Operation Iron Swords - Day 84 - 29 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 International Court of Justice announced that South Africa has begun procedures to file a lawsuit in the court, accusing Israel of violating the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in relation to its attacks on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. According to the statement published by the International Court of Justice, South Africa also said that “Israel, since October 7, 2023 in particular, has failed to prevent genocide and has failed to prosecute direct and public incitement to genocide.”

According to the Application, “acts and omissions by Israel . . . are genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent . . . to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group” and that “the conduct of Israel — through its State organs, State agents, and other persons and entities acting on its instructions or under its direction, control or influence — in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, is in violation of its obligations under the Genocide Convention”.

South Africa seeks to found the Court’s jurisdiction on Article 36, paragraph 1, of the Statute of the Court and on Article IX of the Genocide Convention, to which both South Africa and Israel are parties.

"The acts and omissions by Israel complained of by South Africa are genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group, that being the part of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip (‘Palestinians in Gaza’). The acts in question include killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction."

Israel rejected South Africa's lawsuit, saying that it did not have a legal basis. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that “South Africa is cooperating with a terrorist group that calls for the destruction of Israel... The people of Gaza are not the enemy of Israel, which is making efforts to limit harm to civilians.”

The clashes in the Gaza Strip continue for the 84th day in light of the continued intense Israeli bombing of various cities in the Gaza Strip, amid a worsening humanitarian catastrophe, while the level of escalation increases on the Lebanon and Yemen fronts.

The airstrike targeting the Damascus airport on Thursday killed 11 senior commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an Arabic-language report claimed on Friday. The attack was widely attributed to Israel, including by the leadership of its arch-enemy Iran. Israel rarely comments on strikes targeting Syria, but it has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran — which backs the dictatorial government of President Bashar Assad — to expand its presence in the country. The attack near the airport came "one whole day after the airport resumed flights," said the report.

Operational Update

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), announced the targeting of 20 Israeli military vehicles during the past 48 hours in the Al-Daraj and Al-Tuffah areas in Gaza City. It said that its fighters were engaged in fierce clashes with the occupation forces in the Al-Shaaf and Jabal Al-Rayes areas, east of Gaza City.

It added that they detonated an anti-personnel device in an Israeli infantry force, and targeted another force holed up in a building with a TPG shell, causing a large number of deaths and injuries among their ranks. The Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed the destruction of two Israeli Merkava tanks with Al-Yassin 105 shells, and the bombing of a gathering of occupation vehicles and soldiers with mortar shells in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, in addition to the downing of a Skylark-2 reconnaissance plane that was on an intelligence mission for the occupation army in Beit. Hanoun.

It also detonated a minefield in an infantry force of the occupation army and military vehicles north of the Bureij camp, in the middle of the Gaza Strip, killing and wounding its members. The Brigades announced that they had targeted an Israeli D9 bulldozer with a “Yassin 105” shell north of the Bureij camp, and said that it had hit it directly.

For its part, the Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement, said that "its fighters bombed Israeli crowds with a barrage of mortar shells in the Abasan area, east of Khan Yunis." The brigades added that they bombed the settlements of Holit, Sufa, and Nir Ishaq in the Gaza Strip with concentrated missile bursts.

The southern city of Rafah had been under heavy Israeli fire, with dozens of casualties recorded in bombings that targeted the al-Shaboura refugee camp where people rushed to seek refuge after no less than 20 civilians were killed in an air raid that targeted a residential home elsewhere in the city. In central Gaza, Israeli occupation forces carried out a series of airstrikes on the al-Maghazi camp, which killed at least 14 civilians and saw the destruction of a mosque in the camp. Another refugee camp, the Bureij camp, was severely bombed by the Israeli occupation forces, with the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital saying it received several martyrs and casualties.

Israeli Army Radio reported that a seventh brigade had joined the fight in the battles of Khan Yunis, south of Gaza, 14:00 | Last week the fighters of the Kafir Brigade Combat Team joined the forces of the 98th Division fighting in the Khan Yunis area. During their activity in the area, the fighters eliminated terrorist squads with the help of fire, air and armor forces. Guided by intelligence, the fighters raided dozens of homes of operatives of the Hamas terrorist organization, where ready-to-use explosives were found and destroyed trapped buildings.

The 5th Brigade's combat team under the command of the Gaza Division, along with armored and engineering forces, began their activities in the Khirbat Ahza area in the southern Gaza Strip, from where Hamas terrorists launched an attack on Nir Oz on October 7. The forces are working to gain an operational grip on the area. So far, the forces have eliminated terrorists and attacked a number of significant terrorist targets, including tunnel shafts, a tunnel route and anti-tank launching positions. This activity is another focus of combat and trees where IDF forces operate.

The 14th Reserve TDF forces, under the command of Division 162, located and destroyed in recent weeks one of Yahya Sinwar's hiding apartments. The apartment is located near Gaza City in the northern Gaza Strip, and many artifacts were found inside. The politician of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar.

The Yalam fighters investigated using additional technological means, and discovered that a strategic shaft was located on the basement floor. The forces investigated the shaft and reached a significant tunnel that is apparently used by senior members of the military and political wing of Hamas.

The apartment is part of a long and branching network of tunnels, in which senior members of the terrorist organization moved and operated. The shaft that was located led to a tunnel 218 meters long, and about 20 meters deep in the northern Gaza Strip. In the tunnel were found an electrical network, ventilation and sewage infrastructure, a means that existed, prayer and rest rooms, and it was built so that it is possible to stay in it and conduct combat from it for long periods of time.

"We found a very significant Hamas tunnel system," said the commander of the 14th Brigade, "the system is deep, much deeper than the other systems." He went on to point out the wide range of facilities there, which hint at the past use of it by senior Hamas commanders.

Fighters of the 460th Brigade Combat Team eliminated dozens of terrorists in various incidents in the last day, with airstrikes and by sniping, machine guns and tanks. In one of the incidents, an aircraft detected a terrorist holding an RPG and ran towards the fighters, the forces eliminated the terrorist with tank fire before he fired at Israeli forces. The fighters of the brigade combat team of the paratroopers brigade last night began an attack to destroy terrorist infrastructure in the city of Khan Yunis during which they identified a terrorist taking out an RPG from a shaft and threw several grenades at him. The fighters also identified a number of terrorists hiding in the building and eliminated them using tank fire.

In addition, the 7th Brigade Combat Team identified a terrorist in Khan Yunis who was about 100 meters away from the forces, the fighters directed a manned aircraft from a distance which eliminated the terrorist. In another incident, the combat team located a terrorist squad entrenched in a building and a fighter jet attacked the building and eliminated the terrorists.

The 261st Brigade Combat Team (Bahad 1) searched the home of a Hamas terrorist on the outskirts of Jabaliya with intelligence guidance. During the searches, military certification certificates of the terrorist organization Hamas, weapons, and study booklets about the IDF were located in his home. In addition, the fighters found pictures of children holding weapons, grenades and RPGs.

The Wall Street Journal reported on the extent of the Israeli army’s dependence in Gaza on this type of small aircraft, which are basically small helicopters with four propellers, so they are called “quadcopters.” After testing a variety of methods for exploring Hamas' tunnels in Gaza, including robots, robotic dogs and real dogs, he "quickly learned that the cheapest and most effective option for exploring underground mazes — a potential death trap for soldiers — was a small quadcopter drone," the paper said.

Not only in the tunnels, but also on the battlefield, in densely built-up Gaza City, the Israeli army would fly these quadcopters inside buildings before sending in soldiers, where these devices provide smaller units with aerial reconnaissance and are used as guided munitions. The small drones are just a new piece of Israel's unmanned aerial arsenal, which military officials say, according to the Wall Street Journal, played an essential role in minimizing their casualties as they rapidly advanced across a densely populated, well-defended and extensively booby-trapped battlefield.

Jacob Nagel, a former Israeli national security adviser, told the newspaper that about a decade ago, “Israel’s National Security Council discussed whether drones would have an impact on the battlefield, and concluded that they would not,” adding: “Now the skies are in Gaza is full of them.”

The Wall Street Journal said thousands of commercial drones were “making their way into the hands of Israeli soldiers on the battlefield and civilians looking to defend themselves.” It added that this small quadcopter has become "a lifeline for smaller and less equipped Israeli units, such as those made up of reserve soldiers who were called into battle after Hamas attacks."

However, according to the report, it was not expected that drones would be used to explore tunnels. Israel originally began using heavy robots attached to the surface via cable to search hundreds of miles of corridors that Hamas had dug under Gaza. But the tunnel floors, often littered with rubbish and obstructions, led to the robots getting stuck, while some passages proved too narrow to operate. Then, according to the newspaper, Israel tried to use robotic dogs, but they were expensive and heavy.

In contrast, small drones can create 3D maps of tunnels, are completely unrestricted, and can fit into small spaces. These drones could also, according to the report, create their own underground communications networks, with each small drone flying as far as it can go, then serving as a new transmitter that allows the next drone to fly farther.

The Wall Street Journal believes that Israel was not the only one that “failed to anticipate the extent of the importance of quadcopters in war zones,” and adds that the US military, in turn, “focused for years on building larger and more expensive drones before realizing too late that it was compromising.”

The newspaper noted that the Chinese company SZ DJI Technology is today the largest consumer drone maker in the world, and “its cheap quadcopters have become very popular on the battlefield.” At the beginning of the war in Gaza, when there was a rush to get small drones into Israeli hands, many of the planes sent were Chinese-made DJI drones, the newspaper quoted employees of private drone companies that operate With the Israeli army.

The WSJ recalled that in one video released by the Israeli military, “soldiers could be seen lowering a DJI Mavic 3 drone into a tunnel beneath a hospital complex in Gaza City.” It quotes a senior Israeli military official as saying, “An effort has been made to standardize the type of drones that soldiers can use on the battlefield.”

For his part, Blake Resnick, CEO of the American drone company BRINC, told the Wall Street Journal: “One of the most important acquisition priorities for the Israeli army at the present time is domestic drones.” Resnick told the Wall Street Journal that he was in Israel earlier in December, and the Israeli military had purchased some of the company's LEMUR 2 drones, designed for search and rescue operations. Drones are primarily used in hostage rescue operations in Hamas tunnels and subterranean environments.”

The newspaper also quoted Aviv Shapira, Israeli co-founder and CEO of drone company XTEND, as saying that the Israeli military is now using the company's drones for a variety of purposes inside Gaza. “Some go into tunnels, while others can penetrate windows and explore building interiors, and other aircraft are equipped with robotic arms that carry a small payload, such as a small sticky explosive that can blow open a door and fly and drop grenades.”

Shapira added that the Yahalom military organization, which specializes in finding and destroying Hamas tunnels, uses drones to "drop objects on mines or traps that are usually found around the tunnel exits." He continued that these functions, which were initially designed for internal use, “have now become necessary for external use in Gaza, because Hamas and Israel are jamming global positioning systems for navigation and radio signals for communications.”

Multiple drones - sometimes called a swarm - can also be directed by a single operator, according to the report. Using a virtual reality headset equipped with picture-in-picture feeds, the operator can use one drone to enter a building through a window or door, and land a second drone at the entrance. For more monitoring. Meanwhile, a third can search the building for the target.

For his part, Hanna points out the prominent importance of these small aircraft in saving the high financial cost of surveillance and reconnaissance operations during battles, in addition to saving lives. The military expert adds: “Today, a plane can explore entire locations and send a live broadcast without the need to send soldiers.”

As much as these aircraft assist regular armies in their missions, due to their wide availability in the market and their low cost, in return, they provide the same advantages to non-governmental military organizations, small armed groups, and even individuals.

According to Hanna, today, “the cost of war has become much lower for poor countries and organizations, such as Hamas, the Houthis, or Hezbollah, in comparison to the large military expenses incurred by major countries in return, and these small drones constitute an example of that. They are available, cheap, easy to use, and harmful.”

However, the military hopes placed on these aircraft do not yet reach the point of dispensing with traditional military drones. According to a graduate of the Air Command College in the US Armed Forces, reliance on these aircraft is still limited to the first level, known as the “tactical level,” which is close to the battlefield. As for the broader operational level, which represents, for example, Gaza City, there is still reliance on aircraft such as the “Skylark,” and at the third strategic level, such as the entire Gaza Strip, larger aircraft are used with broader and different capabilities and monitoring missions, according to need, which aircraft cannot. Small secured.

According to Hanna, what is happening today, whether in Gaza or before that in Ukraine or Syria, is a testing process for these aircraft and their technologies, and opens the way for a broader study of the roles they can play at the military level in the future, and all of this will enter into the organization of the armies and will change its composition and structure. It will also change the characteristics of combat, as it will shorten the decision-making cycle on the battlefield through the speed of collecting, analyzing, and dealing with information.”

The retired brigadier general believes that these drnes will greatly reduce the so-called "fog of war." In contrast to this role that small drones have begun to play, the technical weakness in terms of confronting them, or the weapons used to combat them, emerges, as the anti-aircraft weapons assigned to these aircraft are still less effective, or disproportionately expensive.

In this context, Hanna says: “We have not yet seen a conflict with drones between major countries, but the experiences taking place today are studied over time and based on them, the necessary and effective weapons that the armies will introduce and adopt at this level will become clear. Weapons need testing and a feasibility and effectiveness study before they are adopted, and what we see today In war, this tendency will increase.” The military expert concludes by saying that the world today is only in “the initial stages. We have not seen major armies confronting these aircraft. We have not yet witnessed, for example, attacks by thousands of these bomb-laden aircraft.”

The Lebanese military and strategic expert, Major General Abdul Rahman Shehitli, told Iranian Al-Alam News Channel: First, this is not a battle between two armies, and occupying land does not mean an army’s victory, but rather it is between an army and an occupation resistance, and whenever the army advances, the nature of the resistance’s work is to allow the enemy to enter into direct confrontation in order to prevent it from being empowered. From using its advanced weapons, including aircraft, missiles, artillery, and others.

Major General Shehitli added: The entry of the Israeli enemy forces into the Gaza area does not mean that it has achieved a victory, but rather it means that the enemy’s military leadership wants to tell the political leadership that it is in the process of implementing its mission. He continued: What is important is that we then see the resistance’s reaction in the operations it carries out against the enemy.

Major General Abd al-Rahman Shehitli, pointed out that the enemy had given priority to the north and east and then moved to the south and Khan Yunis . Recently, he announced that he had thrown two new brigades into the battle, and this means that there are two new battles other than the ongoing battles on six fronts so far. We will see in the coming days where the two new fronts are.

Major General Shehitli explained: It seems that he will go south towards Rafah, and the final picture that he wants to show is that the Israeli army has become deployed in the north and south of Gaza and thus achieved a victory, and this is in the external appearance, then he moves on to talk about a ceasefire and other things after it is established. He gave a picture.

He indicated that he wanted a picture of an Israeli tank at the Rafah crossing from inside, to say that he had reached the Egyptian border, and he wanted a picture of the beach in the southern region of Gaza, to say that he had occupied the entire Gaza Strip . Shehitli, considered that the enemy does not withdraw from an area, but rather, after the attack, it consolidates forces and reorganizes its forces awaiting the next stage, which is now being talked about as the third stage.

Major General Shehitli explained that the second phase was in Khan Yunis and southern Gaza, and the third phase wanted to reach the Rafah crossing and the southern shore of the Gaza Strip.

In an operation in the village of Kapin in the Menasha Brigade, the fighters arrested a wanted man and found weapons that they confiscated and destroyed on the spot. In an operation in the village of Deir Abu Meshal in the Ephraim Brigade, the fighters arrested three wanted persons and will interrogate dozens more. In the village of Zurif in the Etzion Brigade, the fighters arrested three wanted men and confiscated terrorist funds, in the village of Dora in the Yehuda Brigade, the fighters located and confiscated weapons. In the Pharoah refugee camp in the Bekaa and Emekim division, the forces arrested two wanted persons, the activity continues at this time. The wanted persons who were arrested and the weapons confiscated were transferred to the security forces for further processing.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert affirmed that there is still a long way to go before Hamas is defeated, noting that "Israel" expects to see more difficult days ahead. In his article for Haaretz, Olmert confessed that Hamas' defeat was declared unrealistic and unattainable ever since Benjamin Netanyahu admitted it was the primary goal of the genocide in Gaza.

He added that anyone who thought of the idea of the destruction of Hamas could see that it is militarily impossible, even if the situation unfolding in the Gaza Strip had been different. He continued to reveal that Israeli intel had enough information to realize that there was a network of hidden tunnels beneath Gaza, since the previous war in 2014, which could aid Hamas in conducting a decisive operation that does not necessarily endanger them, confirming that "defeating Hamas is not easy."

Criticizing Netanyahu, Olmert said the current PM certainly acknowledged his rhetoric would fail in the face of the humanitarian and military reality "Israel" encountered following October 7, adding that it was not "his business" to drag the occupation state to the finish line of the current war. "It is time", declared Olmert, "Hamas' defeat is still out of reach, and we haven't even got to a point of control in the war of October 7. We must expect difficult days, as more soldiers will die, and more painful scenes of the destruction in Gaza will be seen," something he claimed casts heavy shadows on the occupation, which overpowers the support and patience even the friendliest nations have shown it.

What must be done, Olmert advised, is for "Israel" to end all fighting, and return captives, those who died and those who are still alive. If not, then soon all captives would die, and "Israel" would have to release all Palestinian prisoners it has detained, pointing out that a prisoner swap was inevitable. Olmert finally said that "Israel" must make a pivotal decision to begin the second phase of the war, which incites the halt of all hostilities and the return of all hostages through negotiation deals that determine Gaza's fate as well.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said that the Israeli army has achieved important achievements in the Gaza Strip , but it is far from achieving the goals of the war. He added that the events of October 7 were the most dangerous in the history of Israel, and that they involved humiliation, inefficiency, and dysfunction in the state apparatus. Barak said that anyone who believes that it is possible to encourage Palestinians in Gaza to voluntarily immigrate is daydreaming.

Former Israeli Mossad chief Yossi Cohen said that the Gaza Strip prepared itself in an unusual way in the last decades of this war in particular. Cohen admitted that the Palestinian resistance outperformed the Israeli occupation army in the Gaza Strip through the tunnels, which is considered an underground city with deep and long hideouts, with a logistical preparation that allows greater life underground.

Former Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman called on Israel to occupy southern Lebanon, take security control of northern Gaza, and destroy the Philadelphia axis adjacent to Egypt, as a necessary outcome following the war. Lieberman wrote, in a post on the “X” platform, under the title “The Day After,” in which he said, “Any settlement on the issue of “The Day After” must include a clear message of not messing with us, directed to Hamas and Hezbollah, by making them pay a heavy price in the form of their loss of territory.

He added that the Israeli army must station itself on the Litani River, control the northern Gaza Strip from a security standpoint, establish a security strip, destroy the Philadelphia axis, and give freedom of passage to the people of Gaza to Sinai, expecting that a million and a half Gazans will cross into Sinai. “Any settlement on the ‘Day After’ issue must include a clear message of not messing with us,” Lieberman’s post said. “This will only be achieved by imposing a heavy price on those who started the war against us, primarily the terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah.” “Throughout history, all parties that have started a war and suffered a loss have paid a heavy price, first and foremost in territory – in the loss of territory.”

He continued: “The next day,” against Hezbollah, IDF soldiers must be stationed on the Litani River and control the area between the Litani and the Israeli border. The entire territory must be under Israeli control, all of this until a government is established in Beirut that is able To exercise its sovereignty over all the lands of Lebanon and it does not matter for how long, 5, 15 or 50 years, any other arrangement means abandoning the Galilee.”

He added: “The next day,” the State of Israel must control the northern Gaza Strip from a security standpoint, establish a security strip at least one kilometer deep within the territory of the Strip, and destroy the Philadelphia Axis... I can estimate that in a scenario in which there is freedom of passage between... Gaza and Sinai, about a million and a half residents of Gaza will leave the Strip and move to Sinai. We will not expel them...but if any of the Gazans wants to move to Sinai, they will not be prevented from doing so. The meaning of not collecting the price from Hamas and Hezbollah is that we will return to reality before the 7th. October very soon.

Lieberman expressed his astonishment that Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and the head of the National Security Council were presenting the “Day After” model to US government officials, before presenting it to the Israeli political and security cabinet.

The French newspaper Le Monde touched on what it called “the tunnel dilemma that Israel faces and is tightening its grip on its army,” and said that entering the tunnels requires the involvement of Israeli forces in a long-term conflict that is more dangerous than urban warfare. It pointed out that "the failure to explore the tunnels leaves the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) with the possibility of developing its forces again and carrying out new attacks." Before the report concluded, “Hamas mastered building the trap within 20 years.”

A report in the British newspaper "The Guardian" believes that the longer the war in Gaza continues, the greater the risk of miscalculation and regional escalation, which the administration of US President Joe Biden fears will drag Iran into a broader conflict. The report states that Washington and Paris are leading secret negotiations to calm the situation with the Lebanese Hezbollah , but it excludes the possibility of convincing it to remove its forces from the towns of southern Lebanon, from which it draws popular support, according to the report, which quotes a European diplomat as saying that estimates indicate that escalation has become more likely.

The spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, warned the United States against escalation against Yemen and its people, and stressed their readiness to confront any attack. Saree said in a statement: “The Yemeni armed forces warn the American enemy of the consequences of undertaking any escalation against our country and our people. They also warn all countries that the Americans seek to involve or implicate with them in protecting the ships of the Zionist enemy.” He added: "The Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to take everything necessary to defend and confront any aggression within their religious and national duties and responsibilities."

He stressed that "Yemen's position towards the Palestinian issue and towards the oppression of the Palestinian people is firm and principled and will not change or change, regardless of the developments and regardless of the challenges." He continued: "The Yemeni Armed Forces are fully prepared and militarily prepared to implement the directives of Commander Abdul-Malik Badr al-Din al-Houthi, may God protect him, at any moment to confront any aggression against our country and our people."

Sarie stressed that “the American enemy must take the warnings of Mr. Leader, may God protect him, contained in his last speech into consideration, for he is a man of action and word, and he relies on the mighty, mighty God and is supported by a dear, free, Mujahid people, which is embodied permanently and continuously in the massive popular demonstrations in all squares and fields, the most recent of which was Today's demonstrations." The spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces called on "all the peoples of our nation to come out in support of Palestine and to reject the American-Israeli aggression against Gaza and all peoples and countries that stand by the oppression of the Palestinian people."

A spokesman for the German shipping container company Hapag-Lloyd told Reuters that the company will continue to divert its ships from the Suez Canal for security reasons. The spokesman added that the next assessment of the situation will take place on January 2. Mitsui OSK Lines and Nippon Yusen - the two largest shipping companies in Japan - also announced that their ships with connections to Israel are avoiding the Red Sea region. The two companies said they were monitoring the situation.

More than a week ago, Hapag-Lloyd said that it would change the course of 25 of its ships until the end of this year to avoid sailing in the Red Sea. A ship belonging to the company was attacked near Yemen on December 15, on its way to Singapore .

This month, major shipping companies such as Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk stopped using routes through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal due to the Houthi group’s targeting of ships heading to Israel to pressure the entry of aid to the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, after the occupation prevented its entry following Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. This caused great damage to global trade.

These companies began to divert ships to the Cape of Good Hope route to avoid attacks, which increased the fees required from customers, and added days or weeks to the time of transporting goods from Asia to Europe and to the eastern coast of North America.

About 10% of oil trade and 8% of liquefied gas trade pass through the Suez Canal, including about two-thirds of crude oil coming from the Gulf region. About 30% of the world's shipping containers pass daily through the Suez Canal - which is 193 kilometers long - and about 12% of the total global trade of all goods.

Bloomberg agency said that refiners in India - the third largest importer of crude oil in the world - are seeking to enhance supplies from the Middle East and other neighboring countries, with increased risks following the recent attacks on ships in the Red Sea, in addition to prolonging shipping times and rising costs.

Shipping companies' routes have shifted from entering the Red Sea in recent weeks. Because of the threat of the Yemeni Houthi group against ships linked to Israel, in support of the Gaza Strip , which has been subjected to continuous aggression for more than 81 days. This resulted in large-scale operations being diverted to take a longer route around the Cape of Good Hope , adding up to 3 weeks to the flight time. Among the affected ships are ships carrying goods from producers in the Mediterranean and North Sea, as they travel through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea on their way to Asia.

Bloomberg quoted people who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, saying that shipping companies are asking Indian companies to bear risk premiums for deliveries through the usual route. They said that refiners are not willing to bear the additional responsibility and are looking for alternative suppliers.

The Israeli website "i24 News" published a report in which it presented 7 reasons for Egypt's non-participation in confronting the Houthis. The Israeli website said that the attacks launched by the Houthis against ships in the Red Sea led to economic losses to the Suez Canal, but Egypt did not join the coalition announced by the United States to confront the group.

The report stated: “Egypt is perhaps the country most affected by the disruption of maritime traffic in Bab al-Mandab and the increase in military tensions in the south of the Red Sea, which affects the most important trade route in the world, as 12% of global trade traffic passes through the Suez Canal.” It pointed out that the Suez Canal is one of the most important sources of foreign exchange for Egypt. Last year, Egypt's annual income from the canal reached a record level of $9.4 billion.

The report highlighted Egypt’s non-participation in the naval military coalition known as the “Guardian of Prosperity” that was established by the United States to confront the Houthi attacks , as it stated that Cairo refused to engage in confronting the Houthis for 7 reasons, which are:

1. First : “The leadership represented by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who prefers diplomacy in dealing with all files, even the most sensitive and dangerous ones, indicating that El-Sisi did not go to war in dealing with Ethiopia regarding the Renaissance Dam file, the construction of which threatens Egypt’s future, and he will not enter into a war in the future.” Yemen for Suez Canal revenues.”
2. Second: “ The economic problems and the decision to enter the war lead to a threat to Egypt’s interests and more losses and instability, because the decision to engage in it will not receive popular consensus, unlike the consensus regarding taking deterrent steps to preserve Egypt’s share in the event of dealing with the Renaissance Dam file.”
3. Third : “Egypt’s awareness that the declared goal of the war by the United States and its allies, which is to restore calm to international waters, eliminate threats, and not threaten Israel’s security, will not be achieved, according to the Egyptian vision, by waging war against the Houthis , but rather by eliminating the causes of these tensions, which is the ongoing war in Gaza, which leads to "The circle of conflict continues to expand in a way that threatens the stability of the region and the world."
4. Fourth: Historically, the experience of Egyptian defeat in the Yemen war when President Gamal Abdel Nasser sent 70,000 soldiers to intervene as a party in its civil war (1962-1970), where fierce battles took place in cities and rural places. It was a painful experience that Egyptian military historians refer to as “the Vietnam of Egypt.” “In reference to the similarity of Egypt’s situation there with America in the Vietnam War.”
5. Fifth: “At the present time, the experience of the Arab coalition in its war in Yemen is still present, as the countries participating in the coalition have realized that there is no escape from diplomacy.”
6. Sixth: The Arab position on the new coalition to fight the Houthis is unified, as all Arab countries refused to participate in it except Bahrain, whose participation was considered by observers as an Arab representation in order not to anger the United States, but it carried within it a clear answer that the Arabs would not enter a proxy war on behalf of anyone in particular. The United States declared its full support for Israel in its war on Gaza, and participation in this alliance will be tantamount to a bias towards Israel and will be met with widespread popular anger.
7. Seventh: Iranian reassurance, as Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi sent messages of reassurance to his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, that the Suez Canal would not be affected due to the Houthis in Yemen escalating their attacks on Israeli ships or those heading to Israel, during the recent period in the Red Sea, according to what Egyptian diplomatic sources reported. ".

The report indicated that attacks by the Yemeni Ansar Allah Houthi group on ships heading to Israel in the southern Red Sea led to major shipping companies announcing the rerouting of their commercial flights from the Suez Canal to circumnavigating the continent of Africa via the Cape of Good Hope route. The shipping giants' decision caused an increase in product prices and delayed global supply chains. The report confirmed that the Houthis succeeded in their attacks not only in disrupting trade with Israel, but they also succeeded in making the war on Gaza the center of global attention in order to pressure Tel Aviv to immediately stop the war.

The Foreign Minister of Djibouti, Mahmoud Ali Youssef, confirmed on Thursday that the Yemeni Ansar Allah movement “attacked the ships in order to rescue and provide relief to the Palestinians, and we must all support Palestine because brother supports his brother, even with the weakest faith, and Djibouti does not condemn the Yemeni operations because they are a fraternal duty.” Youssef said during a press interview that his country, since the Yemeni Ansar Allah began their military operations against the Israeli occupation, did not oppose and did not blame Yemen, because they were correct steps.

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. The first characteristic of guerrilla warfare is the loss of a front line. 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 Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said that, 84 days after the genocidal war against our people, the truth about the goals of the Israeli occupation is being revealed to those of world and country leaders who want to understand, which are summed up in targeting Palestinian civilians and all of our people in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem.

According to the Palestinian News and Information Agency (WAFA), the Foreign Ministry added in a statement today, Friday, that the occupation targets our people, whether by killing them with a war machine or by striking all the components of their existence in their homeland, their steadfastness and survival, and pushing them to emigrate and leave in search of a safe place or a stable life for their children. and its successive generations.

It pointed out that it is clear from the reports of the United Nations and its competent organizations, and international institutions of all kinds, human rights and media, especially what the media documents in audio and video, that the real goal of the aggression and the policy of the ruling Israeli right is to empty the land of its indigenous citizens through all forms of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

It explained that this is explained by the escalation in the occupation’s mass massacres, the demolition of homes over the heads of citizens without prior warning, the storming and destruction of shelter schools, the arrest of displaced men in them and taking them to an unknown destination, the deprivation of Palestinian civilians of their most basic needs until now, and the issuance of more evacuation orders. The displacement of citizens from the center of the Gaza Strip, and the practice of humiliation and degradation by the occupation soldiers of those who are arrested, including forcing them to take off their clothes, and the use of weapons of enormous destruction.

The Foreign Ministry pointed out that the occupation forces also began implementing genocide in the cities of the West Bank, as is happening in practice in Jenin and its camp, and the Nour Shams camps in Tulkarm, and Balata in Nablus, and all the areas they are storming, which is what the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has warned about regarding the deterioration in the conditions. , including what children are exposed to, as Israeli violence against them has reached unprecedented levels, and this year was the bloodiest for them, according to UNICEF.

It said that all of these measures, including seizing the majority of the West Bank area for the benefit of colonialism, and depriving citizens of their relationship with their land and benefiting from it, deepen the creeping gradual annexation, and clearly demonstrate new chapters of the apartheid system, taken by the occupation authorities to displace Palestinians by force or voluntarily. outside their land and homeland, in an attempt to solve its strategic crisis, which is represented by our people’s adherence to and survival in their land, meaning that it continues its unilateral illegal measures, committing crimes of genocide and resolving the future of the negotiated final solution issues unilaterally and with the force of occupation, before the eyes of the international community and the countries that claim Caring for human rights and adhering to the two-state solution, in a crisis-ridden Israeli illusion, to get rid of millions of Palestinian citizens.

The Foreign Ministry stressed that what is required now is international courage in dealing with this reality and confronting it, by taking a firm UN decision to cease fire immediately, and all countries must realize before it is too late that all their pleas and good calls regarding the protection of civilians are not being listened to in light of the situation. If the shooting continues , it will not protect civilians, nor will it provide them with their basic humanitarian needs. Rather, it will provide more time so that Israel can achieve its goals by striking the Palestinian humanitarian presence on the territory of the State of Palestine.

The United Nations Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, said: “What Israel is doing to the Palestinians, especially in Gaza, is the brutality of our century.” Albanese stated that that "in Gaza, Palestinian children are given sedatives to alleviate their pain while dying - as they cannot be treated.", and the Israeli occupation entity does not allow anesthetics to enter Gaza , nor do many supplies.

She added that the Israeli occupation entity killed more than 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza under the pretext of eliminating Hamas, asking, “Why do Palestinian lives not matter?” She also pointed out that "Western silence regarding what the Palestinians are exposed to is turning into complicity." Albanese has courted controversy among Israel supporters for her one-sided faulting of Israel for its conflict with the Palestinians and comments she has made which have been widely interpreted as antisemitic.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced that the year 2023 is the "bloodiest year ever" for children in the occupied West Bank, as violence has reached unprecedented levels. UNICEF added that 83 children were killed in the past 12 weeks, more than double the number of children killed in all of 2022. A few days ago, UNICEF also warned in a statement that children in the Gaza Strip, in particular, lack 90% of their water needs, noting that half of the water and sanitation facilities were destroyed or damaged as a result of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip .

Axis of Resistance

According to former Israeli Intelligence Official and regional analyst Avi Melamed, the public back and forth between Tehran and Hamas over is another nail in the coffin for Hamas, who is facing added criticism within the wider Arab dialogue over the repercussions of its 10/7 attack on Israel. “Yesterday’s public back and forth between Tehran and Hamas over whether Hamas’s October 7 operation was in response to the 2020 U.S. killing Qasem Soleimani is another nail in the coffin of Hamas who is facing an increased criticism within the Arab world over the repercussions to their October attack on Israel, mainly that Hamas (who is marketing its war as “for the sake of the Palestinian people”) actually attacked Israel at the behest of its masters in Tehran. Within this context it’s easy to understand why Hamas was so quick to deny the connection to the U.S. killing of Soleimani as Israel’s response to the attack has led the Arab world to hold Hamas accountable for the greatest devastation witnessed by Palestinians since Israel’s war of independence.”

The temporary Friday Imam of Tehran, Hojjat al-Islam Haj Ali Akbari, confirmed that the Iranian people will take severe revenge on the Zionists in retaliation for the assassination of the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, the martyr, Seyyed Reza Mousavi.

In his Friday sermon this week in Tehran, Hojjat al-Islam Haj Ali Akbari referred to the fourth anniversary of the martyrdom of Commander Hajj Qassem Soleimani : On the fourth anniversary of the martyrdom of the great martyr of Islam, the revolution and Iran, we must get a different reading from Hajj Qassem’s school, which is the issue of the educational school and attention to the foundations. As we remember Hajj Qassem and the mothers of all the martyrs who left these foundations and planted these good lineages before humanity, may God have mercy on the mothers, fathers, and families of the martyrs.

The Friday preacher in Tehran added: Yesterday, Tehran witnessed a sincere, faith-based, appreciative and insightful presence welcoming another martyr. A man who spent his life with the leader of hearts (the martyr Hajj Qassem Soleimani) to organize and support the resistance front, Sayyed Nourani and a distinguished mujahid. The enemies of Islam and the Zionists know him better than us, that is, the martyr leader Sayyed Razi Mousavi.

Hujjat al-Islam Haj Ali Akbari said: The criminal Zionists assaulted the martyr’s house in their cowardly attack and assassinated him unjustly. May the curse of God and the righteous be upon you for taking your filth and hatred to the extreme, and of course, the dear people of Iran will take severe revenge on you.

Hujjat al-Islam Haj Ali Akbari said: The Gaza issue can be summed up in one word, as the leader of the revolution declared that the criminal Zionists acted in an unprecedented way in creating crimes that are still continuing, and the oppressed people of Gaza are also behind a unique resistance. We call upon the Almighty God against Al-Zahra ( A) To support the Palestinian mujahideen.

A delegation from the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) arrived in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to present its observations regarding the Egyptian initiative, which stipulates a ceasefire that ends the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip. The Hamas delegation's visit comes amid the movement's confirmation of its rejection of any deal that does not lead to an end to the aggression, and increasing internal pressure on the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resolve the prisoner issue.

A Hamas official told Agence France-Presse that the resistance factions have a number of points and observations regarding the exchange of prisoners, the number of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for their release, and guarantees of complete military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The Egyptian initiative was presented last week to officials from the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements during visits by leaders from the two movements to Cairo.

The Egyptian initiative includes three stages that stipulate extendable truces and the gradual release of dozens of detainees held by Hamas in exchange for the release of Palestinian detainees held by Israel, which ultimately leads to a cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip. The initiative also stipulates the formation of a Palestinian government composed of technocrats after a dialogue in which all Palestinian factions participate, and which will be responsible for governing and rebuilding the Gaza Strip after the war.

Hezbollah denied what Le Figaro newspaper reported about the Al-Aqsa Flood operation. Earlier, Le Figaro newspaper said that Lebanese Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah knew about the attack plan half an hour before it was carried out, after obtaining testimonies from leaders of the Hamas movement in Jordan, Lebanon and Qatar, in addition to figures close to the movement in the Gaza Strip. This information comes in the midst of a controversy that arose after statements by Revolutionary Guard spokesman Ramadan Sharif that Operation Al-Aqsa Flood came to avenge the killing of Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani.

The statement said: “Hezbollah media relations categorically denies what was reported by Le Figaro newspaper about what it called some of the secrets of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, and considers that what was stated therein is pure unfounded fiction, aimed at undermining the complete confidence between the resistance movements and their factions throughout the The region and its public and practical commitment and frank belief in resisting the Zionist occupation. Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah confirmed, in a public speech watched by millions, that the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation is a purely Palestinian operation in terms of planning, preparation, implementation, timing and goals.

The statement added: “Hezbollah had no knowledge of it, and therefore everything reported in Le Figaro are lies that deviate from the truth and confirm the newspaper’s complete bias towards the enemy, far from achieving accuracy and professionalism, and its moral and professional downfall, like many Western media outlets that sided with the oppressor and the murderer.” And the aggressor at the expense of truth, abstract facts, and human values.”

The head of the Lebanese Hezbollah Sharia Committee, Sheikh Muhammad Yazbek, said, “The axis of resistance from Yemen to Iraq and Lebanon will not leave Gaza alone, and will not be affected by pressures, whatever they may be.” The Hezbollah official added, "Operation 'Al-Aqsa Flood' revealed the falsity of the West's claim of a democracy that they wanted for our societies through war and destruction, from Afghanistan to Iraq to Syria, and here they are supporting the massacres in Palestine and Gaza, and no conscience has moved them."

Yazbek wondered: “What does the international community expect from international laws remaining after their fall, in stopping the war and condemning the Israeli enemy? It is no surprise that a society holds the victim responsible, justifying the crime.” Pointing out that “the resistance is hurting the enemy today in Gaza and Lebanon,” he stressed that “the axis of resistance from Yemen and the Red Sea to Iraq to Lebanon will not be affected by all pressures, whatever they may be. The position is one, which is to stop the war on Gaza, and without it, the axis will not leave.” Gaza alone.

The Israeli Eye program on Alalam News Network,. Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, highlighted that the Hebrew media continued to depict the crime of assassinating the Iranian military advisor in Syria, the martyr Radhi Mousavi, while stopping with great concern at the heavy losses of the occupation army in the Gaza Strip and on the border with southern Lebanon. The program shed light on the assassination of the martyr Radhi Mousavi, the Iranian military advisor , in a Zionist attack on Syria, which still receives a wide range of attention in the Israeli media , which saw that Iran continues to harm the entity.

The program touched on the speech of one of the former Zionist generals who believed that the crime of assassinating the martyr Radhi Mousavi by the occupation is considered a message to the Iranians who are waging a regional war against the entity.

Regarding what the Hebrew media said that the crime of assassinating the martyr Radhi Mousavi was a message and a response to the regional war launched by Iran against the entity, Ali Murad, a researcher on Israeli affairs from Beirut, confirmed that the Zionist media’s comments on the assassination of the martyr Mousavi were expected in terms of an attempt to blame everything.

Murad pointed out that the issue of the losses incurred by the enemy in Gaza and the strikes he is receiving in northern occupied Palestine means that he wants to accuse Iran exclusively, but there is an acknowledgment that without the armed and material support provided by the Islamic Republic of Iran to the resistance factions, they would not have suffered all these losses, but from What is striking about the Zionist general’s speech is that he was talking about the subject of what Mr. Abdullahian stated about the Zionist entity’s threat to respond. They take these threats seriously, and they expect. Everything they have declared since the assassination until now indicates that they are anticipating a response to this assassination.

The report by the French newspaper Le Figaro revealed that the military arm of the Hamas movement had been preparing for the October 7 attack on Israel “for two years and in complete secrecy,” noting that “only three or four people” were aware of the details of the plan. The newspaper conducted interviews with a number of the movement’s leaders in Lebanon, Qatar, and Jordan, in addition to sources close to the leaders in Gaza, stating that the movement’s closest allies, such as Hezbollah and their main supporter Iran, “were not informed of the attack until just before its launch.”

In this regard, the newspaper reported that the leader of the Lebanese "Hezbollah", Hassan Nasrallah, "was informed of Hamas' plans to launch a multi-pronged attack on southern Israel, half an hour before the start of the attack on October 7." According to the report, senior Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri, who resides in Lebanon, received a phone call on the morning of October 7, informing him of the impending operation, and he was asked to inform the Hezbollah leader.

Le Figaro reported that the idea of a ground invasion of Israel has been looming on the horizon for two years, and a source close to the Hamas leadership in Jordan confirms: “The first time I heard about it was in 2021.” Other than the newspaper, it points out the conflict regarding the movement’s military leaders obtaining the approval of their political counterparts, most of whom are stationed abroad, noting that some say that the attack was agreed upon 3 months before it was launched, while other estimates indicate that Yahya Al-Sinwar decided with Muhammad. Deif, head of the movement's military arm, organized the attack.

Commenting on this point, Khaled Meshaal, a leader in the political wing of the Hamas movement, told Le Figaro newspaper: “We cannot answer yes or no.” According to him, “Hamas’s strategy, which aims to end the Israeli occupation and provide freedom for the Palestinians, falls within the movement’s policies, and all its operational details are entrusted to the military authorities” of the organization, which is classified on the terrorism lists of the United States and the European Union.

The newspaper reported that Yahya Al-Sinwar and Muhammad Deif made “great camouflage” to avoid revealing their plans for the attack, noting, for example, that Al-Sinwar made sham changes in a number of leadership positions in the Al-Qassam Brigades, without actually changing the officials, with the aim of distracting the attention of the Israelis and camouflaging them. Concerning the real leaders of the military organization.

The newspaper quoted "Marwan", whose identity was not revealed, and said that he was a senior figure from the Gaza Strip, who was connected to Yahya Al-Sinwar and was familiar with the internal details of the organization, saying that this camouflage strategy extended even to the head of power, pointing out that he was the real leader of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades. “It is not Muhammad al-Deif, nor Marwan Issa, the second-in-command, but rather Muhammad al-Sanwar, Yahya’s brother.”

“Marwan” continues, speaking about the guest, saying, “He walks on a crutch, but his head is still working well, as he solves internal problems in the armed branch,” noting, “He is a respected figure within the organization, but the one who moves the brigades is Muhammad, the brother who is protected by Yahya.”

About a month and a half before the operation, Hamas imposed secrecy on its main military commanders, ordering them to limit their contacts with each other. Over the past six months, Marwan, who is not affiliated with Hamas, says he was surprised to notice that many young men, known for their sympathies with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, had gone to perform Umrah in Saudi Arabia. Marwan adds: “I never saw them return after that. They went to train in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, or even in Syria.”

In the months preceding the operation, “Sinwar isolated himself from the political branch abroad, and barely answered phone calls from members of the movement,” the newspaper adds. At the end of September, Musa Abu Marzouk, one of the leaders of this political wing residing in Qatar, was forced to wait several days before he could meet Sinwar in Gaza, and the meeting between the two men was stormy, as a Hamas source confirmed to the newspaper. The report stated that Sinwar's relations "were tense at times with his allies in Qatar," based on the words of "Marwan" who said that "Sinwar does not trust the Qataris very much."

The report quoted a source close to Hamas in Jordan. Before the war, “Israel had prevented money from Qatar from reaching Hamas,” and when a Qatari ambassador arrived in Gaza with “only 13 million dollars a month instead of the expected 30 million, Al-Sinwar told him:” Take the 13 and return with the other 17 as planned.”

The same source reported that “Sinwar is also losing his temper” with his allies in the “Axis of Resistance,” explaining that “at the end of October, during the first week of the Israeli ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip, the leader of the Sunni Islamic Movement conveyed a message to the Shiite Hezbollah asking... In it, he explained why he did not become more involved with Hamas.

Shortly after October 7, a Lebanese source close to the Shiite group says, “Confusion prevailed within Hezbollah, especially since the whole world was trying to find out whether Iran was behind the attack on Israel.” On the one hand, Hezbollah and Tehran were accused of participating in planning it. On the other hand, “they were not satisfied with Hamas, because the cards they were scheduled to use in future operations against Israel had been blown by the Palestinians: penetration into Israel, air assets, and the element of surprise.”

Allied for Democracy

According to former Israeli Intelligence Official and regional analyst Avi Melamed, Macron’s statement echoed the constant mistakes of the past, trying to force diplomacy on a single side of the Israeli-Palestinian armed conflicts. “Macron’s statement yesterday echoes the constant mistakes of the past, trying to force diplomacy on a single side of the Israeli-Palestinian armed conflicts. Ceasefires, advocated for by the international community have only ever protected Hamas, becoming part of its regular military strategy for every battle it has instigated since its formation.

“Each round has thus far followed the same trajectory getting even more bloody with every cycle: Hamas launches an attack on Israel’s civilian population, Israel responds with significant military force prosecuting Hamas operational assets and targets which Hamas entrenches within the civilian environment, and then Hamas just waits for the world to force a ceasefire on Israel, which Hamas uses to repair its lost ranks and infrastructure before launching its next volley.

“Hamas is not a reliable partner in any form of sustainable peace or calm and while the Arab world has started to recognize that Hamas and its masters in Tehran are not accountable to the Palestinian people or their supporters, Macron and many in the western world have failed to truly understand that. “

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled discussing the issue of Gaza’s future after the war due to pressure from his ruling coalition partners, according to what Israeli media reported. The Israeli Broadcasting Authority and Channel 12 said that Netanyahu “decided at the last minute not to discuss the issue of the day after the war in Gaza in the war council held on Thursday evening,” in reference to Tel Aviv’s possible plan in the Strip after the end of the war that has been ongoing for about 3 months.

The two channels indicated that "partners in the government coalition exerted great pressure on Netanyahu to cancel this discussion within the war council." Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said that the War Cabinet was mandated to manage the military operation and not to discuss the politics of the next day. Ben Gvir added that the discussion of the next day in Gaza is one of the tasks of the mini-cabinet and does not belong to the war cabinet.

The "Religious Zionism" party, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and the "Jewish Force" party, led by Ben Gvir, announced their opposition to the aforementioned discussion under the pretext of "the lack of jurisdiction of the War Council," according to what was reported by Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. The two ministers - who are not members of the war council - threatened on more than one occasion to withdraw from the government and dismantle it if the war on Gaza was stopped before the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) was eliminated and the Israeli prisoners and detainees in Gaza were released.

More than once, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he wanted “Israeli security control” over Gaza after the war. In his previous statements, Netanyahu said, "The day after the war, Gaza must be demilitarized, and there is only one force that can be responsible for that, which is the Israeli army." He also affirmed on more than one occasion his categorical rejection of the Palestinian Authority taking over the duties of government in the Gaza Strip after the war.

Netanyahu's statements in this regard contradict the American position, and the drawn scenarios sparked a dispute between him and US President Joe Biden.

Former Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman called on Israel to occupy southern Lebanon, take security control of northern Gaza, and destroy the Philadelphia axis adjacent to Egypt, as a necessary outcome following the war. Lieberman wrote, in a post on the “X” platform, under the title “The Day After,” in which he said, “Any settlement on the issue of “The Day After” must include a clear message of not messing with us, directed to Hamas and Hezbollah, by making them pay a heavy price in the form of their loss of territory. .

He added that the Israeli army must station itself on the Litani River, control the northern Gaza Strip from a security standpoint, establish a security strip, destroy the Philadelphia axis, and give freedom of passage to the people of Gaza to Sinai, expecting that a million and a half Gazans will cross into Sinai. “Any settlement on the ‘Day After’ issue must include a clear message of not messing with us,” Lieberman’s post said. “This will only be achieved by imposing a heavy price on those who started the war against us, primarily the terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah.” “Throughout history, all parties that have started a war and suffered a loss have paid a heavy price, first and foremost in territory – in the loss of territory.”.

He continued: “The next day,” against Hezbollah, IDF soldiers must be stationed on the Litani River and control the area between the Litani and the Israeli border. The entire territory must be under Israeli control, all of this until a government is established in Beirut that is able To exercise its sovereignty over all the lands of Lebanon and it does not matter for how long, 5, 15 or 50 years, any other arrangement means abandoning the Galilee.”.

He added: “The next day,” the State of Israel must control the northern Gaza Strip from a security standpoint, establish a security strip at least one kilometer deep within the territory of the Strip, and destroy the Philadelphia Axis... I can estimate that in a scenario in which there is freedom of passage between... Gaza and Sinai, about a million and a half residents of Gaza will leave the Strip and move to Sinai. We will not expel them...but if any of the Gazans wants to move to Sinai, they will not be prevented from doing so. The meaning of not collecting the price from Hamas and Hezbollah is that we will return to reality before the 7th. October very soon..

Lieberman expressed his astonishment that Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer and the head of the National Security Council were presenting the “Day After” model to US government officials, before presenting it to the Israeli political and security cabinet..

An "informed source revealed" to the Russian "Novosti" agency that there are plans by the Israeli government to settle a large number of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in Egypt under the pretext of ensuring their safety during the active phase of the war. The source said: “According to available information, the Israeli government has plans to resettle a large number of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in Egypt under the pretext of ensuring their safety during the active phase of the military operation and the reconstruction of the Strip after the conflict.”

Hamas: Netanyahu’s talk about working with countries to pass a “voluntary immigration” plan is ridiculous and an attempt to market illusions. He pointed out that "in the first stage, we can talk about transferring at least 100,000 people to the territory of a neighboring country." He added: "In the future, it is planned to deport several more batches of Gaza residents in this way. At the same time, it is clear that West Jerusalem is not interested in their return."

According to the source, “to ensure the approval of Cairo, which is currently categorically opposed to such a scenario, the intention is to involve Washington in the matter.” The source concluded, "In exchange for the green light from Egypt, the Americans are said to be committed to paying the costs of building and operating the refugee camps, and will also provide Egypt with a large package of financial aid, which is a strong boost in the context of the economic difficulties that this country is going through."

The Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas" had confirmed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's talk about working with countries to pass a voluntary immigration plan for Palestinians is "ridiculous and an attempt to market illusions." Earlier, Israeli media quoted Netanyahu as saying during a Likud Party session that he is pushing for voluntary migration of Gazans to other countries, and the Israeli Prime Minister confirmed that “work is underway to find countries that will absorb Gazans as refugees.”

A Palestinian expert on Israeli affairs considered that there are disagreements between the political and military circles within the Israeli government as a result of the repeated failure to achieve any achievement in the war in the Gaza Strip so far, indicating that talking about the stages of the operation is to convince the Israeli street that there is progress in the military operation.

World - specific to the world The expert on Israeli affairs, Ammar Khader, from Jenin, told Al-Alam news channel: The course of the war and its management now is going through two parts of disagreement, the first is political and the second is military, as we see that there is a disagreement between Gallant and Gantz , who are the military face of this war, and there is almost a disarray in their positions during the last period.

Khadr added: In addition to this is the political dispute with Netanyahu , as more of it is appearing in the media, statements and behavior, and many are talking about Netanyahu trying to turn this war for his personal interests, forgetting the situation that Israel has put itself in in this war, and there are also differences on the level. Politics within the government and between Netanyahu and Smotrich and Ben Gvir on the other hand.

He explained that there are differences between Galant and Gantz regarding how to manage the battle in the longer term and the broader area, based on the field results in the Gaza Strip and the repeated failures. He continued: Gallant seeks to prolong the war and continue it without there being political solutions, but Gantz is less enthusiastic about that.

Ammar Khader considered that the American decisions that bind the occupation in terms of the field are what determine the course of the battle as we see now, and this continuation of the ongoing attack with the same level of killing and crime, but this talk about stages is to make Israeli society believe that there is progress. In war, they are accumulated and overlapping stages without there being a real change between one stage and the next.

Khader explained: The third phase came with an American request to reduce the killing of civilians and limit the directing of firearms to them, and to focus this on the resistance from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others, noting that Netanyahu rejects the American proposal, while Gallant wants to agree with him.

The Lebanese expert on Israeli affairs t Al-Akhbar newspaper, Ali Haidar, told Al-Alam news channel: The state of unity and solidarity within Israeli society and even the political level is an emergency situation that arose due to the magnitude of the threat that they all felt in the wake of the Al-Aqsa flood , which created a collective conviction about the necessity of winning the war and confronting the external danger.

Haider added that this type and size of threat pushes societies to join hands and show solidarity with each other on the condition that results are achieved, but after 83 days, none of the declared goals of eliminating the resistance and Hamas , liberating prisoners, etc. have been achieved, and there is no dispute about that.

He pointed out that the disagreement today is clear between the political and military levels regarding the transition to the third phase of the battle in Gaza , considering that the Israeli government is now at the lowest level of popularity ever and has no hope of winning any elections if elections are held because they have failed.

Haider explained that Israeli society wants the war to continue now, but not with this failed administration, considering that the polls give Likud only 17 seats in the next Knesset.

Protests are increasing in Tel Aviv to demand a deal that releases all those detained by the Hamas movement, as a march was launched yesterday in which thousands participated on its way to the headquarters of the Israeli government in Jerusalem. The Forum for Mothers of Israeli Army Soldiers also sent a formal letter to Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy, asking him for clarifications regarding the reports that the Israeli Army changed the pattern of its ground operations in the Gaza Strip, and what was reported that this change now threatens the lives of soldiers in battle.

Arab analysts and writers believe that the war - launched by the Israeli occupation on the Gaza Strip - has further inflamed internal disputes in Israel, and they point to the steadfastness of the Palestinian resistance. The senior researcher at Al Jazeera Center for Studies, Dr. Liqaa Makki, confirmed that the escalation of Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip increases fragmentation within Israel. He said that had it not been for the resistance, there would not have been the current dispute between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his opponents, and Netanyahu would have been crowned champion and his coalition would have been victorious.

Makki spoke of a clear-cut defeat and a protracted war, which Israel did not imagine, and pointed out that this war caused exhaustion in Israel and in its ability to sustain international support for it. Makki said - in his speech as part of the daily analytical pause, “Gaza... What’s next?” - that had it not been for the steadfastness of the resistance and its ability to inflict great harm on the Israeli army, internal disputes would not have emerged in Israel, and if they did exist, they would not have been so strong and clear.

For his part, the writer and specialist in Israeli affairs, Ihab Jabareen, said that Israel was on a hot plate before October 7, and this situation cast a shadow after this date, noting that the government coalition is not homogeneous. He pointed out that Netanyahu surrounded his right-wing government with what he described as the mob, in reference to extremist ministers, and worked to make politics devoid of any substance over the course of a permanent decade, and completely destroyed the army institution, and therefore there were efforts to abandon it. Jabareen said that Benny Gantz's entry into Netanyahu's government was to give some legitimacy and show that there is some kind of unity among Israeli politicians.

As for the expert in American affairs and international relations, Khaled Al-Tarani, he saw that Netanyahu failed and his government, which allied with Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, failed, and caused embarrassment to the United States, noting that October 7 was the culmination of this embarrassment. Al-Tarani said that the defeat of the occupation in the Gaza Strip is a defeat for the Americans as well, and a military defeat at the strategic and tactical levels for both of them.

Moreover, Al-Taraani adds, Washington and Tel Aviv have become isolated at the international level, through the vote at the United Nations and the abandonment of Britain and France on the issue of preserving navigation in the Red Sea. The international relations expert pointed out that there are differences between the administration of US President Joe Biden and Netanyahu personally, and if the latter had been winning the war, it would have been easier for him to use the Republican Party to put pressure on Biden.

Hundreds of American demonstrators closed the entrance to the World Trade Center building in New York City , denouncing the "ongoing Israeli aggression" on the Gaza Strip since October 7. Hundreds of demonstrators marched to the site as part of a rally titled "Flood New York City for Palestine." The demonstrators carried banners denouncing the Israeli war on Gaza and what they described as genocide committed against the residents of the Strip. The demonstrators affirmed their support for the Palestinian cause and demanded the lifting of the siege on the Gaza Strip and an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. The demonstrators held a funeral for the children killed by the Israeli bombing of Gaza.

Rashida Tlaib, the only American congresswoman of Palestinian origin, continues her strong hostility toward Israel and rebukes American lawmakers who meet with Netanyahu. The Times of Israel staff analyzes Tlaib's position. Tlaib says that anyone who meets war criminal Netanyahu is an outright supporter of genocide. Tlaib's comments come less than a week after a member of her party, Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, met with Netanyahu during his visit to Israel on an official Intelligence Committee trip.

On October 31, Lloyd Austin, US Secretary of Defense, signed a memorandum in which he announced that the Pentagon would not support congressional visits to Israel in reference to restricting unnecessary security measures in the region.

Tlaib also criticizes Joe Biden for supporting Israel in its war against Hamas and accuses him of genocide of Palestinians. She addresses him through a video by saying: Support the ceasefire or do not depend on us in the 2024 elections. In the video, Tlaib declared: From the river to the sea. Palestine will be liberated. This prompted Congress to criticize her, but she insisted that this was a call for freedom and the protection of human rights. Tlaib had previously called for a two-state solution, which would effectively end Israel.

Tlaib is the only Palestinian-American member of Congress, and represents the state of Michigan, which has a large Muslim population and the largest Palestinian community in the United States. Tlaib voted with nine other Democrats against the House resolution condemning Hamas. The rest were Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Alexandria Cortez of New York, Jamaal Bowman of New York, Cori Bush of Missouri, Al Green of Texas, Summer Lee of Pennsylvania, Andre Carson of Indiana, and Delia Ramirez of Illinois.

Most of these votes are the voices of progressive Democratic Party lawmakers who have been highly critical of Israel even before the Gaza war. In 2019, Israel refused Tlaib and her colleague Ilhan entry to its territory to visit her grandmother because of their support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against Israel. Tlaib also rejected Israel’s offer to allow her grandmother to enter the West Bank. To what extent can voices similar to Tlaib’s influence the American decision?

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.

Regarding what is happening in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) representative Osama Hamdan said that the Israeli aggression there left 313 martyrs and injured more than 3,000, which is a continuation of the plans of the Netanyahu government. 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 21,507 martyrs, and the killing of more than 7,700 Palestinian children. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The number wounded was 55,915. The Palestinian Government Media Office in Gaza had said much earlier that the number of missing people had risen to more than 7,500, including including 4,700 children and women, and this number had not changes in recent weeks.

The Israeli bombing led to the killing of 126 Hezbollah members, a number of civilians, and 3 journalists. 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 officially announced number of deaths among the Israeli army since the start of the ground incursion on October 27th to 174, and 502 deaths since the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on the 7th of the same month. Among them are 56 with the rank of platoon commander, 43 with the rank of company commander, 8 with the rank of battalion commander, and 5 with the rank of brigade commander. These officers constitute 23% of the total deaths of the Israeli army in the war on Gaza.

The Israeli army reported that 2,159 officers and soldiers had been injured since the beginning of the war, and that 329 of these wounded were seriously injured, 576 moderate, and 1,161 minor. Since the start of the ground incursion, the number of wounded rose to 921. The Israeli army reported that 198 of the wounded soldiers had serious injuries, 327 moderate injuries, and 349 minor injuries.

Israeli media reported that 27% of the Israeli military casualties in the war were officers. In detail, the media highlighted that three brigade commanders, four battalion commanders, and other senior officers have been killed in the war so far.

At least 12,227 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.

According to some reports statistics indicate that 20% of the Israeli losses were due to friendly fire. Because the nature of the battle has become completely different from what was expected, and it lacks a front line.

The chief of the Disabled Veterans Organization, Edan Kleiman, told Bloomberg the number of injuries would probably mount to around 20,000 if traumatized soldiers are counted. Kleiman also added that this marks the first time Israeli ranks witnessed such a high number of injuries that must be rehabilitated, as Israeli authorities do not recognize the severity of the matter or the situation. Bloomberg also noted the increased number of injured soldiers who are also diagnosed with trauma disorders, adding extra medical costs for rehab and compensation that are not accounted for.

In this context, Israeli political scientist and professor of public military policy, Yagil Levy, remarked that “There could be a long-term impact if we see a big rate of people with disabilities that Israel must rehabilitate, which can produce economic issues as well as social issues.” Bloomberg addressed how "wounded veterans would have to face a new reality, dealing with impairments, even after their survivor's guilt manifests," adding that the injuries sustained during the war in Gaza will serve as a reminder for the future.

Hostages

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.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) and the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission released a new tally of Palestinians detained by "Israel", revealing that the number of Palestinian prisoners in the West Bank has risen to 4,795. 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 had been arrested. Israel said that, since the beginning of the war, approximately 2,550 wanted persons have been arrested throughout the Judea and Samaria Division and the Bekaa and Valleys Division, approximately 1,300 of whom are affiliated with Hamas.