caused by any modern conflict, and this was evident in the demolition of buildings in a shorter time than the devastation caused by the Syrian regime’s battles in Aleppo in the period between 2012 and 2016, and the campaign US-led military forces against ISIS in Mosul , Iraq, and Raqqa , Syria, in 2017. The newspaper said it concluded that the Israeli army launched frequent and widespread air strikes near hospitals, “which are supposed to be given special protection under the laws of war.”

Satellite images, reviewed by the Washington Post, showed dozens of clear craters near 17 of the 28 hospitals in northern Gaza, the area that witnessed the heaviest bombing and fighting during the first two months of the war. 10 craters indicate the use of one-ton bombs. , which is the largest of its kind in continuous use.

The newspaper quoted the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoliaric-Eger, who visited Gaza on December 4, as saying, “There is no safe area,” adding, “I passed through the streets and did not see a single street that escaped the destruction of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals”".

The American newspaper "The New York Times" documented in an investigative report the killing of Israeli settlers, after an Israeli military commander ordered the bombing of a house in which they were being held, with a tank in the "Be'eri" settlement, during the Al-Aqsa Flood operation. The newspaper said in a lengthy report that took 10 weeks to prepare, and included an interview with 80 Israelis from the settlement and an analysis of dozens of video clips: “With a state of military chaos, General Barak Hiram was suddenly appointed responsible for the Israeli efforts to reclaim Be’eri and the surrounding area.”

A complex situation was developing in a house, where the 14 hostages were being held, and to slow down the soldiers' advance, the kidnappers forced nearly half of the hostages, including the Dagan family, into the backyard of the house, and placed the hostages between the troops and the house. General Hiram wanted to resolve the situation at night. Then he said to the tank commander - according to the newspaper - “The negotiations have ended, storm the house even if it was at the cost of civilian casualties, and the tank fired two shells towards the house.” The kidnappers were also killed during the clash, and only two of the 14 hostages survived.

Operational Update

The Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip continued for the 79th day, and the IDF targeted various areas of the Strip at a time when the Palestinian resistance was waging violent battles in Jabalia in the north, Juhr al-Dik in the center, Shujaiya in the east, and Khan Yunis in the south. Mutual bombardment with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon also continued. The number killed in Gaza rose to more than 20,000 and those injured to more than 54,000.

Al-Jazeera expert Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi said that the Israeli army's sudden announcement of the start of the third phase of the ground operation, whose goals include establishing a buffer zone, indicates its failure on the ground and the search for repositioning in some areas. He said that that Israel’s talk about creating a buffer zone is nothing but “daydreams.” Because it is still unable to control “Juhr al-Deek,” whose area does not exceed 6 kilometers.

Al-Duwairi reiterated that Defense Minister Yoav Galant 's request to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to set goals that can be achieved "means that the goal of eliminating the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) has ended." He continued, "This takes us to the general context, which is that eliminating Hamas is no longer a goal on the table, and that the forces that entered the Gaza Strip did not succeed in maintaining the momentum of their attack, and thus the process of transformation began, and talk about a third phase."

Regarding the philosophy of the buffer zone that Israel is talking about, Al-Duwairi said that it means complete control over the agricultural lands in the Strip from north to east and south, that is, about half of the area of the Strip, stressing that this matter is “not possible, neither militarily nor security-wise.”

Al-Duwairi said that Israel spoke three times in the past about establishing a buffer zone, but reality confirms the difficulty of achieving this goal, as evidenced by the fact that they were completely occupying Gaza and were forced to leave it in 2006. In addition, Israel - as Al-Duwairi says - “did not control Juhr al-Dik, which it entered since the first day of the ground operation (about two months ago), and its area does not exceed 6 kilometers, so how can it control 150 kilometers?!”

Even if Israel tried to control all of this area by positioning itself in the Gaza envelope , it would not be able to because it created something similar to this area at the fence separating the Gaza Strip and the envelope area, and then it was destroyed by the Marches of Return, as the military expert says, who confirmed that what Israel is talking about is “ "It's nothing but a daydream."

Regarding controlling the Philadelphia era in the south of the Gaza Strip, Al-Duwairi said that the statements were contradictory regarding the occupation’s incursion into this region, adding that “the Egyptian side denied this news, and Israel spoke of attempts, and the resistance forced the Israeli forces to retreat.” The military expert said that he is inclined to believe the resistance's narrative because Israel wants to separate Egyptian Rafah from Palestinian Rafah.

There were casualties in Israeli raids on homes in Deir al-Balah and the Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip. The IDF bombed the city of Deir al-Balah after yesterday asking residents of 8 neighborhoods in the central region to seek refuge in it. Al Jazeera's correspondent also reported an air strike on Beit Hanoun, amid continued air and artillery bombardment on northern Gaza since the early morning hours. The correspondent said that the heavy fire cover in the area indicates that the Israeli forces are engaged in fierce fighting and are facing resistance fighters from zero distance.

Al Jazeera's correspondent confirmed that there were martyrs and wounded as a result of an Israeli bombing near the Palace of Justice, south of Gaza City. He also reported that there were casualties in an Israeli bombing of agricultural land in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip. The Israeli army fired about 50 artillery shells at Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that there were martyrs and wounded in an Israeli bombing on Old Crescent Street in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera's correspondent reported Israeli aircraft bombed a house in the Japanese neighborhood west of Khan Yunis, resulting in martyrs. The Israeli forces stormed Al-Rafi’i School in Jabalia Al-Balad, north of the Gaza Strip, arrested the men and forcibly removed the women. The IDF forces also dropped dozens of smoke and phosphorous bombs on Jabalia al-Balad and the Al-Jarn area, in conjunction with their attempt to advance in the region, amid clashes with the resistance and heavy artillery shelling.

The Al- Quds Brigades - the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement - announced that it targeted 3 Israeli military vehicles with two RPG shells and a commando attack device in the Al-Zaytoun and Al-Shuja’iya neighborhoods, east of Gaza. The Al-Quds Brigades also reported that they targeted an Israeli "Merkava" tank with a Tandom shell on Al-Nuzha Street in Jabalia Al-Balad, north of the Gaza Strip. It also said that it bombed occupation military crowds in the vicinity of Al-Zalal Mosque, east of Khan Yunis, with a missile barrage and mortar shells.

For its part, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) - reported that it targeted an Israeli force of 10 soldiers inside a building in Juhr al-Dik with an anti-fortified shell, and confirmed that it left them dead and wounded. The Al-Qassam Brigades announced the targeting of an Israeli foot force in Juhr al-Dik, causing deaths among its ranks, amid continuing fierce battles between the resistance and the occupation forces in the region.

Al-Qassam also reported that its members detonated an anti-personnel device against an Israeli foot force in Juhr al-Dik, killing 6 soldiers. The Juhr al-Dik area is witnessing clashes between the Qassam Brigades and Israeli army forces, with losses and deaths expected among the occupation ranks. The Al-Qassam Brigades said that they killed all members of 4 Israeli military vehicles in a precise ambush in Juhr al-Dik in the middle of the Gaza Strip, after detonating a field of anti-personnel and anti-armour devices in the Israeli force. The Brigades added that their fighters destroyed an Israeli tank that rushed to the place with an " Al-Yassin 105 " shell and targeted rescue and evacuation forces in the area of the operation, noting that occupation planes and ambulances were seen transporting the dead from the place.

To the east of Juhr al-Dik, near the border fence, Al-Qassam members targeted an Israeli foot force with an explosive device and machine guns, killing and wounding its members. In the northern Gaza Strip, specifically Jabalia al-Balad, the Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed that they killed and wounded a large number of occupation soldiers, stressing that clashes in this axis are continuing.

It also said that its fighters destroyed 5 Israeli tanks in Jabalia using two Israeli bombs that did not explode, confirming that one of the fighters killed 4 soldiers from zero distance in the Al-Qasasib neighborhood in the Jabalia camp. In the southern Gaza Strip, the Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed that they lured 5 Israeli soldiers from the “Yahloum” unit to the tunnel east of Khan Yunis and blew it up after they entered it, confirming that they were eliminated from point zero. Al-Qassam fighters also destroyed an Israeli troop carrier with an “Al-Yassin 105” shell north of the city of Khan Yunis, causing it to catch fire, according to a statement from the military wing of the Hamas movement.

Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), announced that during the past four days, the brigades’ fighters were able to destroy 35 Israeli military vehicles, completely or partially, and confirmed the killing of 48 soldiers and the wounding of dozens with varying injuries in all areas of the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

This came in a post on Telegram on Sunday evening, where Abu Ubaida also announced the implementation of 24 military missions in which the invading Israeli forces were targeted with missiles, anti-fortified devices, and individuals, clashing with them from zero distance, and targeting their rescue teams. Al-Qassam spokesman also announced the booby-trapping of two tunnels in the Israeli “Yahloum” unit and the detonation of a minefield in the occupation vehicles and soldiers, in addition to 6 sniper operations targeting the soldiers.

The Al-Qassam Brigades also bombed the headquarters and field command rooms of the occupation forces and military crowds with mortar shells and short-range missiles on all fighting fronts in Gaza. Abu Ubaida also indicated that Al-Qassam bombed Tel Aviv with a missile salvo.

The HAMAS government media office said, “The occupation army committed field executions of more than 137 Palestinian civilians in the Gaza and North governorates, where it dug large holes and placed dozens of citizens alive in them, then shot them and buried them with bulldozers.” The occupation also executed pregnant women who were on their way to Al Awda Hospital, north of Gaza, and they were raising white flags.

For its part, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees ( UNRWA ) announced - via the X platform - that it had lost 142 members of its staff in Gaza since the start of the war, and it also said that most of those it lost were killed along with their families in the Strip. This comes as the White House confirmed that US President Joe Biden stressed the urgent need to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip, including humanitarian aid workers.

Regarding developments in the West Bank , Al Jazeera's correspondent reported the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from Nour Shams camp, east of Tulkarm . The correspondent said that clashes broke out for hours between Palestinian resistance fighters and the occupation army in the camp, and that large explosions occurred there after the resistance detonated explosive devices in Israeli military vehicles. This coincided with raids carried out by the IDF forces - late yesterday evening, Saturday - into towns and cities in the West Bank, including Hebron and Bethlehem .

On Sunday morning, the Israeli forces stormed the towns of Qarawat Bani Hassan and Bidya, west of Salfit Governorate in the West Bank, and launched raids and arrests of citizens. For its part, the Tulkarm Battalion, affiliated with the Al-Quds Brigades, said that "its mujahideen are engaged in violent clashes with the Israeli forces in the Nour Shams camp near Tulkarm." The brigades added that they targeted the occupation forces with explosive devices, which led to the damage of many heavy military vehicles storming the camp and causing confirmed casualties among their ranks.

On the Lebanon front, the Israeli army said that it was conducting searches to find Hezbollah tunnels along the common border, adding that it would not tolerate any threat, as it put it. In this context, Israeli media said that two anti-tank missiles were fired from southern Lebanon and landed in the middle of the Margaliot border in the Upper Galilee. Al Jazeera's correspondent said that an Israeli artillery bombardment targeted the town of Maroun al-Ras in the central sector of southern Lebanon after targeting the Upper Galilee. Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that sirens were sounding in the settlements of Avivim, Baram and Yaroun in the Upper Galilee on the border with Lebanon.

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported the closure of a number of settlements in the Galilee, due to what it said were warnings of the launching of anti-tank missiles from Lebanon. Hezbollah said that it targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers in Honen Castle with appropriate weapons. The party did not add information about whether the targeting resulted in deaths or injuries.

In the Red Sea developments, Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul Salam said that an American warship opened fire on a Yemeni Navy reconnaissance plane in the Red Sea, and that the missile exploded near a Gabonese ship. The Times newspaper quoted the British Defense Minister as saying that London will not allow any sea route to become a restricted area, especially the Red Sea, stressing his country’s commitment to repel these attacks to protect the free flow of global trade. In this context, the US Department of Defense said that the drone that targeted a chemical tanker off the coast of India yesterday, Saturday, was launched from Iran. The Pentagon added - in a statement - that a unidirectional attack drone - launched from Iran - targeted the ship at approximately ten o'clock in the morning local time, stressing that the attack did not result in any casualties on board the ship owned by a Japanese company.

The Al -Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) - succeeded in recycling bombs dropped by Israeli warplanes in the current war by using them against the occupation army’s vehicles in the Gaza Strip. The Al-Qassam Brigades said, on its Telegram channel, that it destroyed 5 Israeli tanks in Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, noting that all of its members were killed and wounded, using two unexploded Israeli bombs, each weighing a ton, which were planted in the path of the advance of the vehicles, and detonated immediately upon their arrival.

Just days before the war on Gaza completed its first month, human rights reports indicated that the explosives dropped on the Strip were equivalent to two nuclear bombs, while the government media office in Gaza said - about a week ago - that Israeli aircraft dropped more than 53 thousand tons of explosives on the Strip.

The “Shabakat” program, in its episode on (12/24/2023), followed the tweeters’ comments on the Al-Qassam Brigades’ use of non-explosive occupation bombs against it, amid praise for the Palestinian resistance and the way it overcame the siege imposed on Gaza. An account called Solo said in his comment on the “X” platform that “part of the bombs that the resistance (manufactures) are originally bombs and bombs that did not explode, but part of the resistance’s job is reverse engineering in general.”

Abdel Wahed praised the steadfastness of the Palestinian fighters, and said, “The Zionists’ bombs bounce back on them...they hit the resistance with them without exploding, and the resistance throws them back at them to get them killed by their own hands.” Omar pointed out that the resistance has huge stocks of these bombs, adding, "God willing, we will turn the equation around on their heads. Thousands of high-explosive bombs will be returned to them." In turn, Abdullah preferred to recall what Al-Qassam did during the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, and added, “This happened within a matter of days, despite the siege and lack of capabilities.”

It is noteworthy that the process of recycling Israeli weapons is not new to Hamas; It had collected Israeli ammunition after Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip for use in manufacturing bombs, so that it could develop its armament process. Also, the remnants of war are not the only source of the Qassams; About 3 years ago, the Times of Israel newspaper said that Hamas found ammunition from a British warship from World War I that sank off the coast of Gaza, and dismantled it to use explosives from the shells to arm the warheads of its missiles, but the ammunition was unusable.

In September 2020, the Al-Qassam Brigades launched a project called “Aim for the Way,” which aims to neutralize the dangers of large quantities of shells that fell on the Gaza Strip, but did not explode, and to recycle them and introduce them into the resistance’s weapons manufacturing system. Reports indicate the presence of large quantities of iron, scrap, metal sheets and pipes resulting from the destruction of infrastructure from Israeli raids, which Hamas recycles for use in manufacturing its military capabilities. It also turns non-explosive materials into explosives.

Islamic World News reported, based on field information, that Israeli forces had withdrawn from some points in the Gaza City. This withdrawal does not mean a complete withdrawal from the city; rather, the Israeli troops moved between several areas, several lines, or several streets. Generally, the Israeli army established several points in the city as its main command center and from these areas, it advances or moves its forces to maintain control over the occupied areas.

It seemed that the evacuation of some areas by the Israeli forces had been done for three reasons; first, the Israeli forces had achieved some of its goals, such as controlling key areas of the city of Gaza and destroying some of the most important tunnels and sections, both through aerial bombardment and through bombing and destruction. The second reason is that the prolongation of the war and the significant increase in casualties in recent days may have forced them to make these withdrawals. The Israeli government may restrict or reduce the battlefronts in the Gaza City to prevent further casualties. And the third reason is that for now, the Israeli army had confined itself to its current areas in the Gaza City and is now seeking to occupy the central and southern parts of the Gaza Strip.

Another important incident, which happened on Saturday, was the bombing of targets in the Al-Shati refugee camp. After the initial advances of the Israeli forces in the Gaza City, the Al-Shati area was one of the first areas to be cut off from other parts of the city, and since then, no news had been reported from this area. However, the bombing in Al-Shati showed that the Israeli forces did not have complete control over this area. Also, an Israeli media outlet revealed for the first time that over the course of the recent advances by the Israeli army, its forces did not fully enter Al-Shati refugee camp due to fear of heavy casualties and instead besieged this area.

In the middle of the Gaza Strip, clashes intensified. According to field information, the Israeli military forces launched new operations from Al-Mughraqa town, Al-Zahra, and Juhor ad-Dik village, and they are trying to advance towards Al-Bureij and Al-Nuseirat refugee camp. At this time, intense clashes are taking place in the Al-Mughraqa area. The Israeli warplanes are also heavily bombing the central areas of the Gaza Strip. So far, the Israeli military forces have not succeeded in making significant advances in this axis.

Current and former officials in Israel made statements on Sunday about the difficulties their army faces in its ground operations in the Gaza Strip, especially after it suffered losses described as the heaviest since the beginning of the war. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said, "Let us stop the disagreements and arguments in this difficult war," stressing at the same time that "there is no escape from this war to eliminate Hamas ." In the same context, Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said, "Hamas cannot be destroyed without deaths among our ranks."

The Israeli military spokesman announced the discovery of what he described as a strategic tunnel network in Jabalia, northern Gaza Strip, which served as the northern headquarters of the Hamas movement, according to his claim. He added that during the operation, the army found the bodies of 5 Israeli prisoners, including 3 soldiers. The spokesman said that the army is engaged in a "complex" fight and is trying to deepen its operations in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, pointing to its high population density.

On the other hand, former head of the Israeli National Security Council, General Giora Eiland, spoke to the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal about the difficulty of destroying the capabilities of the Hamas movement. Eiland said, "Removing the tunnels is impossible if Israel withdraws its forces from Hamas strongholds." He also pointed to the change in popular mood, saying that "those Israelis who initially supported the elimination of Hamas are now fed up." The same newspaper quoted Israeli military analysts that Hamas's network of deep tunnels impedes Israel's control over Gaza territory.

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

Axis of Resistance

Uzay Bulut wrote "The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan aids and abets Hamas’s unspeakable crimes in every conceivable way. ... There is a political and religious kinship between Hamas and the Turkish government. Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which aims to establish a global Islamic caliphate. Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), led by Erdogan, is the Brotherhood’s Turkish branch.....

"Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has frequently met with leaders of Hamas and given the group a safe haven in Turkey. Today, support for Hamas and condemnation of Israel’s ensuing defensive military operation has become mainstream in Turkey. Erdogan has been obsessively attacking Israel, calling it a “terror state,” while referring to Hamas as a “liberation movement” and hosting its officials."

Uzay Bulut is a Turkish journalist and political analyst formerly based in Ankara. She is currently a research student at the MA Woodman-Scheller Israel Studies International Program of the Ben-Gurion University in Israel.

Allied for Democracy

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a Cabinet meeting at IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv, “Last night, I spoke again with President Biden. I appreciate the steadfast U.S. position—which supports our war effort—in the U.N. Security Council. I told President Biden yesterday that we will fight until absolute victory—however long that takes. The U.S. understands this.... This will be a long war. We will fight until the end – until the hostages are returned, Hamas is eliminated and we restore security in both the north and the south. We all support our heroic soldiers in achieving all of these goals. Together we will fight and – with G-d's help – together we will win."”

"I have seen erroneous reports to the effect that the US prevented, and is preventing, us from operational actions in the region; this is incorrect. Israel is a sovereign state. Our decisions in the war are based on our operational considerations, and I will not expand further. They are not dictated by external pressure. The decision on how to use our forces is an independent decision of the IDF and nobody else." (The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that Biden blocked Israel from attacking Hezbollah on Oct. 11, four days after the Hamas attack on the northwestern Negev.)

The steadfastness of the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip and the long duration of the war are behind the growing rift in Israeli society, after there was initially confidence in eliminating the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) and its military structure. Israeli affairs expert Dr. Muhannad Mustafa said that the state of Israeli consensus that was at the beginning of the war on Gaza to achieve the set goals has now become subject to Israeli doubt.

Mustafa explained during his speech on the program “Gaza... What’s next?” There is increasing boldness in Israel in distrusting Benjamin Netanyahu's government and its goal of eliminating Hamas, as a conviction is forming that the goal is unrealistic, especially with the losses of the occupation army. He pointed out that Israel also failed in its goal of "demonizing Hamas" after it became clear that Palestinian prisoners are dying in Israeli prisons, while Israeli prisoners held by the resistance in Gaza are treated very well.

However, Mustafa says that Tel Aviv will continue its war against Gaza due to American support, in addition to internal Israeli support, but if the current rift expands, Israel will review its calculations, especially since the length of the war will cause economic repercussions. He adds that the current debate is currently escalating about the goals of the war on Gaza and the extent of its realism, indicating that the problem in Israel is that the military is more extremist than the political, and the current debate may dissolve this extremism.

For his part, writer and political researcher Sari Orabi stressed that Israeli society is facing a transformation, but it has not yet reached decisive pressure, adding that the level of this transformation should not be underestimated. Regarding the reasons for this transformation, Orabi says that there are several factors, including the resistance’s steadfastness and its management of the prisoner file, the long duration of the war, and Israel’s entry into the battle with instinctive goals of revenge, in addition to the fact that it was in a state of division.

Orabi adds that among the reasons is Tel Aviv's inability to read the Al-Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the Hamas movement - nor did it learn from the shock of October 7, and that Hamas is not capable of surrender and defeat. He pointed out that the problem is not with American support, since Washington is involved in the war, but rather with the Palestinian Authority and the Arab countries. As for military censorship of media discourse, the political researcher considered that the matter is not new because it is traditional Israeli behavior that “proves the necessity of not dealing with confidence or credibility in the numbers and information that Tel Aviv broadcasts during wars.”

In turn, the military and strategic expert, Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi, stressed that war is one of the means of politics, and the political team must review itself and take the opinion of the military, but he said that the partisan and personal agenda in this war takes precedence over politics and the military dimension. He added that the Israeli defeat had occurred since the seventh of last October, as the war was based on the lust for revenge, believing that Tel Aviv would not be able to achieve its lowest goal, which is “releasing the prisoners.”

He considered Netanyahu's statements about continuing the war "marketing and for partisan purposes," recalling the resistance operations in Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, and Juhr al-Dik in the eastern central region, areas that the occupation army entered in the first days of the ground war. He stated that these areas provide a small picture of what is happening, because field conditions do not always allow recording all resistance operations, as they are documented in relatively safe areas.

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 20,424 martyrs, and the killing of more than 7,700 Palestinian children. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The Ministry of Health in Gaza added that 166 martyrs and 384 injured fell in the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours.

The number wounded was 54,036. 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 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 Israeli army acknowledged, since Saturday evening, the killing of 15 soldiers and officers whose names were allowed to be published, as part of what was described in Israel as the cruelest weekend since the start of the war. The IDF acknowledged the death toll to 168 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 487 since the Palestinian resistance launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7th.

At least 11845 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

The Israeli occupation army announced the recovery of the bodies of 5 Israeli prisoners who were killed in the Gaza Strip , 3 of them soldiers and 2 civilians, during its discovery of a network of tunnels in Jabalia, north of the Strip. This came in a press conference held by army spokesman Daniel Hagari, who explained that Israeli soldiers recovered five bodies of prisoners who were killed inside the tunnel network. Hagari did not explain the reason behind the killing of the prisoners whose bodies were recovered.

Israel had previously 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.