Operation Iron Swords - Day 88 - 02 January 2024

Contents

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

The Palestinian resistance in Gaza showed that it is still capable of targeting Israel more than 12 weeks after the start of the war, as it fired a barrage of rockets at Tel Aviv in the first minutes of 2024.

Hamas decided to freeze any talks with mediators about a ceasefire in Gaza and reaching a prisoner exchange deal with Israel, following the assassination a deputy head of the movement’s political bureau, Saleh Al-Arouri. An informed Palestinian source said in a statement to Anadolu Agency on Tuesday evening that Hamas informed the mediators of its decision to freeze all discussions about a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip or a prisoner exchange deal with Israel.

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) announced that Israel assassinated Saleh Al-Arouri , deputy head of its political bureau, and two leaders of the Al-Qassam Brigades, in a drone attack on a building in the southern suburb of Beirut on Tuesday evening. Al-Arouri was a senior official in Hamas's political bureau, but he was known for his intense involvement in its military affairs. Before the outbreak of war in the Gaza Strip, Israeli officials and media accused Al-Arouri of involvement in planning operations against the army and settlers in the West Bank, calling for his assassination.

Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper quoted Israeli officials as saying that Al-Arouri's assassination was "a high-quality operation, and all Hamas leaders are doomed to death." Izzat Al-Rishq, a member of the Hamas political bureau, said, “The cowardly assassinations carried out by the Zionist occupation against the leaders and symbols of our Palestinian people inside and outside Palestine will not succeed in breaking the will and steadfastness of our people.” For his part, Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that the explosion in the southern suburb of Beirut is “an Israeli crime aimed at bringing Lebanon into a new phase.”

On the other hand, Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, congratulated the Israeli army, the Shin Bet , the Mossad , and the security forces on the assassination of Al-Arouri, while the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the ministers not to comment on the matter.

Director of Al Jazeera's office in Beirut, Mazen Ibrahim, said that the assassination of Al-Arouri is expected to lead to a change in the situation on the Lebanese front with Israel, noting that the Secretary-General of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, had vowed in a previous speech that any targeting of a resistance official, whether Lebanese or A Palestinian will change the entire equation in southern Lebanon.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said : "The assassination of Al-Arouri came as a result of the major failure of the Zionist entity in confronting the resistance in Gaza. We strongly condemn the assassination of Al-Arouri, and the Zionist entity bears responsibility for the repercussions of his new adventure. The assassination of Al-Arouri and two Qassam leaders is a violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty, and we call on the United Nations for an urgent and effective response."

An earlier interview by Al-Arouri was circulated with Al-Mayadeen TV, in which he stressed that Israel’s repeated threat to assassinate him will not leave any impact or change. He said at the time that "the Israeli threat to his person will not change his convictions, will not leave any trace, and will not change his course one iota." He added: "We are believers, and we hope that our lives will end with the martyrdom that we are proud of," noting that martyrdom is a great victory in the eyes of the resistance leaders.

In his interview, Al-Arouri stressed that the resistance leaders “are part of the Palestinian people and do not differ from all the people,” recalling that “all the Palestinian resistance factions presented martyred leaders at all levels,” stressing that “this is not considered strange to Hamas and the various resistance movements.”

In the same context, Al-Arouri stated, “Our blood and our souls are not more valuable or dearer than any martyr, and it is not permissible for the mother of a martyr to feel that the blood of a leader or official is dearer and more precious than the blood of her son. We are equal and the martyr who preceded us a day is better than us.”

Operational Update

A senior Israeli official confirmed in statements to the American newspaper "Axios" that Tel Aviv is preparing for a very broad response to the assassination of Al-Arouri, which may include Hezbollah launching long-range missiles. Israeli official: We are preparing for a major response from Hezbollah to the assassination of Al-ArouriMoment by moment... developments in the war in Gaza on its 88th day and its regional and global repercussions. The official said: “Israel is preparing for a very major response to the killing of the deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, Saleh Al-Arouri, which may include Hezbollah launching long-range missiles at targets in Israel.”

The Al-Quds Brigades , the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, announced that it had bombed Sderot and the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip with a missile salvo. Al Jazeera's correspondent said that sirens were sounding in the Sderot settlement and its surroundings, north of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army intensified its raids on the central region of the Gaza Strip , as the war entered its 88th day, resulting in the death of 70 Palestinians and the injury of more than 100, while the declared death toll of the occupation army rose to 507. Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that the Israeli bombardment intensified at night with artillery and gunboats on the areas of Al-Zawaida, Deir Al-Balah and Al-Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip.

The Bureij and Maghazi camps were also subjected to artillery shelling, amid the inability of ambulances to enter the Bureij camp to retrieve the martyrs and wounded. The reporter added that Deir al-Balah was subjected to intense Israeli bombing in the past hours, explaining that 15 of the martyrs were from the Matar family, whose house was targeted by an Israeli raid. Funeral prayers were also performed Tuesday morning for a number of martyrs in the area.

Meanwhile, the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), broadcast images of an Israeli special force targeting a building inside a building with an anti-fortified TPG shell in the center of Jabalia al-Balad in the northern Gaza Strip. The Al-Quds Brigades , the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement , also broadcast new scenes from an operation it described as qualitative, in which it targeted an Israeli command and control site south of Gaza City.

Abu Ubaida , spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, announced the complete or partial destruction of 71 military vehicles within 4 days. Abu Ubaida added that Al-Qassam fighters confirmed the killing of 16 Israeli soldiers, wounding dozens of people with varying degrees of injury, and carried out 42 military missions that left a number of Israeli soldiers dead and wounded, noting that they targeted a number of occupation forces with missiles and anti-fortification devices and individuals and clashed with them from zero distance. Al-Qassam spokesman said that they booby-trapped two houses and two tunnels against Israeli soldiers, and detonated mines in Israeli vehicles, in addition to carrying out two sniper operations and targeting a helicopter.

An Israeli army spokesman told Newsweek magazine that partially withdrawing the occupation forces from the Gaza Strip would significantly reduce the economic burden and that it aims to ensure planning and combat readiness to continue operations during the current year. Israeli media said that the withdrawal from the northern region is continuing, that there is a decrease in the volume of fighting, and that more forces will be demobilized in the coming days.

The media added that the 98th Division leads 7 brigades in the Khan Yunis axis with the aim of locating the prisoners, liquidating the leadership of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), and destroying the military infrastructure. It also stated that changes in the nature of the fighting were occurring despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to talk about the next day for "political reasons," as he claimed.

The media said that the army is concerned with moving to the next, more precise stage, which is based on withdrawing army forces from inside the Gaza Strip, and moving them in the future from inside Israeli territory towards the targets, and not from inside the Gaza Strip, so that they do not become a target for armed cells, as they put it.

Israeli Army Radio said that the army decided to demobilize 5 brigades from Gaza, including the 551st and 14th reserve brigades, in addition to 3 training brigades, composed of active service draftees.

The withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the neighborhoods north of Gaza City showed widespread destruction and scattered bodies and body parts. In the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, the bodies of dozens of martyrs were scattered in the streets, and remained lying on the side of the roads for days.

Shlomo Brom, a former Israeli brigadier general in charge of strategic planning, said the withdrawal of troops was likely not an indication that the Israeli army was moving to end the war. “The war will not stop,” Broome told the Associated Press. “It is the beginning of a different way of doing things.”

Residents of the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, in the northern part of the Strip where the Israeli attack was initially focused, stated that the tanks withdrew after what they described as the most violent 10 Days of war since the conflict began. Residents indicated that the tanks also withdrew from the Al-Mina neighborhood in Gaza City and parts of the Tal Al-Hawa neighborhood, while they remained in some locations in the neighborhood that overlooks the main coastal road in the Strip. However, tanks remained in other parts of northern Gaza, and health officials said that some who were trying to return to their homes in the area south of Gaza City were killed by Israeli fire.

IDF spokesman, Brigadier General Daniel Hagari : "the IDF is at a very high level of readiness in all arenas, in defense and attack, we are at a high level of readiness for any scenario. The most important thing to say tonight is that we are focused and have remained focused on fighting Hamas. In Gaza, our forces continue to fight, with an emphasis on the Khan Yunis area, working Above and below the ground, they kill terrorists and continue to destroy the terrorist infrastructure.

"During the night in the north, we attacked military infrastructures of the Syrian army in Syrian territory, in response to the shooting that was carried out into our territory and we will continue to attack any shooting that is carried out into our territory.

"On the home front, I call on you, the public, to continue to behave responsibly as you have been doing so far, and to obey the directives of the Home Front Command. They are updated on the website and we will make sure that the public knows what the instructions are. Keep looking at the sites, we will update you on everything you need. These guidelines save lives.

"Even tonight, we do not forget for a moment that one of the goals of the war is to create conditions for the return of the abducted. This is a supreme national mission that is before the eyes of every soldier and commander, and we will continue to do everything to make it happen.""

The fighters of the battle team of the Givati ??Brigade carry out attacks on terrorist infrastructures in Khan Yunis and have so far eliminated many terrorists in face-to-face battles, shooting tanks and directing fire from the air. Also, dozens of tunnel shafts were located and destroyed. Last week, the fighters carried out an attack in the Bnei Suhila area where they fought in a dense urban area and fought terrorists at close range. During the recorded battle, the fighters eliminated many terrorists, while trying to harm the soldiers by shooting and attaching charges to IDF vehicles. In addition, the fighters identified a number of suspects who were hiding among women and children who were marching with a white flag in their hands, and were later arrested by the fighters. During investigations carried out by Unit 504 investigators in the Intelligence Division, the suspects turned out to be terrorists, some of whom participated in the attack on October 7.

The fighters of the 401st Brigade Combat Team operating under the 162nd Division carried out a targeted raid on the central building of the 'Eastern Outpost' in Gaza City. The "Mizrachi Outpost" is a strategic center of the terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza City, where operations rooms are used to manage the fighting in the entire Gaza Strip. The terrorist stronghold includes 37 buildings located in the heart of a civilian population, in the vicinity of residential buildings, schools and hospitals.

In recent weeks, the combat team fighters of the 460th Brigade operating under the 162nd Division have been fighting in major combat centers, including conducting battles in the Shati refugee camp, the security square, the Jabaliya refugee camp and Derj Tofah.

In the last few days, during a raid by the forces in the Darj Tupah area, the fighters took over terrorist infrastructure located in the house of the commander of the Gaza City Brigade and thus allowed the entry of special forces for searches. As part of the fighting in the area, the forces encountered terrorists and fought short-range battles. The fighters of the brigade eliminated dozens of terrorists, located and destroyed shafts, many weapons and found intelligence findings that link the central mosque in the Darj Tupah area to the murderous terrorist attack by the terrorist organization Hamas on 7/10.

In the Khan Yunis area, the combat team fighters of the paratrooper brigade attacked a number of terrorist infrastructures that endangered Israeli forces. The forces raided with intelligence guidance on operational apartments where munitions were stored and from which terrorist operations were directed and located many munitions.

In the center of the Gaza Strip, during searches by the 646 Brigade Combat Team, a laboratory was found that is used for the production of weapons, launch pits and launchers of long-range rockets. The launchers were destroyed by engineering forces.

In the Jabaliya area, the 261st Brigade Combat Team (BHD 1) eliminated dozens of terrorists, including those who tried to place explosives, others who operated drones and armed terrorists who were spotted traveling towards Israeli forces. In the Al Buraij area, the Golani Brigade's combat team located a number of rocket launchers that had been planted near a UNRA school.

During a counter-terrorism operation by IDF forces from the 8211 Reserve Battalion in Kfar Azon under the command of the Ephraim Brigade, terrorists shot and threw explosives at Israeli forces, the fighters identified the building where the terrorist squad was hiding and at the end of an exchange of fire, they killed the four terrorists and confiscated three "Carlo" type weapons that were used by them. During the exchange of fire, an IDF reserve officer was moderately injured, the soldier was taken to a hospital for medical treatment and his family was informed.

In addition, during another activity to locate weapons in the city of Qalqilya in the area of the brigade, reservists were neutralized by gunfire from a terrorist who fired a gun at them, there are no casualties to Israeli forces. In addition, the forces confiscated the gun used by the terrorist.

In the south of Gaza City, troops from the Ram Brigade (179) combat team identified three terrorists entering a building used for terrorist purposes. An Air Force fighter jet destroyed the building and eliminated the terrorists. After the attack, secondary explosions were seen, indicating that many weapons were stored in the compound.

During the last day, the forces of the sea arm and the maneuvering brigades identified terrorists who are placing charges on the beaches and in the buildings adjacent to the beaches in the Gaza Strip in order to harm our forces. The naval forces, in cooperation with the air force and the ground forces, eliminated a number of terrorists and destroyed explosives that posed a threat to the forces.

Fighter jets of the Air Force attacked terrorist infrastructures where terrorists of the terrorist organization Hezbollah were operating in the area of the village of Yaron in the territory of Lebanon.

The Wall Street Journal reported that increasing tensions between Israel and groups allied with Iran in Syria, Iraq and Yemen raise concerns about opening a second front in the war that has been raging in Gaza for nearly three months. Since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist movement, in the Gaza Strip on October 7, the border area with southern Lebanon has witnessed an increasing military escalation between Israel and Hezbollah. Israeli forces regularly exchange fire with Hezbollah, but tensions along Israel's northern border have remained relatively under control, partly due to American and other Western diplomatic efforts to prevent a broader regional war, according to the newspaper. But Israeli leaders have warned in recent days that their "patience is beginning to run out" regarding diplomatic attempts to end attacks on areas in northern Israel, where more than 230,000 Israelis have been displaced from their homes due to clashes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is ready to move to restore security on Israel's northern borders, and agreed to combat plans to achieve this goal. He added, during a press conference on Saturday: “We agreed on operational plans to confront the continuation of hostilities.” “If Hezbollah expands the fighting, it will receive blows that it never dreamed of,” Netanyahu said, adding that “his threat also applies to Iran,” before indicating that his country “remains open to a diplomatic solution to the crisis.” Hezbollah began carrying out operations against Israeli military targets, placing this within the framework of supporting the "Palestinian resistance," as it says in its statements. Israel responds to these repeated attacks on a daily basis, by bombing border areas, targeting what it describes as the movements of Hezbollah fighters and its military infrastructure near the border.

Al-Jazeera military expert Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi said that Israeli forces began a gradual withdrawal from the Gaza Strip since talk began about establishing buffer zones last week. Al-Duwairi added that this withdrawal included the areas of Sheikh Radwan, Tal Al-Hawa, Sheikh Ajlin, Al-Rimal, Beit Lahia, and Beit Hanoun.

Earlier, Israel withdrew 8 brigades from the northern Gaza Strip and kept only 4, but these forces apparently received an order to retreat after the violent confrontations they fought in Shuja’iya , al-Daraj and al-Tuffah, according to the military expert. The retreat began the day before yesterday, Sunday, due to the inability of these forces to advance, according to Al-Duwairi, who based his speech on the videos published by the resistance of the confrontations during the past two days.

Al-Duwairi said that the past two days witnessed radical transformations at the political and military levels, noting that the resistance took advantage of the retreat to inflict great damage on the occupation forces. The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), succeeded in dragging the occupation forces into the "killing zones", inflicting losses on them that forced them to accelerate their withdrawal in preparation for their rehabilitation and use elsewhere, according to the military expert.

In the Bureij area, the occupation forces were forced to retreat and abandon the areas they had entered in the eastern part, although they achieved some progress in the western and northwestern sides, but they also faced fierce resistance. Al-Duwairi concluded that Israel is not able to continue the attack for a long time, because the resistance is still able to confront it in all areas, which prevents Israel from taking complete control, as is the case in the Juhr al-Dik area in the northern Gaza Strip.

In light of the escalating tension against the backdrop of the first direct confrontation between the Yemeni Houthi group and the US Navy in the Red Sea, by 02 January 2024 the Iranian combat destroyer Alborz, accompanied by the military ship Behshad , crossed the Bab al-Mandab Strait , coinciding with intense talks conducted by Houthi spokesman Muhammad Abdel Salam with senior Iranian officials.

Officially, Tasnim News Agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guard in Tehran, reports that the Iranian fleet is carrying out routine tasks in international waters to secure shipping lines and confront maritime piracy, in addition to other tasks, while Iranian circles believe that their country’s move came after London’s threat to direct A direct strike against the Iran-aligned Houthi group.

The Iranian move comes just hours after a telephone conversation between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Abdollahian and his British counterpart, David Cameron, regarding developments in the Red Sea. The latter wrote in a tweet on the “X” platform, “I have made it clear that Iran is a partner in the responsibility for preventing these attacks, given its long-term support for the Houthis.”

The former commander of the Revolutionary Guard, retired Brigadier General Hussein Kanaani Moghaddam, believes that it comes “in response to the militarization of the Red Sea and the foreign forces’ flexing of their muscles in it.” Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Kanaani Moghaddam refers to Muhammad Abdel Salam’s ongoing visit to Tehran, stressing that Tehran will not leave its Houthi allies alone “in the face of Zionist-American arrogance,” and adds that the Islamic Republic has previously warned that it will not allow foreigners to tamper with our region.

Before the formation of the “Prosperity Guardian” coalition to confront the Houthis last month, Iranian Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani warned the United States that it “will face exceptional problems if it wants to form an international force to protect navigation in the Red Sea,” and said that “no one can move in the Al-Yad area.” The highest priority belongs to Iran.”

The former leader of the Revolutionary Guard believes that the Red Sea has become redder as a result of the bloodshed of 10 Houthis due to American targeting this week, considering the stability of the Iranian fleet near Bab al-Mandab as carrying a message of support for the Houthis and a message of deterrence for the American coalition and its adventures there, as he described it.

Kanaani continued that the Iranian military move towards the Red Sea, where the Yemeni ally is located, sends a clear warning message to the American and British sides of the consequences of any attack on the Houthis as they are an essential part of the axis of resistance, stressing that Tehran will not start a war in the Red Sea, unless foreign forces take the initiative by attacking its interests.

Kanaani Moghadam pointed out that security in the Red Sea will only be established with the help of the people of the region, not foreign forces, adding that the Houthi group controls the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which is the second strategic waterway after the Strait of Hormuz, under the supervision of the Axis of Resistance.

He explained that the Yemeni side is carrying out operations to support the oppressed in Palestine and put pressure on the Zionist enemy to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip , “and does not intend to disrupt maritime navigation there, but rather only targets ships associated with the Zionist entity.” He concluded that all indicators suggest an increase in tension in the waters of the Red Sea during the coming period “in the event that the Zionist entity identifies with the annihilation of the Palestinian people with Western support.”

Kanaani stressed that the Yemeni side will not back down from the pledge it made to support the people of Gaza, and that it is continuing to close the Bab al-Mandab Strait to ships heading to Israel. Therefore, American intervention to confront the Houthis would set fire to the already tense region.

Ali Bekdali, professor of international relations at Shahid Beheshti University, sees his country’s decision to move its naval fleet towards the Red Sea as “a show of force and a message of support for the Houthis,” explaining that the “Alborz” destroyer is very old, and although it has been modernized over the past years, it Its capabilities are not up to par with the international fleets present there.

In his interview with Al Jazeera Net, the Iranian academic ruled out any real confrontation between Iranian and Western warships near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, stressing that Tehran and Western capitals, led by Washington, do not want escalation at the present time. Bekdali believed that his country had received Western messages calling for Tehran to put pressure on the Houthis to reduce tension in the Red Sea, stressing that his country, in return, called for Western pressure on Israel to stop the ongoing war on Gaza, and that Tehran might deal positively with any Western step aimed at doing so.

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

Prolonging the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip without taking action for the future of the Palestinian cause constitutes a suicide strategy for Israel and for the West as well, which holds every opportunity to increase the popularity of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) among the Palestinian population in particular and all Islamic countries in general.

This is how the newspaper “Le Figaro” opened journalist Renaud Girard’s column, which he begins by asking: If what the Israeli government repeats that the residents of the Gaza Strip are hostages of Hamas is true, could it be a justification for systematically destroying infrastructure and residential buildings in this land, which has an area of 365 square kilometers? Square, which is inhabited by two million Palestinians and occupied by Israel since 1967?

The writer pointed out that the human and material damage (22 thousand dead) is so great in Gaza , that the life of the Palestinian population, who have nowhere to go, has become so fraught with danger that it is right to question whether the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched, consciously or Unconsciously, she unleashes her desire for revenge on residents locked inside an automated fence.

And with the strategy that the Israeli government worked on ended in a miserable security failure on October 7, 2023, the politically frustrated Israeli government, which felt that it was close to the exit door, allowed itself to inflict collective punishment on the Palestinians, and when did collective punishment succeed in the post-World War II world? ? The writer wonders.

If Netanyahu's three goals - to destroy Hamas, demilitarize the Gaza Strip, and eradicate "extremism" among the residents of the Gaza Strip - appear legitimate after the Hamas attack, a careful examination shows that only the second goal can be achieved, because the Israeli army is militarily capable. To turn the sector into a field of ruin, it will be demilitarized for at least a while.

As for Hamas, it embodies an ideology that the power of bombs cannot confront, and “removing extremism” from the residents of the Gaza Strip is not self-evident - as the writer says - so who can believe that the thousands of orphans left behind by the Israeli army’s bombing will stop avenging their fathers who died under the rubble?

Renaud Girard concluded that this Zionist invasion constitutes suicide for Israel and for the West that supports it, because true security comes from the state’s harmony with all its neighbors. As for the strategy of forced expulsion of the population who have lived for centuries in Palestine, it will not gain the acceptance of the neighbors and is the ideal recipe for eternal war.

Prolonging the war is also considered suicidal for the West because it offers Russian President Vladimir Putin , on a silver platter, a double gift that he had never dreamed of, which is evidence of double standards in Western moral lessons, thus rallying the “South” towards the “axis of tyranny” that it constitutes. Russia, Iran and China.

Since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, global interest in the boycott movement ( BDS ) has increased, and it has turned into a means of expressing solidarity with Palestine and denouncing the support of major companies for the unprecedented aggression against the people of Gaza. This global popular will coincides with the goals that the movement has been working on for years, and its media coordinator, Fatima Badr, reveals the growing awareness of the importance of the boycott and the achievements achieved since last October 7. Badr spoke to Al Jazeera Net about the fierce war waged by the "Israeli lobby" to restrict the movement, and said that Tel Aviv is dealing with the boycott movement "as an existential threat that must be confronted."

Axis of Resistance

The US plans for the Gaza Strip have stalled because either continuing support for the Israeli onslaught or acceding to a political solution in compliance with the demands of resistance will mark a defeat for Washington, the foreign minister of Iran said. Addressing a cultural event at the University of Tehran, Hossein Amirabdollahian said the Zionist regime and its allies have two options in Gaza, both of which entail defeats for them.

“The first option is the continuation of (Israeli) war (on Gaza), but the continuation of war means the continuation of massacre and the continuation of a humiliating defeat for Israel and the US,” he said. “The other option is a political solution, for which the resistance is now setting conditions and it does not approve of a ceasefire. The US is today stuck in the quagmire of Gaza,” Amirabdollahian added.

He noted that the Zionist regime’s leaders and the US politicians who once had the idea of eliminating Hamas are presently sending messages to the resistance movement for negotiations in third countries. “They (Israel and the US) are negotiating on how to run Gaza after the war and how to swap the Palestinian prisoners with the Israeli captives. It shows that the resistance has moved in the correct direction and has been able to win a major victory,” the Iranian minister added.

Sapir Lipkin observed the war revealed the deepening gaps between the terrorist organizations in Gaza: although the Islamic Jihad also participated in the murderous attack carried out by the terrorists on October 7 in the surrounding settlements, as the fighting continues - it is evident that it is weakening in the Gaza arena and becoming irrelevant in the eyes of Hamas. This is how it is reflected in the patterns of action - in statements, in the military aspect and in the attempt to hide the "bad blood".

Since the beginning of the war, the information system of the Islamic Jihad has been in the hands of several key figures: Daoud Shahab - head of the information office, Musab al-Barim - the movement's spokesman, and at the military level in the hands of Abu Hamza - the spokesman of the military arm. His statements do not really resonate, compared to the spokesman for the military wing of Hamas, Abu Obida.

This may be an indication of the descent into the underground of the Islamic Jihad. Already from the first week of the war, the disappearance of the Jihad leadership in the Gaza Strip is evident. For example, the last statement of Khaled al-Batsh, one of the senior members of the terrorist organization, was published five days after the start of the war, on October 11.

The most significant statements of the Jihad were published regarding the abductees, by Secretary General Ziad Nachala who stated that they are holding 30 abductees. Nachala even made an implicit criticism of Hamas - according to which "the manner of conducting the negotiations regarding the captives and the missing may leave us out of the deal. The movement is able to hold the captives until better terms of the deal are reached." In addition, the spokesman for the military wing, Abu Hamza, expressed willingness to release two alleged abductees.

The attempt of the Islamic Jihad to echo its military achievements, so to speak, in front of our forces through acceptances of responsibility, publication of videos and statements regarding its success in kidnapping 30 Israelis is evident. For example, a document was published of the organization's terrorists firing mortars - from residential houses in Gaza.

The military arm of the Islamic Jihad invests efforts to show its military cooperation with Hamas. It has issued at least 7 statements in this spirit since the beginning of the war, but not a single similar proclamation has been issued by the military wing of Hamas that indicates joint action.

The conduct of the Islamic Jihad in the war sharpens the differences between it and Hamas. While Hamas is expectedly seen as the most central player in the Gaza field, similar to normal times - the war highlights even more the weakness and irrelevance of the Jihad in relation to Hamas, at least in the domestic arena. Despite the Jihad's attempt to highlight the coordination with Hamas and leave behind the "bad blood" that exists between them, the statements of the leader of the terrorist organization - once again express the lack of trust between them.

Allied for Democracy

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held two meetings today of the War Council and the Mini Security Council to discuss post-war arrangements in the Gaza Strip. The two meetings came amid disagreements between Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the issue of the next day after the war, according to what the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Netanyahu had said - in a speech during his party’s bloc meeting in the Knesset - that “there will be no return for the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to their homes, and no change in the firing orders.” He stressed that Israel "acts in accordance with what serves its interests," noting that there are agreements, and sometimes disagreements, with the United States regarding the war. He also said that "we will continue the war until the end and achieve complete victory for the sake of all the soldiers who fell in the battle."

In turn, Gallant said that they have no intention of stopping the fighting in Gaza, and that "the belief that Israel is on its way to stopping the fighting is incorrect." He added, "If we do not achieve victory in the Gaza war, we will not be able to live in the Middle East."

The meeting and the statements of the political and military leadership in Israel come at a time when Israeli military analyst Amos Harel believes that the army is actually moving towards a "third phase" of the war in Gaza, which will witness the withdrawal of its forces from the Gaza Strip and the demobilization of many reserve forces, while reducing the pace of bombing.

Israeli reports stated that Washington had asked Israel to begin implementing the third phase this week, while the occupation army announced during the past two days a reduction in the number of its forces in Gaza, but did not officially acknowledge the start of implementing this phase. According to sources, the third stage requires the Israeli army to move from the stage of intensive bombing to targeted bombing and the withdrawal of forces from inside Gaza to the border between the two sides (the Gaza envelope areas). In this context, Harel said - in an analytical report in Haaretz newspaper - that the Israeli army is "moving quietly towards the third phase of its much-talked about campaign."

He added, "Many reserve brigades are scheduled to be demobilized during the next few days, after about 3 months of fighting." He pointed out that "this step is not only aimed at relieving pressure on the economy, but also because the intensity of fighting in northern Gaza is decreasing," as he put it.

He added, "The rate of Israeli casualties recorded in the past few days was lower than in the previous two weeks, and this may be due to the fact that the fighting was concentrated in smaller areas," according to his assessment. The Israeli military analyst pointed out that “the main challenge facing the Israeli army is the need to enter and clear densely built-up areas, where the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) has set up traps in many homes and fired rocket shells from a short distance, most of them by (resistance) groups coming out.” From the tunnels.

Israeli media reports stated that the government intends to lay off thousands of Palestinian workers whose entry into Israel was restricted after the Hamas attack and to employ about 80,000 foreign workers, which raised concerns about the rights of Palestinian workers and the security and economic risks this step entails, as well as raising concerns also related to the rights of foreign workers. These reports come as the Israeli economy suffers from a severe labor shortage and weak production since the start of the war that followed the Hamas attack on October 7, which killed about 1,200 people in Israel.

Under the announced plan, The Times of Israel said, the government is considering bringing in more than 80,000 workers, most of them from Asia, to fill jobs in the construction and agricultural sectors, which are usually occupied by Palestinians.

Before the Hamas attack, 150,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and 18.5,000 others from the Gaza Strip had permits to enter Israel to work, according to the Government Coordination Unit for Actions in the Territories, before their entry was restricted. Israel imposed strict restrictions on the entry of Palestinians after Hamas attacks, and thousands of foreign farm workers in southern Israel have left.

The Times of Israel reported that the new plan was approved by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and the government is scheduled to discuss it within two weeks, followed by a vote on it.

The spokesman for the US State Department strongly condemned the statements of ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who claimed that the residents of Gaza should be exiled outside the Strip. "The statements of the two are rash and irresponsible," the spokesman noted, adding: "There is no place to exile the residents outside the Gaza Strip." The US State Department also stated that "the US government received a promise from the government, and from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in particular, that this is not their policy. The statements of Ben Gvir and Smotrich should stop."

The spokesperson said: "We were clear and consistent in our position. Gaza is Palestinian territory and will remain so. At the same time, Hamas will no longer control the future of the Strip and no terrorist organization will threaten Israel. This is the future we strive for and it is the interest of Israel, of the Palestinians, of the region and of the world."

Minister Ben Gvir responded to the American State Department's statement and did not retract: "I greatly appreciate the United States, but with all due respect, we are no longer a star on the American flag. The United States is our best friend, but first of all we will do what is best for the State of Israel - emigrate hundreds of thousands from Gaza You will allow the residents of the Otaf to return home and live in security and you will protect the IDF soldiers."

The Biden administration is calling, to no avail so far, on the Israeli government to change the nature of its operations to adopt the approach of limited and surgical operations against the leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), away from the widespread attacks that cause hundreds of civilian casualties every day.

Many commentators in Washington realize that ending the conflict and stopping the fighting is the key to reducing the diplomatic costs that the United States pays for its credibility, due to supporting the Israeli operations, which resulted in the martyrdom of more than 20,000 Palestinians, the wounding of more than 50,000 others, and the destruction of infrastructure and life in the Strip.

Biden is betting that the end of the war will allow him to regain momentum towards facilitating the process of normalizing relations between Israel and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , which may support his electoral chances after losing the votes of large segments of Democrats due to his position in support of the Israeli war.

On the other hand, the risk of the war expanding regionally during 2024 represents a major nightmare for the Biden administration, especially with the aggression against Gaza sparking violent and escalatory pressures on 4 fronts: the West Bank , the Israeli-Lebanese border, the southern Red Sea, and the areas where US forces are present in Iraq and Syria .

Internally, the shock of the progressive movement in the Democratic Party ’s rejection of Biden’s position and policies towards the Israeli aggression represented a shocking surprise to the White House , and the anger of American Muslim voters over Biden’s approach may cost him the 2024 elections.

The New York Times tried to present a vision of the current form of relations between the United States and Israel, explaining that no other period in the past half century has witnessed a test of the relationship between the two countries in such an intense and influential way because of the war on Gaza in 2023.

The newspaper reported that the complex diplomacy between the United States and Israel since Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostage has emerged across the two governments, in direct interactions between leaders and intense efforts between military and intelligence agencies. The newspaper indicated that its report on the relationship between the United States and Israel over the past 12 weeks is based on multiple interviews and trips to the region with key American and Israeli officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of the talks and internal deliberations.

The Americans did not like the original Israeli plan for a ground invasion of Gaza, and they sought to mitigate it. But the Israelis ultimately unleashed more firepower on Gaza than the Biden team had anticipated, with deadly results. Images of dead Palestinians angered not only many in Biden's party, but also in his administration and even the White House.

Biden effectively assumed responsibility for the war and its aftermath, and managed it personally while being exposed to great political danger at home and abroad. The newspaper believes that after that presidential trip to Israel, a series of frustrating phone calls, sharp public comments, and exhausting marathon meetings began. The relationship has become increasingly fraught as Biden has engaged in the conflict more intensely than on almost any other issue during his three years in office. The president and his team intervened repeatedly to distance Israel from what they considered to be transgressions in its retaliatory response, but in the end, these interventions were met in critical moments with challenges from the Israelis.

It seems that the friction has reached its peak with the advent of the new year, according to the newspaper, which explained that the Biden team realizes that the challenge it faces is not limited to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu only, because the Israelis in all fields support the military operation.

The newspaper reported that there is no serious discussion within the US administration about a real change in policy, such as cutting off arms supplies to Israel. Instead, Biden remains determined to get through this crisis by using the credibility he has gained through unwavering support for Israel to shape its next chapter, although it is unclear how much leverage this gives him.

Netanyahu sent his advisor, Ron Dermer, to Washington for a nearly four-hour meeting at the White House the day after Christmas, where he assured Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, that Israel would soon move to the targeted phase which Biden was urging.

Dermer told them that the first signs of this transformation can be seen in the coming weeks when Israeli forces end their operations in northern Gaza and begin withdrawing many forces from that area, according to the newspaper, which explained that he did not provide a fixed timetable, despite American pressure on him to begin the transitional phase sooner rather than later.

The newspaper quoted Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware and a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, as saying, “Biden had some influence, and was able to move their decisions, but he embraced Israel in this moment of intense pressure in the wake of the terrorist attack because he sees this moment in "A regional context and trying to achieve peace in a regional way."

Israel's freedom to pursue its stated war aims would be greatly restricted were it not for the assured support of the United States, Shalom Lipner writing in Foreign Affairs magazine considers. He stated that as the fighting continues and gaps appear between the American and Israeli positions, Israel has strong reasons to invest in keeping its basic alliance intact.

To ensure that its ties with the United States remain after this war, Lipner explained that Israel must not only manage the current military campaign wisely, but it must also address internal political problems and determine how it plans to settle its conflict with the Palestinians. In general, Lipner believes that American officials maintained their support for the Israeli army’s operations in Gaza, often subject to Israeli concessions. When Blinken was asked, on December 10, when he expected the Israeli army to end its military campaign, he answered frankly: “These are decisions that Israel must make.”

Biden preferred to embrace Israel publicly and convey US reservations in private conversations with Israeli leaders, clearly believing that this strategy gives him greater influence over Israel’s calculations compared to the confrontational approach. Lipner explained that the US President's personal appeals produced some results, for example, by helping to persuade Israel to cancel plans to launch a pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah in Lebanon in the days that followed the initial attack launched by Hamas.

According to Lipner, skeptics of Biden's methods point to the extent of the devastation inflicted on Gaza by the Israeli army, despite the efforts of American diplomacy behind the scenes. But the United States is also acting based on its own interest in Israel's success in defeating Hamas, which Washington classified as a terrorist organization. In both cases, Israel benefited greatly from the friendship of its ally.

Israelis have always attributed the strong American support for their country to a set of shared values, including freedom, pluralism, democracy, and common interests, but this ground has begun to change now, especially since younger Americans express less attraction towards Israel compared to older generations. Lipner explained that Biden, who has often emphasized that “you do not have to be Jewish to be a Zionist,” may be the last Democratic president with impeccable pro-Israel credentials.

Instead of trying to close the distance with the United States, Lipner reported that Netanyahu may actually be seeking to provoke a dispute with Washington in order to improve his job prospects as his approval ratings decline. Netanyahu announced before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on December 11 that “a prime minister who cannot withstand American pressure should not enter his office.”

But engaging in public quarrels with the United States is the last thing Israel needs now, according to Lipner, who explained that to avoid a future in which Israel is forced to resist existential risks without resorting to American military arsenals or using its veto power in the United Nations Security Council, makers must Israeli policies change their course.

Butcher's Bill / Oasis of Martyrs

Bodies torn to pieces, decapitated, and others beheaded, among about 70 bodies of martyrs that the Israeli authorities liberated after kidnapping them from various places in Gaza City and cities in the northern Gaza Strip . Local authorities run by the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) and human rights organizations suggest that , that it was violated by the theft of organs or parts thereof. The Israeli army seized an unknown number of bodies of martyrs from the mortuary and a mass grave inside Al- Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip, and from the displacement corridor on Salah al-Din Street connecting the north and south of the Gaza Strip.

On 20 December 26, the IDF released a group of martyrs’ bodies, which were placed inside 70 plastic bags and stacked inside a container transported by a truck from the Karam Abu Salem commercial crossing, southeast of the city of Rafah , to the Martyr Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital in the city, in coordination with the International Committee. For the Red Cross .

Official and human rights sources told Al Jazeera Net that these bags contained an unspecified number of bodies of martyrs, as some of them included complete bodies, and others contained half bodies, in addition to bags of torn body parts, which complicated the task of counting them, in addition to the intransigence of the occupation army. He refused to provide information about them to help determine her identity, so they were buried “unidentified” in a mass grave west of the city of Rafah.

The IDF is still detaining dozens of other bodies that it seized from hospitals, cemeteries, and the streets of Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip, following its ground incursion on October 27.

The condition of these corpses and the foul odor emanating from them - as a result of the occupation army tampering with them and keeping them for a long period without proper procedures - made it difficult for the health authorities to be able to subject them to a careful medical examination. According to the head of the Health Emergency Committee and the director of the Martyr Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital, Dr. Marwan Al-Hams, “sand and worms were covering these bodies.”

The medical teams were unable to open these bags in the hospital, so they went directly to the cemetery, and upon examination before the burial, it was found that they contained 17 headless bodies. The head was placed next to the body in one bag, while some of the bodies were completely headless, and in other bags, corpses with the skull visible and the scalp removed from it and placed with the corpse. Al-Hams said - to Al Jazeera Net - that the bodies of the martyrs were of multiple skin colours, white, black and dark wheat, and of various genders and ages, for men and women, including children, young people and the elderly. One of these children had his head wrapped in a medical compression bandage as if an operation had been performed on his head.

Inside a number of bags are charred corpses. "It seems to you that you are looking at ashes", according to Al-Hams’ description, who continues, “Some of the corpses are half bodies, either upper or lower.” He added that some of the bags contained only bones from bodies that had decomposed for more than a year, and it is not known precisely to whom these bones belong or the time and place from which they were stolen, but his speech confirms that they do not belong to the martyrs of the current Israeli war, which has been escalating since the seventh of October.

While the IDF refused to reveal information about these bodies, it gave the bags numbers, and the committee - under the supervision of Al-Hams - documented these bags and the bodies inside them through examination and photography and gave them special numbers before the burial.

The description and diagnosis of the Hams is supported by evidence presented by official Palestinian bodies and human rights organizations that indicate that the occupation has committed the crime of stealing organs or parts from the bodies of martyrs. The Director General of the HAMAS "Government Information Office" in Gaza, Ismail Al-Thawabta, told Al Jazeera Net that the occupation handed over the unidentified bodies and refused to specify the names of the martyrs and the places from which they were stolen. After inspecting them, it became clear that their features had changed significantly, in a clear indication that the occupation had stolen vital organs from them.

The government official asserted that the occupation deliberately kept the bodies of the martyrs in its possession for a long period, until they tended to dissolve or were close to decomposition, and that he "stole their organs, then closed their bodies, and deliberately delayed the delivery of the bodies until they were worn out."

Al-Thawabta does not rule out that the occupation stole vital organs from her, such as corneas, skin, heart valves, bones, etc., reinforcing his belief in previous theft crimes committed by the occupation and extracting organs from the bodies of prisoners who were martyred inside its prisons. Al-Thawabta himself was a witness to the occupation army kidnapping the body of the martyr Imad Khalil Ibrahim Shaheen from the Nuseirat camp (central Gaza Strip), who died from wounds he sustained near the Israeli security fence, and the occupation handed over his body in 2019 after detaining it for about a year.

Al-Thawabta says: “They killed him and kidnapped him, then handed over his body after a full year. When we went to receive the body, we were surprised that his body was frozen and the ice could not thaw until after 3 days, as the doctor had told us, because we suspected at the time that his internal organs had been stolen, as his body had been torn apart and restored.” The occupation sewed him from the top of the chest to the entire lower abdomen, and this is a clear indication that his internal organs were stolen.”

Al-Thawabta believes that stealing the martyrs’ organs is a crime added to the series of crimes committed by the occupation army, which requires the formation of a completely independent international investigation committee to investigate the kidnapping of the bodies of the martyrs and the theft of their vital organs. The same speaker holds the International Committee of the Red Cross responsible and criticizes its position, which he described as "dull, secondary, confused, and far from humanity and morality."

Al-Thawabta confirmed, “The International Committee was required to document how the bodies were received, describe their condition, and demand that Israel know where they were stolen, if any changes had occurred to them, whether they had personal belongings with them or not, and whether the names of the victims had been identified or not, but the Red Cross did not do that and did not.” He discloses this, and this is a problem he has, which he must rectify and submit detailed reports about.”

Al Jazeera Net was not able to obtain a comment from the International Committee regarding these accusations.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor agrees with the "Government Media Office" on the necessity of forming an independent international investigation committee to investigate what it described as "suspicions" of the occupation army stealing organs from the bodies of martyrs it detained during its current war on Gaza. The Observatory documented - in a detailed statement - observations made by doctors in Gaza who conducted a quick examination of some of the bodies after their release and noticed the theft of organs, such as the cornea of the eye, the cochlea, the liver, the kidneys, and the heart.

Palestinian doctors told the Observatory for Human Rights that the forensic medical examination is not sufficient to prove or deny the theft of organs, especially in light of the presence of previous surgical interventions on several bodies. However, they observed several signs indicating the possibility of organ theft.

Israel was said t have a long history of detaining the bodies of martyrs, as it holds the bodies of at least 145 Palestinians in special refrigerators, in addition to about 255 in the Cemetery of Numbers and 75 missing persons, and refuses to acknowledge the detention of their bodies, according to the Observatory. The Observatory adds that Israel detains the bodies of martyrs and buries them in what it calls “enemy fighters’ graves,” which are secret mass graves located in specific areas, such as closed military zones, in which burials take place anonymously, with numbers engraved on metal plates attached to the bodies or remains.

The Observatory also indicated that it had previously observed the occupation deliberately releasing the bodies of martyrs in the West Bank after a period of detention, while they were frozen at a temperature of up to 40 below zero, with the stipulation that they not be dissected, which conceals the crime of theft.

The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdo, told Al Jazeera Net that Israel has resorted in recent years to legalization that allows for the development of justifications for detaining the bodies of martyrs and stealing their organs, including the decision of the Supreme Court in Israel issued in 2019, which “allows the military ruler to detain the bodies and bury them temporarily in what are known as number cemeteries.”

At the end of 2021, the Israeli Knesset enacted legislation authorizing the police and army to keep the remains of Palestinian martyrs. Abdo says: “In recent years, there have been reports of illegal exploitation of the bodies of martyrs held by Israel, including stealing organs from them and using them in the laboratories of medical schools in Israeli universities.”

For her part, Israeli doctor Meir Weiss revealed - in her book “On Their Dead Bodies” - that organs were stolen from the bodies of martyrs to be transplanted into the bodies of Jewish patients, and used in medical faculties at Israeli universities to conduct research on them. But what is more dangerous than that - according to Abdo - is what was admitted by Yehuda Hess, the former director of the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine in Israel, regarding the theft of human organs, tissues and skin of Palestinian martyrs in different periods of time, without the knowledge or consent of their families.

In 2008, the American CNN network published an investigation showing that Israel is considered the largest global center for the illegal trade in human organs, and that it has been involved in stealing internal organs from Palestinian martyrs to benefit from them illegally.

Abdo said that Israel - which is the only country that detains bodies and practices this as a systematic policy - is content with justifying this policy as an attempt at security deterrence, ignoring international charters and agreements that criminalize this. The same spokesman stressed that refusing to hand over the bodies of the martyrs to their families to bury them with dignity, in accordance with their religious beliefs, may amount to collective punishment prohibited in Article 50 of the Hague Regulations and Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

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 21,978 martyrs, and the killing of more than 7,700 Palestinian children. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The number wounded was 57,697. 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 spokesman for the HAMAS Ministry of Health in Gaza, Ashraf Al-Qudra, stated that 326 health personnel were martyred in the Israeli aggression, and 104 ambulances were destroyed and taken out of service. He confirmed that the occupation deliberately targeted 150 health institutions and put 30 hospitals out of service, in addition to continuing to arrest 99 health personnel in inhumane conditions.

Lebanese Hezbollah announced the killing of one of its members in southern Lebanon during confrontations with Israeli forces, bringing the party's death toll to 134 since last October 8. The statement said, "With greater pride and honor, the Islamic Resistance mourns the martyr, the Mujahid, Ali Ahmed Saad Jibril, from the city of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, who rose as a martyr on the road to Jerusalem," according to the official Lebanese News Agency.

The Israeli bombing led to the killing of a number of civilians, and 3 journalists.

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 177, and 505 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.

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.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that 29 of the army's deaths were caused by "friendly fire" and operational incidents since the start of the ground war in Gaza, late last October. The Israeli authority explained that "18 army soldiers were killed by friendly fire, two were killed as a result of gunfire (without explanation), and 9 Israeli soldiers were killed in ammunition, weapons, or run-over accidents." The Jerusalem Post newspaper revealed that 15 soldiers were killed in the Strip without their bodies being found.

The Israeli army reported that 2,234 soldiers - including 355 seriously injured - have been injured since the beginning of the war on Gaza, including earlier reports of 576 moderate, and 1,161 minor.

At least 12,387 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.

Hostages

The head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), Ismail Haniyeh, said that none of the Israeli prisoners will be released except on the conditions of the resistance. In his speech, Haniyeh said that the resistance is “the master of time and space” in Gaza and Palestine. He added that the Israeli aggression will stop under the blows of the resistance and the steadfastness of the Palestinian people, and the “enemy” has no choice but to surrender to the will of the Palestinian people and the strength of the resistance.

Haniyeh said that the resistance men turned the occupation's tanks and tankers into "charred coffins", and they became legends of steadfastness and resistance before the world. He pointed out that the resistance continues to shoot down "enemy" targets one after another, despite all his attempts to destroy them and retrieve his captured soldiers. He pointed out that the occupation began promoting the transition to the third phase of the war, but "it will fall again in the face of the valor of the resistance."

The head of the Political Bureau stressed that any arrangements regarding resolving the Palestinian issue without the Hamas movement and the resistance factions are “an illusion and a mirage,” as he put it. Haniyeh said that there is no security, stability, or future in the region unless the Palestinian people obtain their legitimate rights in their state, with Jerusalem as its capital.

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.