Operation Iron Swords - Day 107 - 21 January 2024
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NEW - Operations NEW - Operations Maps NEW - By-Standers NEW - Axis of Resistance NEW - Allied for Democracy UPDATED - Oasis of Martyrs UPDATED - Hostages |
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that "there is a broad consensus in Israel against a Palestinian state... Israel's friends need to understand that the push to establish a Palestinian state is a push for the next massacre." Nissim Vaturi, a Likud MK, said "there will be no 'Palestinian' state. The blood of our sons was not spilled so that a terrorist state would be established."
A mistranslation of comments by PM Netanyahu by an Israeli news outlet led to a global media storm. The Israeli news channel i24's incorrectly translated Netanyahu's statement "Israel must have security control over the entire territory west of the Jordan River" as "'Israel must have control from the river to the sea", a prominent Palestinian slogan implying the elimination of the Jewish state, leading to accusations of a deliberate provocation by Netanyahu,, as it could have implied extinguishing Palestinian national aspirations.
In a press conference 18 January 2024, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "For 30 years, I have been very consistent, and I'm saying something very simple. This conflict is not about the lack of a state, a Palestinian state, but about the existence of a state, a Jewish state."
The Wall Street Journal reported American intelligence estimates confirmed that the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) still possesses enough ammunition to strike Israel for several more months, and quoted Israeli officials as admitting that the goal of destroying Hamas during the war on Gaza “was not achieved,” despite Air and ground campaign and massive destruction. The newspaper quoted American officials as confirming that the Hamas movement is restructuring its police force in parts of Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip, in addition to providing emergency services, stressing that the movement’s survival raises questions about the possibility of Israel achieving its goals in the war.
An Israeli military officer also confirmed to the newspaper that Hamas authorities linked to the Ministry of Interior had returned to Gaza City, including areas that the Israeli army said were under its control. Israeli officials acknowledged to the newspaper that Hamas fighters are adapting to the fighting, and military analysts said that the movement's new tactics are to fight in smaller groups and hide the ambushes it sets for Israeli forces, which shows its ability to withstand the destruction of large areas in the Gaza Strip.
Retired Army General Joseph Votel - who led US military operations in the Middle East - confirmed to the newspaper that Hamas is resilient and has shown that it is still capable of fighting despite its losses, as he put it.
US intelligence estimated that the Hamas movement has lost about 20 to 30% of its fighters since the beginning of the war, while the fighters are undertaking more missions to make up for the shortage, but the movement denied suffering significant losses in the number of its fighters, according to the newspaper. The newspaper quoted the American intelligence report that Hamas had between 25,000 and 30,000 fighters before the war, in addition to thousands of policemen and other forces.
Operational Update
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant vowed to expand the ground operations of the occupation army in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip , saying that "smoke will continue to cover the Strip until we achieve our goals." Gallant said that the activity of the Israeli forces in Khan Yunis is large and that it will escalate soon. He added - after an aerial tour in the skies of the Gaza Strip - that smoke will continue to surround the Gaza Strip until Israel achieves what he described as its war goals of undermining the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) and recovering the detainees.
The Israeli minister added, "I just came off an air tour with the 100th Squadron, over the Gaza Strip. I saw the forces operating in the north, center, and south of the Strip. Things seem unusual. I witnessed a direct attack by the Air Force in the south of Gaza City. The accuracy and quality of implementation are important." "The perfect coordination with the forces is very impressive."
The Al Jazeera military and strategic expert, Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi, said that the past three days witnessed two major battles in the northern Gaza Strip , which refutes the statements of the occupation leaders about dismantling the military frameworks of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) in the region and confirms American leaks about Israel’s move away from achieving its war goals.
During his analysis, Al-Duwairi stated that the northern sector witnessed two battles over the past few days. The first was the entry of the occupation forces into the east of the Al-Tuffah and Al-Daraj neighborhoods in Gaza City, which revealed a different military approach as the occupation army tries to control crucial areas of tactical value. He pointed out that the second battle is taking place east of Jabalia camp , despite the intense fire barriers and violent artillery shelling, adding that the defensive battle of the resistance factions is still being managed efficiently and effectively despite the huge difference in military capabilities.
The strategic expert returned to the defense system that was followed by the Al- Qassam Brigades - the military arm of the Hamas movement - before the Israeli ground operation late last October, which was based on the presence of two brigades (Gaza and the North), which included brigades based on regional and geographic defense. He added that the statements of the occupation leaders, long after the Gaza battles, were conflicting and contained “arrogance and self-deception,” but the statement of Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy about “Al-Qassam’s ability to restore its combat structure in the northern Gaza Strip, which requires an expanded operation,” was the most truthful among them.
In this context, Al-Duwairi explained that Al-Qassam reorganized and rehabilitated its brigades after the martyrdom of some of its leaders and appointed others, and modified its defensive frameworks, such as expanding the mission of the Shujaiya Battalion to defend the region and parts of the Al-Tuffah neighborhood and others in redrawing the defensive map.
It is noteworthy that the American newspaper "Wall Street Journal" - citing sources in American intelligence - said that Israel is very far from "destroying the Hamas movement", despite its army killing between 20 and 30% of the movement's fighters since last October 7. The American newspaper quoted these sources as saying that Hamas “has enough ammunition to attack Israel and its forces for several months,” and that it has changed its tactics against Israeli attacks, and that its fighters carried out operations in small groups and set up ambushes for Israeli forces.
In this context, the strategic expert acknowledged that the war on Gaza caused damage to some tunnels and some rocket launching pads, and some Qassam commanders were martyred, but the reality is that these damages did not rise to the level of confusion of the General Staff responsible for managing the battle, as the fighters remained with the same fighting spirit and drive. He pointed out that the tunnels that were destroyed were not combat tunnels because the network of tunnels that were built were either strategic or for different purposes.
Al-Duwairi confirmed American leaks about Hamas possessing enough ammunition to strike Israel for several months, adding that these estimates are approximate. He recalled previous statements about the ability of the Qassam Brigades to fight for 6 months. He pointed out that Hamas has been under siege for years, and lives with absolute self-propelled power, and its main weapon relies on rockets, starting with the “Qassam 1” and ending with the “Ayyash 250”, as well as short weapons. These are the "Al-Yassin 105", "Tandum" and "TBG" missiles, which I manufactured in tunnels according to reverse engineering, in addition to drones. He added that Hamas manufactured weapons that no developed Arab countries had reached this level of manufacturing.
Satellite images obtained by Al Jazeera showed a significant decline in the number of Israeli vehicles stationed on the Gaza coastal strip, after the Israeli army announced the withdrawal of an entire division in the middle of this month. Satellite images - taken on January 19 - showed the presence of between 30 and 40 Israeli vehicles on the coastal strip of Gaza City, which are much smaller numbers than were previously the case. Satellite images on the coast also showed dirt berms created by the IDF at the beginning of the ground incursion - late last October - mostly devoid of machinery.
The imagery also showed a limited concentration of Israeli military vehicles north of the Beach Camp, west of Gaza City, while the largest concentration of Israeli military vehicles was near the coast in the area of the former “Netzarim” settlement, from which the IDF withdrew in 2005. It is noteworthy that the Israeli army announced in the middle of this month that it had withdrawn the 36th Division from the Gaza Strip, which is one of the 4 divisions that Israel deployed in its war on the Strip, while the Israeli Army Radio said that 3 army divisions currently remain in Gaza, namely: the 98th, 99th and the 162nd.
In this context, the newspaper "Israel Today" explained that the 36th Division, which withdrew from Gaza, includes the 6th and 7th Brigades, the Golani Brigade, the 188th Brigade, and the Engineering Corps.
An investigation by the newspaper "Yedioth Ahronoth" revealed more evidence and proof confirming that the Israeli army used the "Hannibal Protocol" from the first moments of the "Al-Aqsa Flood" battle, by firing from the air and artillery towards Palestinian resistance vehicles and Israeli homes in the " Gaza envelope " settlements. ", and at the "Super Nova" music festival, and during the ground incursion into the Gaza Strip, which endangered the lives of Israeli soldiers and civilians and led to the killing of some of them.
According to the investigation published in the “Saturday Supplement” and prepared by investigative journalist and specialist in military and intelligence affairs Ronen Bergman, the “Hannibal” measure was adopted amid a state of chaos and confusion in the field without the soldiers and pilots returning to the high command of the Israeli army and the Chief of Staff.
The "Hannibal" Protocol has returned to application, which is considered the most controversial matter in the Israeli army, as it allows the prevention of kidnapping even at the expense of killing the kidnapped soldiers and civilians. Since the year 2000, it has been canceled repeatedly, after the majority of the army chiefs of staff had reservations about it. But it has returned to haunt the Israeli army since October 7, after its use was revealed in more than one incident and caused the deaths of soldiers and civilians.
But in the last two weeks, Bergman says, “It has become clear that the Hannibal measure, despite its cancellation, and despite not mentioning it by name, has a swirling spirit that affects the conduct of the war and that terrible Black Saturday, and with the confirmation of its use, it returns and the anger and protest of the families of the kidnapped escalates.”
According to the investigative journalist, the evidence and proofs resolved the controversy and mysteries surrounding the event of the house in which the Israeli hostages were held in Kibbutz Bari, when excerpts were published from an interview conducted by General Barak Hiram, the senior military commander in the “Gaza envelope” area, in which he said that he had ordered the tank. By shooting at the house where 13 Israeli hostages were being held, only one of them survived and the others were likely killed by tank fire.
The investigative investigation revealed a top-secret military order issued by the Israeli Army’s Southern Command to all forces that operated on October 7th in the combat zone in the “Gaza envelope” and the western Negev, to do everything, “at all costs,” in order to prevent the return of Hamas forces to Gaza. In Clause No. 7 contained in the secret military order, the following words were clearly stated: “The highest priority for the attack is the defense area and the prevention of attacks. The withdrawal of enemy forces into the Gaza Strip must not be allowed , and any such attempt must be stopped at all costs.” Bergman explained that while reviewing the wording of the military order, there was no mention of the “Hannibal Protocol,” but the choice of words in the secret military order at least indicates what was before the eyes of those who drafted the order in order to avoid any legal accountability regarding the use of “Hannibal.” Israeli fighters destroyed at least 70 vehicles of the elite forces of the Islamic Resistance Movement " Hamas " along the security fence with the Gaza Strip in the hours that followed the issuance of the order, despite estimates of the presence of detained Israeli soldiers and civilians inside the vehicles of the elite forces, according to the investigation. Israeli Air Force officials said in the course of the investigative investigation that it was clear to them that there was a possibility that the kidnappers would also be harmed, whether they were military or civilian, but there was no other option, because this was the order they received, and also because they believed this order was the right thing. For his work.
As the dust of the events of "Black Saturday" began to settle, the Israeli journalist says, "Difficult questions began to emerge. How many kidnappers were killed during these hours by Israeli army fire? Was it permissible to give these orders? What would have happened if they had not been given, for better or for worse?" These issues and questions will preoccupy public opinion in Israel for years.”
The drafting of the “Hannibal Protocol” dates back to February 1986 during the Israeli war on Lebanon, when it was drafted by 3 senior officers in the Northern Command of the Israeli army at that time: Major General Yossi Peled, Commander-in-Chief Gabi Ashkenazi, and Intelligence Commander Colonel Yaakov. Amidror. Commenting on the use of the “Hannibal” Protocol during the events of October 7 and the ground incursion, Amidror, who wrote the original order, said, “The intention was to stop the kidnapping before transporting the kidnapped person to enemy territory, but dropping a bomb from an airplane on a vehicle is exactly what Hannibal’s action is prohibited from doing and doing.”
Amidror reviewed what was stated in the text of the "Hannibal Protocol", saying, "During a kidnapping operation, the main task becomes to rescue our soldiers from the hands of the kidnappers, even at the cost of harming or injuring our soldiers. Light weapons must be fired in order to bring the kidnappers to the ground or arrest them." He added, "If the car or the kidnappers do not stop, weapons (sniper fire) must be fired at them individually, and deliberately, in order to harm the kidnappers, even if that means harming our soldiers. In any case, everything will be done to stop the car and not let it go by fleeing."
For his part, Professor Asa Kasher, who drafted what is known as the “Israeli Army Code of Ethics,” said that he was exposed to evidence related to the army’s use of the saying, “A dead soldier is better than a kidnapped soldier.” According to Kashir, because the document that dealt with the “Hannibal” matter was secret, most of the soldiers who were exposed to the matter, in the southern Lebanon region, as well as in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, heard about the matter and instructions to open fire “from their commanders or from rumors.” Naturally, Kasher says, “many field military commanders gave their interpretation, often very expansive, of giving the green light to open fire in order to prevent the kidnapping of an IDF soldier at any cost.”
The Izz al-Din al -Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), announced that it had killed and wounded 16 Israeli officers and soldiers, and destroyed several military vehicles, partially or completely. Al-Qassam added that its fighters bombed, with mortar shells, 6 times, the field command headquarters and military concentrations of the occupation forces in the various fighting fronts in the Gaza Strip. The Al-Qassam Brigades said that the resistance factions responded to attempts to advance by the occupation forces in eastern Jabalia. It also announced that Israeli soldiers had bombed, northeast of the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, with heavy-caliber mortar shells.
For its part, the Al-Quds Brigades , the military wing of the Islamic Jihad Movement , said that it targeted an Israeli position in the vicinity of the Martyrs Mosque in Khan Yunis, used for command and control. The Al- Quds Brigades said that it targeted with mortar shells a command and control center for the occupation army, in the vicinity of the Martyrs Mosque, south of Khan Yunis. It added that it took control of an Israeli Evo Max 4T reconnaissance aircraft while it was carrying out intelligence missions in the central Gaza Strip. It indicated that it bombed, with 107 missiles and mortar shells, concentrations of occupation soldiers and vehicles, north and east of the Bureij camp in the central Gaza Strip.
Fierce clashes continued between the Palestinian resistance and the occupation forces penetrating north and south of Gaza since dawn on Sunday. The resistance also fired a missile salvo from the north of the Gaza Strip towards the cover areas, while Israeli fighters launched raids on the Beach Camp, west of Gaza City. Iron Dome intercepted a missile launched from the northern Gaza Strip, and sirens sounded in the Kissufim settlement on the Gaza Strip.
The Israeli forces were targeted by heavy artillery shelling east of Jabalia, while Israeli gunboats bombed the coasts of the cities of Deir al-Balah, in the center of the Gaza Strip, and Khan Yunis, in its south. At least five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli artillery shelling east of Jabalia, as the ambulance was unable to reach them. Another two Palestinians were martyred and injured in an Israeli bombing on two houses in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, east of Gaza City, confirming that three others were martyred when a civilian car was targeted in the Yarmouk Market in Gaza City.
At least two Palestinians were martyred and others were wounded by Israeli sniper bullets, in the Al-Katiba area, southwest of Gaza City, amid intense Israeli artillery shelling. The Israeli forces targeted with artillery shelling the Al-Manara neighborhood in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, noting that fierce clashes took place between the resistance and the occupation forces with heavy machine guns, coinciding with Israeli bombing east of Khan Yunis.
The Al-Jazeera investigative documentary film "The Hospital War... The Doctrine of Displacement" reveals that the Israeli military strategy to target hospitals in the Gaza Strip is linked to the occupation's doctrine of displacement, which was practiced against the Palestinians in 1948. Relying on graphic analysis, digital monitoring, and tracking satellite images, the documentary titled “The Hospital War...A Displacement Doctrine” highlights; The real Israeli goals behind emptying hospitals in the Gaza Strip of displaced people who fled the bombing, and it appears that the Israeli military strategy to impose forced displacement was not absent from the 2023 Gaza War, which recorded the highest death toll since the Nakba , according to Palestinian figures.
In his testimony, Johnny Mansour, a historian and lecturer in the Department of Historical Studies at the Academic College in Beit Berl, links what the occupation is practicing today in Gaza and what the Zionist gangs committed during the Nakba. He says that many massacres were committed against the Palestinians in 1948, and targeted hospitals, dispensaries and medical clinics. The occupation then issued instructions and leaflets from aircraft - as is the case today - calling on Palestinians to leave their homes and villages.
According to what was stated in the documentary broadcast on the Al Jazeera YouTube channel, Israel’s war on Gaza in 2023 took a more brutal military turn, focusing on 4 stages, the main title of which were hospitals.
He points out that Israel defined its goals from the first day of the war, as its army announced on October 13 a “safe passage” for displacement using Salah al-Din Street (central Gaza Strip), and asked residents to leave their homes and move towards the south of the Strip, then dropped leaflets calling for Palestinians in Gaza to evacuate their homes. Before that, the Israeli Air Force intensified its raids on civilian buildings in the north and center of Gaza City. In the same context, a retired Brigadier General in the Lebanese Army, Hisham Jaber, indicated in his testimony that since the beginning of the aggression against Gaza, the basic strategy was to displace the largest possible number of Gazans from the Strip and control it.
The documentary focused on the Israeli strategy related to bombing health centers, especially hospitals, to force residents to flee, which was indicated by Elise Baker, a lawyer in the Strategic Litigation Project at the Atlantic Council, who said that since Israel began the war on Gaza, it has bombed medical centers and facilities and workers in the Strip. Health, stressing that the demands to evacuate health facilities and the bombing indicate the existence of a strategy of forced displacement in Israel.
The occupation began its targeting of hospitals - according to the documentary - by cutting off supplies of fuel, electricity and water to the residents of the Strip, and preventing the arrival of medical supplies to hospitals in the northern part in particular as a prelude to implementing the Israeli strategy in its most violent form.
The film - which is Al Jazeera Arabic's first about the ongoing war in Gaza - documents the targeting of subsidiary and main hospitals. On October 9, Beit Hanoun Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip was out of service, two days after the bombing, and then hospitals and health centers went out. From the service successively, until the entire health sector collapsed in the northern Gaza Strip.
The most violent transformation occurred when the occupation army targeted the Baptist Hospital on October 17 with a devastating bombing. This hospital was one of the main gatherings for displaced people from the northern Gaza Strip. In addition to hospitals, the occupation targeted medical teams and ambulances. Ghassan Abu Sitta, a surgeon and volunteer with the Doctors Without Borders mission in Gaza, says that the physical elimination of doctors was systematic and deliberate, as the occupation targeted doctors working in specialties that are very lacking in Gaza, such as a pathologist. Kidney and the only emergency specialist.
Israel established a line of fire forcing the injured and residents of northern Gaza to move south within the specified path on Salah al-Din Street. The documentary concluded - after analyzing the timeline of the targeting of hospitals and their successive exit from service - that there is a direct correlation with the movement of displacement from the north of the Gaza Strip towards the south, with a displacement volume of one million and 900 thousand from the north to the south.
It also obtained special satellite images that followed the implementation of the hospital emptying strategy, and revealed the establishment of a paved road by the Israeli army along a path separating the north and south of the Strip and a checkpoint near Salah al-Din Street, which intersects with what was stated in the leak of the Israeli Ministry of Intelligence policy paper at the 13th meeting. October on the importance of leaving the port of exodus movement within a specific path to impose forced displacement to Sinai as part of plans to empty and divide the sector.
For his part, Gillis Deqiris, a lawyer at the International Criminal Court , confirms that more than one and a half million Palestinians left their areas in a state of forced deportation, while during the Nakba the number reached 700,000 in an entire year, describing what is happening in Gaza as “unprecedented violence.” The film mentions that the Israeli military strategy towards hospitals moved to the southern Gaza Strip, which raises the question of whether hospitals are a means to achieve a larger strategic goal that involves changing the region through forced displacement, as happened in 1948.
Maps
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All maps are lies. “Not only is it easy to lie with maps, it is essential,” wrote cartographer Mark Monmoneir in his book How to Lie with Maps. He showed that condensing complex, three-dimensional spaces onto a two-dimensional sheet of paper is bound to be reductive. 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. These 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
At the conclusion of its recent summit , the Non-Aligned Movement concluded with a position that cannot be described as unique or high-profile regarding the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip , despite it being the most prominent title that dominated the discussions of the leaders and presidents and the previous meetings. This was represented by the position of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni , who adjourned the closing session and announced the conclusion of the summit without reading the final statement, and without reading the Palestine document prepared by the delegations through meetings that lasted 5 days, so that the attendees contented themselves with discussing the draft document and announcing its general lines.
In the "Kampala Document", the political paper approved by leaders and presidents at the conclusion of Summit No. 19, the Non-Aligned Movement called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of Israeli detainees held by the Palestinian resistance.
v It was noteworthy that the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres , participated in the final public session of the Presidents’ Summit, where he reaffirmed his position calling for an immediate ceasefire and the release of detainees. Guterres added that “it is unacceptable for Israel to refuse to recognize the right of the Palestinians to establish their state,” warning that “ "The expansion of the war is an issue that poses a threat to international security."
The Palestinian file imposed itself on the activities of the movement’s meetings as the most urgent at the political level, surpassing in terms of priority other hotspots, whether in Africa, which is hosting the summit, or in a geography beyond it. With a clear plan of action, the “Arab Bloc,” according to the expression used by the Secretary-General of the Ugandan Foreign Ministry, Vincent Bageria, set out to demand a comprehensive position on the Palestinian file. These efforts were led by Palestine’s representative to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour.
At the continental level, South Africa spearheaded the defense of Palestine, both covertly and openly, and its Foreign Minister, Naledi Pandor, presented a plea explaining the background of the case that it referred to the International Court of Justice , in which it requested an exceptional decision forcing Israel to immediately cease fire.
With the support of its neighbor Namibia, South Africa engaged behind closed doors in a round of political and legal discussions, trying to include the term “genocide” in the political declaration on Palestine, but the position of India and Singapore prevented achieving a consensus, under the pretext that the matter was now in the custody of the Court of Justice, which “ “It is at the core of its jurisdiction to determine the legal definition of what Israel is doing.”
India, one of the founding countries of the movement, did not hide where it stood on the issue of the war on Gaza, and its Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said, "The humanitarian crisis requires a permanent solution, and a two-state solution must be pursued." He added, "We must be clear that terrorism and hostage-taking are unacceptable." Delhi's position represents a reversal from its usual position on the Palestine issue, which it has supported historically since the era of Jawaharlal Nehru , through Indira Gandhi , but with the arrival of the Bharatiya Janata Party to power, India began to lean towards Israel, timidly at first, and then with complete openness today.
The surprise came from Nairobi, even if it was relative. Kenya, which is a country close to Israel, described the suffering in Gaza as a “big problem,” and that “the time has come to stop the military operation.” Foreign Minister Alfred Mutua said, “The Israeli response to the October 7 attacks “October reached a level where the humanitarian crisis and loss of life became catastrophic,” but he decided that his country would not sever its relationship with Israel.
Axis of Resistance
Allied for Democracy
There have been numerous reports of disagreements between the US administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the war on the Gaza Strip , and what was whispered behind closed doors is now being reported by various media outlets as preparation for the next Israeli government. American newspapers said that the Biden administration is “looking beyond Netanyahu to achieve its goals in the region,” and that the American administration is trying to lay the foundation with other Israeli leaders in preparation for the formation of a post-Netanyahu government. The Israeli Walla website also revealed that Defense Minister Yoav Galant tried to storm the Prime Minister's office, and the situation almost deteriorated into a fist fight.
Al Jazeera Net reviewed this issue with a number of experts and political analysts, in order to determine the truth of the American position on the Israeli Prime Minister, especially since Washington is still entrenched behind Israel with all forms of supplies in its aggression against the Gaza Strip.
Hassan Mneimneh, a professor at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said, “The American position is still fully aligned with the Israeli desire to eliminate the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ), and this is a consistent position,” and the matter appears to be a matter of differences over method, not over goal. Mneimneh wondered: Why did the American administration allow Israel to kill more than 25,000 Palestinians? He answers that it arms and finances the Israeli killing machine in Gaza. We must balance the press leaks with the clear record over the past months of the American government in its declared positions, and most importantly its behavior to support the Israeli goal of seeking to eliminate Hamas, or as Netanyahu says, “kill Hamas.”
As for the researcher at the German Robert Bosch Academy, Muhammad Darawsha, he said that the dispute between the two administrations began since US President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel in the second week of the war, and this dispute was about two axes: the first was the day after the war, and the other was related to the Palestinian issue in general, and the issue of the two-state solution. However, the Biden administration continued to arm the Israeli army and opened the way for all forms of aggression against Gaza, while trying to improve the atmosphere within the Israeli government and bring some improvements to the ruling coalition. However, it was clear that a confrontation between the two administrations was inevitably coming.
Darawsheh added that Biden is now paying a heavy price for his embrace of the Israeli position, as a result of his declining popularity ahead of the imminent elections, and the image of Israel itself has begun to decline significantly on the American street.
Not far from that, Israeli journalist and political analyst Joab Stern acknowledged the existence of differences between Netanyahu and the American administration, and said that there are expectations that an alternative to the Israeli prime minister will be found soon. He added that the United States is now preparing for the next day after Netanyahu, and perhaps creating a reality completely different from what Netanyahu is doing under the influence of his allies in the ruling coalition of right-wing settlers, to whom Netanyahu has no alternative.
Stern held Netanyahu fully responsible, saying that his leadership of the government does not enjoy confidence from the entire Israeli public, and each one has a different reason. There are those who say that he failed to eliminate Hamas, and there are those who say that he failed to release the “kidnapped,” and there are those who say that from the beginning there was no confidence in his character. For these reasons combined, “Netanyahu has reached the end of the political road, and his days are almost numbered.”
In more detail, Muhammad Darawsheh says that Netanyahu has no political future the day after the war on Gaza. Therefore, he is trying to prolong the war more and more, and he is ready to open an additional front with Lebanon, or with any other country if he is given the opportunity. Darawsha pointed out that Netanyahu believes that there may be early elections in Israel next October, and he wants to position himself as an obstacle to the establishment of a Palestinian state, in the face of figures from the left who are working with the American administration to establish a Palestinian state, and therefore he will try to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. that; His goal is to attract the core base of the Israeli right.
But Hassan Mneimneh disagrees with the previous two proposals, and believes that the media talk about a dispute between the American administration and the Israeli government represents the best service that can be provided to Netanyahu at this time. Because he will say we reject American dictates, and we reject the United States choosing the Israeli prime minister.
Mneimneh stressed that the American position is consistent towards Israel, and deals with the government elected by the Israeli voter. “It is true that Biden would have preferred that Netanyahu not be at the head of the government currently, but he never said that we call for his overthrow.” Because this is considered interference in the affairs of an “allied and friendly” country. Therefore, “this is an exaggeration that the United States cannot undertake, or leak through the media.”
The researcher at the German Robert Bosch Academy enumerates the effects of the war on Gaza at several points. The most important of which are:
- First - Netanyahu's government is the one that will be held accountable for its failure to accomplish what it promised to the Israeli street, namely eliminating Hamas and returning the prisoners in the Gaza Strip. But researcher Darawsha himself stressed that “unfortunately” this government will not be held accountable for the crimes it committed against our people in the Gaza Strip.
- Secondly - Netanyahu’s government believed that it could ignore the Palestinian issue and circumvent it, and go to regional peace agreements with Bahrain, Morocco, and the Emirates, and that the Palestinian issue would dissolve within the steps of normalization that were halted by the Al-Aqsa Flood process .
- Third: The Netanyahu government believed that the so-called economic peace, improving the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank, and transferring funds to Hamas might make the Palestinians forget their national cause and their just demand for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
The professor at the Middle East Institute in Washington pointed out that Netanyahu said a few days ago that he was able to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and we do not expect him today to acknowledge the Palestinian state. The American position regarding demanding that Israel acknowledge the establishment of a Palestinian state in the long term is a formal demand and not a sincere demand.
As for the Israeli political analyst, he believes that after more than 100 days of military battle, Israel was unable to completely eliminate the Hamas movement, and this was its first goal. It was also unable to release those detained by Hamas, and this was the second goal of the war. But it is due to the fact that Netanyahu was able to record some achievements in his war on Gaza. Such as: “directing a severe blow to Hamas fighters and its infrastructure, headquarters and tunnels,” as well as stopping the political measures of the movement that controls the Gaza Strip, and making it not provide any services to the Palestinian people during the last 100 days.
In contrast to this proposal, Hassan Mneimneh says that Netanyahu will ultimately be held accountable and punished, but from within Israel, and not through pressure that the United States may exert. Because it cannot defend its abandonment of its firm position towards Israel.
A report published by the French “Le Figaro” explained that the massive military and diplomatic support provided by US President Joe Biden to Israel places him in an increasingly sensitive position locally and internationally, which may affect his political future. Writer Adrian Golems continued that as the Israeli war on Gaza enters its fourth month, and with the death toll rising to a staggering number, the political cost of this unconditional support continues for Biden.
On the diplomatic level - the author continues - the United States has become increasingly isolated, knowing that the dangers of the conflict expanding to include all parts of the region remain. Internally, Biden is facing criticism within his party as he enters a difficult election campaign to win a second term. According to the Le Figaro report, Joe Biden and his administration are facing increasing difficulty in concealing their frustration with the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu, especially since the United States is closely linked to the consequences of the war, and realizes that it has few means of influencing the course of the war or its end.
Note that the repeated calls made by President Biden and his Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, to the Israeli authorities to take American concerns into account had no effect. The writer added that Biden's relations with Netanyahu are going through a period of coolness, and Blinken has directed direct criticism at the Israeli government, and he had previously assured the Israelis - following the October 7 attacks - that the United States "supports Israel today, tomorrow and always."
According to the report, these warnings were no more effective than previous American requests to Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu even revealed to everyone that he “told the United States that he opposes the principle of establishing a Palestinian state in any post-war scenario,” and added: “The prime minister must be able to say no, even to our friends.”
Le Figaro quoted Joel Benin, professor of Middle Eastern history at Stanford University, as saying: “This is not the first time that major tensions have arisen between the United States and Israel... Despite this, Israel has done what it wants, and this is what is happening now.” He continued: Therefore, it is not surprising that the Netanyahu government resists all American directives and advice to do things in a different way. He said that what is new is the strong opposition of the American people to Israeli policy, which is gaining momentum for the first time in Washington, and it is an important movement among young people and even in American Jewish circles.
The writer stressed that these tensions go beyond the demonstrations of pro-Palestinian activists, and have reached within the Democratic Party, as a group of senators submitted a resolution this week demanding that American aid to Israel now be accompanied by conditions.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said: “Whether we like it or not, the United States is complicit in the nightmare that millions of Palestinians are experiencing today.” As Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts asserted: “Given the way Netanyahu and his government have fought this war, we have serious questions to ask before we move forward in our support.”
The writer stated that the criticism that Biden faced for his support of the Israeli war in Gaza constitutes an increasingly worrying obstacle to his re-election. Benin believes that it is very likely that President Biden will lose the state of Michigan next November due to the conflict in Gaza .
On the other hand, analysts close to the Democrats have now publicly expressed doubts about Netanyahu’s willingness to take into account the sensitive situation in which Biden finds himself. According to Benin, “It is clear that his strategy is to wait until the end of Biden’s term and hope that Trump is elected. Biden does not have a strategy.”
French Foreign Minister Stephane Ségornet announced that “the Palestinians have the right to sovereignty and to establish a state,” after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his opposition to “Palestinian sovereignty” in the Gaza Strip . Ségournet said - on the X platform - that "France will remain faithful to its commitment in order to achieve this goal."
The French minister's position came after Netanyahu's statements in which he opposed the idea of ??Palestinian sovereignty in Gaza, stressing that Israel must maintain "control over the security of the Palestinian territories." The Israeli Prime Minister and members of his government opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state, in a move contrary to the United States’ position calling for pursuing this option after the end of the war on Gaza. Netanyahu said that Israel will not give up its full security control over the lands west of Jordan ( the West Bank ).
Butcher's Bill / Oasis of Martyrs
Palestinian armed group Hamas launched thousands of missiles at Israel and deployed its militants to infiltrate Jewish settlements near the country’s border with Gaza on 07 October 2023. The 1,200 Israelis killed on the first day would be the equivalent of 36,000 Americans killed in an attack, as a proportion to Israel’s population of 9.3 million people (compared to 332 million in the USA). Israeli President Isaac Herzog stated: “Not since the Holocaust have so many Jews been killed in one day". PM Netanyahu stated "On October 7th, Hamas murdered 1,400 Israelis. Maybe more. This is in a country of fewer than 10 million people. This would be equivalent to over 50,000 Americans murdered in a single day. That’s twenty 9/11s. That is why October 7th is another day that will live in infamy."
It is the second largest loss inflicted on the Israeli forces after the 1973 war, as the Palestinian resistance killed more than 1,200, wounded more than 5,132 others, and captured more than 250, most of them military personnel, some of whom were high-ranking officers in the army.
The HAMAS Ministry of Health in the besieged sector announced that the number of victims of the Israeli operation its beginning had risen to 24,927 martyrs, and the killing of nearly 10,000 Palestinian children and 6,600 women killed. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The number wounded was 62,388. The Palestinian Government Media Office in Gaza had said much earlier that the number of missing people had risen to more than 8,000, including including 4,700 children and women, amid expectations that the toll will be double thi figures.
The IDF intensified its military operations in the West Bank, and increased the pace of incursions and raids into cities, towns, and camps, resulting in the martyrdom of 342 Palestinians, the injury of about 3,950, and the arrest of 5,780, according to official HAMAS sources. As of 17 January 2023, the Israeli escalation in the West Bank led to the death of 360 Palestinians, the injury of nearly 2,200, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, and the arrest of about 6,000, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.
More than 130 Hezbollah fighters were killed in Lebanon during exchanges of bombing operations with Israel.
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 195, and 531 deaths since the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on the 7th of October. Among them were at least 56 with the rank of platoon commander, 43 with the rank of company commander, 9 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.
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.
According to the latest data published by the army, the number of wounded soldiers and officers has risen to 1,152 since the start of its ground attack on Gaza on October 27, including 228 seriously wounded, while the total number has reached 2,602 wounded since the outbreak of the war on the 7th of October.
The Israeli army reported that In addition, 2,659 officers and soldiers were injured, including 407 who are still receiving treatment for their injuries in the Gaza battles, and the condition of 48 of them is serious, while 405 were seriously injured, 692 were moderately injured, and 1,562 were described as having minor injuries since the start of the war.
At least 13,340 Israelis were injured, according to i24 TV.
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.
An estimate by the Israeli Ministry of Defense expected that the number of soldiers with disabilities in the war taking place in the Gaza Strip since October 7 of last year would reach 12,500 soldiers. The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that the Soldiers' Rehabilitation Department of the Ministry of Defense has dealt with 3,400 soldiers who were classified as disabled in the army since last October 7.
The Israeli army revealed that about 9,000 of its soldiers have received “psychological assistance” since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, and about a quarter of them have not returned to combat. This came according to a new statement revealed by the Army Medical Corps, according to Channel 12 and the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. According to the statement, nearly 9,000 soldiers have applied for psychological assistance since the beginning of the war, and approximately a quarter of them have not returned to combat.
The statement continued, "In total, about 13,000 regular and reserve soldiers required accompaniment or medical treatment at some level during the fighting, and thousands of them were injured in the battles."
Al Jazeera military and strategic expert Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi expressed his conviction that the numbers of dead and wounded announced by Israel “cannot represent the truth,” due to a discrepancy between the Israeli army’s data and the Walla website, which is close to the army itself.
In an interview with RT, Military strategist retired Tunisian Brigadier General Tawfiq Didi said that the number of Israeli army deaths in the Gaza battles is much greater than what Israel announces. Didi explained in an interview with the “Best Saying” program on RT channel, “The number of people killed in battles can be easily known, as the equation in wars is that for every 3 wounded there is a dead person, and the numbers now in Israel hover around 12,500 wounded and disabled people, and when we divide by Three, we find that the death toll exceeds 4,000, especially after eliminating more than a thousand tanks and armored vehicles, and I know what happens when Kornet missiles hit a tank. Its ammunition explodes and no one is left alive.”
He added, "The Israelis announce their dead only of those of Jewish origin and of the first race, meaning all Arabs, Falash, and those who are among them. They are not counted because they are of the second category. So I am sure that the number exceeds 4 thousand dead, and this is a very easy military calculation." He pointed out, "The Palestinian resistance documented everything it did, unlike the Israelis. The resistance documented shooting at tanks and armored vehicles and destroying the houses in which the Israeli soldiers were holed up, and we saw them being killed... We saw the Kornet hitting the tanks, we saw Al-Yassin 105, so the difference is clear."
Hostages
The Al -Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) published a picture carrying a message addressed to the families of Israeli detainees in the Gaza Strip. Al-Qassam said: “The choice is yours, whether in coffins or alive. Your government is lying. Time is running out.” The Al-Qassam Brigades previously announced the killing of many of its Israeli detainees in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip since the start of the war. On January 13, the Al-Qassam Brigades announced via a video clip that it had lost contact with a cell responsible for four Israeli detainees it had held in Gaza since 2014.
Meanwhile, families of Israeli detainees in Gaza continue to demonstrate in front of Benjamin Netanyahu's house in Caesarea, south of Haifa, in an attempt to pressure him to conclude a deal with the Palestinian resistance to release their detained children in the Gaza Strip. On Saturday morning, the Israeli occupation army dropped leaflets on the cities of Rafah and Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip, including - for the first time since the start of the war - pictures of Israeli detainees held by the resistance in the Strip. The leaflets called on Palestinians to report any information about the detainees via a phone number.
Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets on the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip , bearing pictures of Israelis detained in the Strip, and called on Palestinians to inform the Israeli army if they recognized any of them. The leaflets carried pictures and names of 69 Israelis detained by the Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza, most notably the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ). These leaflets were written: “Do you want to return home? Please report if you identify one of them.” The Israeli army attached a phone number and website to send information. Among the most prominent Israelis whose photos appeared in the publications: Afere Mengistu, Hisham Shaaban al-Sayyid, Hadar Goldin, and Oron Shaul, who were captured by the Al -Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the Hamas movement - during the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip in 2014.
The White House confirmed that talks on the release of Israeli prisoners held by the resistance in the Gaza Strip constitute a priority for the administration of President Joe Biden , and at the same time denied that an agreement in this regard was close. Strategic Communications Coordinator at the US National Security Council, John Kirby, confirmed that talks to reach a new agreement to release Israeli prisoners detained in Gaza are still ongoing, but the features of a deal are not yet on the horizon. Kirby added in an interview with the American network NBC that the American coordinator for the Middle East, Brett McGurk, visited the Qatari capital, Doha, last week for this goal.
In the same context, the American website Axios reported that US envoy McGurk will visit Cairo and Doha this week to advance negotiations on the release of prisoners. The website quoted unnamed sources that the Biden administration is convinced that reaching a deal regarding the prisoners will lead to stopping the war on the Gaza Strip.
In this regard, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his categorical rejection of the conditions of the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) for a prisoner exchange deal.
Regarding what was published by the Wall Street Journal about the existence of a proposal for a prisoner exchange deal, which includes Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu said that he categorically rejects the proposal because it amounts to demanding Israel to surrender, considering continued military pressure the only way to recover the Israeli hostages.
For his part, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said that he supports any agreement, no matter how painful, as he described it, that ultimately leads to the release of prisoners held by the Palestinian resistance in Gaza. Lapid added in statements reported by Israeli Army Radio that he confirmed in the Knesset and to Netanyahu personally his support for such an agreement, even if its price was a ceasefire. Lapid believed that removing the hostages from Gaza was a first step to eliminating the Hamas movement, as he put it. Israeli cities are witnessing many demonstrations and sit-ins demanding the conclusion of a prisoner exchange deal and the return of their relatives in Gaza.
Israel had previously estimated there were 116 living hostages in Palestinian custody. Israel declared 20 out of 136 people in Gaza captivity dead in absentia, after announcing its forces had recovered the bodies of two hostages. By another count, 132 of them are still being held in Gaza, and 25 of them have been confirmed dead. 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' Club revealed that about 11,000 arrests were carried out by the Israeli army during the year 2023 in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, in addition to arrests from the Gaza Strip before the seventh of last October. The number of people arrested by the occupation in the West Bank since that date has exceeded 6,000. The total number of prisoners in Israeli prisons is 8,800, as documented by the club until the end of December 2023. The Prisoners' Club stated that cases of arrest among women amounted to (300), and this toll includes women from the occupied interior detained after October 7, while the number of cases of children reached 1,085. The arrest campaigns affected all groups, including women and children, as the number of women who were arrested reached about 200, while the number of arrests among children until the end of last December exceeded 355 children. The number of administrative detainees in Israeli prisons reached more than 3,290, which is the highest percentage since the years of the 1987 Intifada.
Israel said on 14 January 2024 that, since the beginning of the war, approximately 2,650 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. On 08 January 2024 it was reported that more than 1,350 wanted persons had been arrested throughout the Judea and Samaria Division and the Bekaa and Valleys Division, more than 870 of whom are associated with the terrorist organization Hamas.
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