Operation Iron Swords - Day 112 - 26 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

Tomorrow, 27 January 2024. is Holocaust Memorial Day, the day for everyone to remember the millions of people murdered in the Holocaust, under Nazi Persecution, Jews Roma and Sinti people, disabled people, gay people, political opponents and others, and in the genocides which followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur.

On the 112th day of the war, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to “take all measures in its power” to prevent genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in a preliminary ruling that was generally consistent with the advice in reent weeks from the Biden Administration. The preliminary ruling delivered by the 17-judge ICJ ordered Israel to enable the provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance in Gaza, but stopped short of ordering a cease-fire in the embattled territory,

The full measures in the final ICJ order, are:

1. Israel shall, "in accordance with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of this Convention, in particular: (a) killing members of the group; (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.
2. Israel shall ensure with immediate effect that its military does not commit any acts described in point 1 above:
3. Israel shall take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide in relation to members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip:
4. Israel shall take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip:
5. Israel shall take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence related to allegations of acts within the scope of Article II and Article III of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide against members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip:
6. Israel shall submit a report to the Court on all measures taken to give effect to this order within one month as from the date of this Order.

Of the 17 judges on the panel, one ad hoc Israeli judge and another permanent ICJ judge voted mostly against the six emergency measures. Ugandan judge Julia Sebutinde voted against all the provisional measures South Africa sought against Israel. She is the first African woman on the ICJ. Sebutinde is a British-trained Ugandan judge who had been a member of the court since 2012. From 2005 to 2011, Sebutinde was a Judge of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, reportedly handling several high-profile war crime and corruption trials.

South African foreign minister Naledi Pandor at the Hague said she would have wanted the #ICJ to explicitly call for a ceasefire, but says the only way Israel can meet the order of the court is for their to be a ceasefire. “I believe that in exercising the order there would have to be a ceasefire, without it the order doesn't actually work."

The Islamic Human Rights Commission stated "Today’s decision by the International Court of Justice that Israel has a right to wage war in Gaza but that it should take care to ensure it does not commit genocidal acts falls far short of what is required to rein in the apartheid regime. While the decision acknowledges that Israel has a case to answer for genocide, the remedy fails to take account of the endemically violent nature of the Israeli beast. The court is effectively putting the fox in charge of a hen house it has mercilessly ravaged for over three months.... The failure to protect the beleaguered Palestinians highlights just how deeply the instruments of justice have been colonised by the West and are exploited to expand and preserve their global power."

The ICJ stated "At the present stage of the proceedings, the Court is not required to ascertain whether any violations of Israel’s obligations under the Genocide Convention have occurred. Such a finding could be made by the Court only at the stage of the examination of the merits of the present case.... In the Court’s view, at least some of the acts and omissions alleged by South Africa to have been committed by Israel in Gaza appear to be capable of falling within the provisions of the Convention."

The Biden administration claimed it had asked Israel to protect civilian life but that has not shielded it from heavy criticism, including internally, for failing to convince Israel to hold higher regard for innocent lives in Gaza. This administration is concerned with the growing number of members of Congress, particularly moderate Democrats in the Senate who are raising red flags about the misuse of US weapons and the potential for US complicity if they continue to send unconditional supplies to Israel. The ICJ ruling could add steam to the push for a ceasefire in Gaza and for the US to insist on a higher level of accountability when it comes to Israeli military action.

South Africa submits that the evidence before the Court “shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention that justifies a plausible claim of genocidal acts”. It alleges, in particular, the commission of the following acts with genocidal intent: killing, causing serious bodily and mental harm, inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group. According to South Africa, genocidal intent is evident from the way in which Israel’s military attack is being conducted, from the clear pattern of conduct of Israel in Gaza and from the statements made by Israeli officials in relation to the military operation in the Gaza Strip. The Applicant also contends that “[t]he intentional failure of the Government of Israel to condemn, prevent and punish such genocidal incitement constitutes in itself a grave violation of the Genocide Convention”.

Israel submits that the appropriate legal framework for the conflict in Gaza is that of international humanitarian law and not the Genocide Convention. It argues that, in situations of urban warfare, civilian casualties may be an unintended consequence of lawful use of force against military objects, and do not constitute genocidal acts.

The Court recalled that, in order for acts to fall within the scope of Article II of the Convention, “the intent must be to destroy at least a substantial part of the particular group. That is demanded by the very nature of the crime of genocide: since the object and purpose of the Convention as a whole is to prevent the intentional destruction of groups, the part targeted must be significant enough to have an impact on the group as a whole.”

The court deemed it necessary to emphasize that all parties to the conflict in the Gaza Strip are bound by international humanitarian law. "It is gravely concerned about the fate of the hostages abducted during the attack in Israel on 7 October 2023 and held since then. By Hamas and other armed groups and calls for their immediate and unconditional release,”

The ICJ in its provisional measures did not order Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza. South Africa had requested such a cease-and-desist directive in its request for provisional measures, citing the prospect of genocide in Gaza. The court had ordered Russia to halt its war in Ukraine in March 2022, a month after it had launched an invasion of Ukraine, though Moscow has ignored that ruling.

Israel is required, under the ICJ’s ruling, to submit a report within a month showing that it is complying with the provisional measures. South Africa will have the chance to pick holes in Israel’s claims.

When South Africa filed its case at the ICJ in late December 2023, Israeli officials dismissed it as “lies” and accused the South Africans of “hypocrisy”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel would not be swayed by any ruling.

The Oman Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated "While the Sultanate of Oman welcomes the court’s decisions and stresses adherence to them, it stresses the necessity of immediately stopping all forms of Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories and lifting the siege imposed on them in a way that ensures safe entry for all types of humanitarian needs. The Sultanate of Oman also calls on the international community to oblige Israel, the occupying state, to stop military operations and acts of genocide against the Palestinian people, expressing its deep appreciation to the Republic of South Africa for its honorable position in standing by human rights and justice."

Israel argued that the acts complained of by South Africa are not capable of falling within the provisions of the Genocide Convention because the necessary specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinian people as such has not been proved, even on a prima facie basis. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that “[t]he accusation of genocide against Israel is not only wholly unfounded as a matter of fact and law, it is morally repugnant”. Israel also stated that “[t]he accusation of genocide . . . is not just legally and factually incoherent, it is obscene”

“Israeli politicians have already said that they’re going to ignore the ICJ order,” Mark Lattimer, the executive director of Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights, told Al Jazeera. “It is much harder for, particularly, the US and European states including the UK, to ignore the order because they have a much stronger record of holding or supporting the International Court of Justice.”

Legal experts expect Israel’s allies in the West, including the US, to respect the ICJ’s ruling. To fail to do so would have serious repercussions. It would undermine the “credibility of the rules-based international order that the US claims to uphold”, Lattimer said. He added that it would also “entrench a growing divide” between the US and Western countries versus states in the Global South which view those claims of “upholding global order” with scepticism.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said it was a welcome reminder that "no state is above the law.” Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official, told Reuters the decision would contribute to "isolating the occupation and exposing its crimes in Gaza." The advocacy group Human Rights Watch applauded the ruling. While the court itself does not have the power to enforce the interim ruling, or indeed the final verdict it delivers in the case, its directives could influence the war in Gaza, said analysts. Pressure has been mounting on Israel and its American backers in recent weeks, as global calls for a ceasefire continue to pick up steam.

The ruling does not determine whether Israel is committing genocide, as South Africa has alleged. But Judge Joan Donahue, the current president of the ICJ, said while announcing the provisional measures that the court had concluded that the “catastrophic situation” in Gaza could get much worse by the time it delivers its final verdict, necessitating provisional measures.

“The ruling sends a strong message to Israel that the court views the situation as very serious and that Israel should do what it can to perform restraint in carrying out its military campaign,” said Michael Becker, an assistant professor of international human rights law at Trinity College in Dublin who also served as an associate legal officer at the International Court of Justice in The Hague from 2010 to 2014.

Though the International Court of Justice did not directly issue an order for a ceasefire in Gaza, the University of London’s Nimer Sultany tells Al Jazeera that the measures it did order require Israel to dramatically reduce its military operations. “Courts will be reluctant to order any kind of measures that will not be enforced, because this shows the weakness of the court,” he said, explaining why the ICJ chose not to issue a direct ceasefire order. Instead, he said, “They indirectly and effectively call for a drastic scaling down of the Israeli military campaign.”

Using the example of the court’s order for Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, Sultany said that there is no way Israel can comply if it continues to prosecute the war in its current form. “If Israel dismisses this ruling by the ICJ in the same way it dismissed the opening of an investigation by the [International Criminal Court] a coupe of years ago, and the same way it dismissed the Human Rights Watch and Amnesty [international] reports on apartheid, it will reaffirm its position as a rogue state,” Sultany said.

While the ruling itself does not call for a ceasefire, it could make it harder for Israel’s allies to continue to stonewall global efforts to bring the war to a halt. “The ICJ ruling puts a lot more pressure on the US and other Western allies to move on a ceasefire resolution,” Zaha Hassan, a human rights lawyer and a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Al Jazeera. “It makes it a lot harder for the US, along with Israel, to make the case to Western governments that are still very much concerned with international legitimacy, to maintain the idea that Israel is acting within the constraints of international law in Gaza and that it’s acting in self-defence.”

Amnesty International stressed in a statement that Israel must comply with the ruling of the International Court of Justice by doing everything in its power to prevent genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The organization added that an immediate ceasefire by all parties is a necessary condition for implementing temporary measures and ending the suffering of civilians, as it put it.

Operational Update

Armed clashes broke out between Palestinian resistance fighters and the Israeli occupation forces during their storming of the city of Tubas in the northern West Bank , as a continuation of the incursions carried out by the occupation in conjunction with its war on the Gaza Strip . The occupation forces surrounded several sites in Tubas, and deployed snipers in some buildings. The Israeli occupation forces stormed the Shuafat refugee camp, north of the occupied city of Jerusalem, coinciding with the closure of the military checkpoint at the entrance to the camp. Earlier, the Israeli occupation forces stormed Manger Square in the center of Bethlehem and attacked Palestinian police officers present at the place. Manger Square is considered one of the main landmarks under the security and civil control of the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank.

Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Al-Qassam Brigades, had announced the killing of 53 Israeli soldiers from scratch and the sniping of 9 others in operations carried out against the occupation forces in the Gaza Strip during the past week. Abu Ubaida said - in a statement published on the official account of the Al-Qassam Brigades on Telegram - that during the past week, Al-Qassam fighters destroyed 68 military vehicles, completely or partially, in the Gaza Strip. He added that they killed and wounded dozens of Israeli soldiers in 57 different military missions during the same period.

Since the first days of the war in the Gaza Strip , the Israeli army and its supporters began talking about the situation of the Strip after the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) within a strategy aimed at strengthening the psychological warfare efforts accompanying the military operations, targeting the residents of the Strip and various countries that may sympathize with the Palestinians and their resistance.

Most of the scenarios that are put forward are based on the assumption that the state of war will stop in the near term, which is doubtful if it will happen due to the divergence of the political positions of the two main parties to the conflict, and the confrontation between them approaching an existential conflict.

The post-war scenarios that the occupation and its supporters talked about can be summarized as follows:

• The return of the Palestinian Authority alone after its revitalization, according to the American vision stated by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on December 15.
• The deployment of Arab or international forces in the Gaza Strip after the end of the war, a scenario to which Israel announced its approval, according to the Israeli Broadcasting Authority on November 16, 2023.
• Long-term Israeli security control, which places it in a state of occupation even if there is a civilian authority subordinate to it, a position that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on January 22, 2024.
• Displacing the population of the Gaza Strip outside Palestine, whether to Egypt or to distant countries across the sea. These are positions stated by the Israeli Ministers of Finance and National Security on December 4, 2023.

On the other hand, the Palestinians discussed other scenarios

• A consensus had been reached between Hamas and the Palestinian National Liberation Movement ( Fatah ), or the Authority, regarding the management of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, as understood from the statements of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on December 13, 2023.
• The previous formula remains, which is Hamas control, while the legal description of the Strip remains as part of the Palestinian Authority.
• A local civil administration that is not necessarily affiliated with the Palestinian Authority, with the Gaza Strip being considered a liberated land in which there is a de facto authority that takes upon itself the management of civil affairs until the liberation is completed. This reflects an appreciation that the West Bank is still under occupation.

In parallel, attempts by the extreme right appeared to exploit the war to impose facts in the West Bank that would pave the way for the displacement of Palestinians from there to Jordan, and to undermine what remained of the political character of the Palestinian Authority, and to confine it to an exclusively security and service role.

As for the re-occupation of the Gaza Strip, it is clear that the occupying state does not have the desire or ability to do so in its clear and crude form, but it seeks, as usual, for a low-cost occupation by establishing a civil administration subject to the occupation, funded by the international community and some Arab countries, while maintaining security control. She has the right to enter whenever she wants and act however she wants, as appeared in the statements of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant.

This solution will not be accepted by the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, especially after they have lived outside the occupation’s direct control since the Israeli withdrawal from the Strip in 2005, which portends a prolonged conflict if the occupation and its allies try to impose any similar scenario. For Hamas and the rest of the resistance factions, resistance work constitutes the justification for their existence, whether by practicing military resistance action, or by preparing for it by manufacturing weapons, building tunnels, and training.

Indeed, Operation Al-Aqsa Flood indicates the absolute priority of military resistance action by the Hamas movement to the extent that maintaining authority in the Gaza Strip is not considered an important matter in its awareness except to the extent that it is linked to its impact on resistance action, whether positive or negative.

On the other hand, the Israeli existential obsession at the present time is the obsession with security, which prompts the occupation government to resist many internal and external pressures to continue its efforts to undermine the greatest possible amount of the military and civilian power of the Hamas movement.

Therefore, there is an almost zero-sum game for both parties, although its severity is less for other parties, such as the American administration and Western countries, as the scenarios for the return of authority to the Gaza Strip adopted by Washington include an implicit acceptance of Hamas remaining in the Strip, but it seeks to be the movement then. Deterred by the effects of war and the presence of Palestinian or international security forces, which is a low probability of being achieved.

The United States insists on limiting talk about solutions to the confrontation within the framework of the political settlement process and the two-state solution project, as US President Joe Biden stated, “While we strive for peace, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank must be reunited under one governance structure, and ultimately under... A renewed Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution.”

Through this position, the American administration aims to preserve the structure and form of this process, despite the extremely small possibility of achieving this solution, which indicates that the goal of its position is to preserve the role of conflict management without resolving it, which can be described as a “cook of gravel” that does not produce a solution, but rather an illusion. It calms the people and hinders their involvement in resisting the occupation more broadly.

American positions emerged stressing the need for the Palestinian Authority to assume responsibility for the Gaza Strip and equip it to play this role, as stated in Biden’s statements mentioned above. However, the reality of the authority shows that it is incapable of assuming this role. In the first place, it does not have the political legitimacy that would cover any security role it is supposed to play, especially with the level of Israeli extremism and stubbornness that cannot give it the margin to appear national, which means that it will It has been in conflict with the residents of the Gaza Strip since day one, unless its arrival was in agreement with the resistance movements in particular.

In contrast to the proposals of the occupation and the United States, the ceiling of Palestinian resistance remains high, despite the comprehensive destruction and the heavy humanitarian bill, while it has issued signals that it may accept interim arrangements that will reduce the severity of this round of confrontation.

This position indicates two things, the first of which is the resistance’s confidence that it cannot be bypassed and any arrangements imposed without it. The second is its awareness that the regional and international balance of power does not provide it with the opportunity to impose the best arrangements for it at the present time, such as declaring the Gaza Strip a liberated land and a starting point for completing the work to liberate the rest of Palestine, and the presence of a de facto authority there whose legitimacy is established by some countries’ recognition of it. This matter is linked to the ability to break the blockade by land or sea, a matter for which the conditions have not yet matured.

Such a position seeks to avoid the crystallization of a regional and international political position towards post-war political options without the presence of the movement, which makes confronting these options more costly compared to early engagement in the ongoing dialogues in this regard, especially with parties with which it has relations such as Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, in addition. To the Fatah movement. This also comes in recognition that it will be difficult for the resistance to bear the burdens of managing and rebuilding the sector on its own, especially in light of the hardening of Western positions towards it following the Al-Aqsa Flood operation.

However, the possibility of achieving consensus with the Fatah movement regarding the management of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank is small due to the wide gap between what the United States wants from this authority and what the Palestinians in general and the resistance factions in particular want, in addition to the impact of the escalation of resistance activities in the West Bank, which continues the conflict between the popular forces and the authority over the nature of Its relationship with the occupation.

Excluding the scenarios with low probability of being realized, if neither the Authority nor the occupation nor the regional guarantors are able to impose authority on the Gaza Strip contrary to the will of its people and their resistance, the scenario remains the return of the previous state of war, or the formation of a civil administration that expresses the people of the Gaza Strip and is not imposed by external parties. So that it carries out humanitarian relief and reconstruction missions.

The condition for the success of such authority is that an administration be able to come to terms with the resistance and not be hostile to it. This is something that can be achieved by consensus in the Gaza Strip. Otherwise, the attempt to impose any arrangements based on making the occupation’s hand the upper hand means the continuation of this war indefinitely, even if its forms and levels are multiple.

Israeli estimates dealt with the Israeli army’s plan to establish a buffer zone along the security fence with the Gaza Strip under the pretext of providing security and allowing the settlers of the enclave to return. The Israeli army destroyed 1,072 buildings out of 2,824 buildings that were one kilometer or less from the border, which constitutes 40% of the buildings in Border areas.

Since the start of the ground attack launched by the Israeli occupation on the Gaza Strip, a number of Israeli officials have reiterated the intention of the occupying army to establish a buffer zone inside the Strip, in an attempt to besiege the Palestinian resistance and limit the impact of its operations across the separation fence.

Energy and Infrastructure Minister Eli Cohen explicitly declared that Gaza's territory would "shrink," while Defense Minister Yoav Galant called for the creation of an indefinite buffer zone inside the Strip in a way that would push the Palestinian resistance away from the "borders," which is A position that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu largely supports.

The statements of the Israeli army decided the matter, as it was the first public confirmation that the strategy was “under implementation,” according to a report by the Washington Post. Israeli occupation army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus said earlier this month, "It is one of the additional efforts that are being implemented after October 7."

The idea of the "buffer zone" that the Israeli state intends to create in the Gaza Strip belongs to a previous traditional strategy in Israeli security theory called "strategic depth." This strategy aims to control foreign lands indefinitely in order to enhance security from external threats. Israel sought to implement it during its operation against the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014, but failed to achieve it. It is an attempt to circumvent the idea of reoccupying the Gaza Strip, which receives great opposition.

The sudden Al-Aqsa flood operation on October 7 led to a perception among the Israeli occupation that strategies to contain the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) and create deterrence equations with it are unable to guarantee Israel's security. This forces the IDF to take new approaches to dealing with the sector.

The experiences of the Israeli forces in Gaza and southern Lebanon indicate the failure of the “strategic depth” strategy to provide security. Former Director of the Strategic Planning Department in the Israeli army, Shlomo Brom, says that Israel sought “to protect our borders around Gaza by providing Hamas with more suitable targets: soldiers and settlers in the Gaza Strip,” referring to the phase of the Israeli military presence in the Strip before 2005.

Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak says, "We were protecting our front line in southern Lebanon as if it were the walls of Jerusalem. We brought in heavier weapons and more troops without even noticing that we were not defending anything strategic." These quotes highlight the shortcomings of re-establishing the “strategic depth” in the Gaza Strip today, whether at the level of reoccupying it or creating a buffer zone within it.

The buffer zone may temporarily push the fighting away from the Gaza border, but Israel's experiences inside Gaza and Lebanon make clear that each occupation has only served to provide the resistance with political legitimacy for its actions and easy targets for its attacks. Therefore, it is unlikely that the “buffer zone” will limit the effectiveness of resistance actions, especially the ongoing missile effort launched from deep in Gaza.

On the Palestinian level, any reduction in the area of ??the Gaza Strip will represent aggression, as the reduction constitutes an intensification of the siege and pressure on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and will deprive Gazans of agricultural spaces, and will deepen the population crisis in light of Israel’s demolition of more than 70% of the buildings in the northern Gaza Strip and the possibility of this being repeated in the middle. And south of the sector.

The population of the Gaza Strip suffers from overcrowding, as it is one of the most densely populated areas in the world, which will cause great population pressure within the cities and camps of the Strip, which raises questions about the relationship between the establishment of a buffer zone that consumes about 20% of the area of Gaza and the forced and voluntary displacement projects adopted by ministers in the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu government.

The Palestinian resistance is likely to deal with any attempt to keep Israeli army forces in the Gaza Strip as legitimate targets, which will represent a challenge and exhaustion to the occupation forces that the Palestinian resistance will use to its advantage. A number of experts and former security personnel in Israel have previously warned against such an option.

Israeli estimates also suggest that the problems caused by the buffer zone in the Gaza Strip may outweigh the benefit of its establishment, as it is reminiscent of the buffer zone in southern Lebanon and the state of fighting that Israel experienced for many years until it withdrew, a scenario that may be repeated with the Strip.

The idea of a buffer zone has received Palestinian, Arab and international rejection. Despite the constant skepticism about the American position, the administration of President Joe Biden has repeatedly expressed its rejection of any reduction in the area of the Strip. Egypt and Jordan also reject the idea explicitly and directly, and the Wall Street Journal said that the project is meeting with increasing frustration among American officials, who say that they expressed their opposition to plans to establish buffer zones in the Gaza Strip, and then watched Israel move forward with what it wants, considering that establishing the buffer zone It is a reduction of Gaza's territory and a violation of international law.

The Wall Street Journal confirmed that the US administration is facing difficulties by pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the buffer zone project, saying that it may accept the establishment of a "temporary buffer zone." The US administration also warned that Israel's establishment of a buffer zone may make it difficult to persuade Arab countries to help in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip after the end of the war, according to its words.

The state of confusion that is plaguing the Israeli occupation state regarding the goals of the aggression against Gaza and the possibility of achieving them has become apparent, and it appears that there is fluctuation and instability in the declared goals of the aggression between eliminating Hamas, security control of the Gaza Strip and displacing its Palestinian population to Egypt, and then moving on to talk about eliminating Hamas's military capabilities and preventing its management of the Strip, while the idea of a buffer zone has recently emerged.

The Lebanese "Hezbollah" announced that its fighters targeted a gathering of Israeli soldiers on Friday evening on Cobra Hill and the Zarit barracks with Burkan missiles, causing direct casualties. The party said in a statement: “In support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in support of their valiant and honorable resistance, the Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance, at 11:05 pm on Friday 01/26/2024, targeted the positioning and deployment of Zionist enemy soldiers near Metulla.” With missile weapons, they achieved direct hits on them.”

He stated in another statement: “In support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and in support of their brave and honorable resistance, the Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance, at 10:00 pm on Friday 01/26/2024, targeted a gathering of Israeli enemy soldiers on Cobra Hill.” "With two Burkan missiles, he was hit directly."

Deputy Secretary General of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Sheikh Naim Qassem, said that “unless the war in Gaza stops, it cannot stop in Lebanon.” He stressed in a speech during the launch ceremony of the book “The Supreme Commandments” by Imam Khamenei, “If Israel expands its targeting of Lebanon, we will respond with expansion with the fourth range and effective force, and the Israeli entity understands what we are saying.”

Sheikh Naeem Qassem stressed that "any political discussion related to the southern front is postponed until after the war in Gaza." He added: "There is no connection between political entitlements, whether the issue of the presidency of the republic or anything else, with what is happening in the south, and there is no trade-off between what is happening in the south and any political entitlement." He stated that Hezbollah will continue to confront Israel and work inside Lebanon to help the people and prepare at every moment to elect a president of the republic if an agreement is reached.

Four Iranian and diplomatic sources told Reuters news agency that Chinese officials asked their Iranian counterparts to help “restrain the attacks launched by the Ansar Allah group ( Houthis ) on ships in the Red Sea , otherwise damage could be caused to trade relations with Beijing.” The agency quoted these Iranian sources as saying that discussions regarding the attacks and trade between China and Iran took place during several meetings held recently in Beijing and Tehran. The sources declined to give any other details about when the meetings were held, or who participated in them.

Essentially, China is saying, "If our interests are harmed in any way, it will affect our business with Tehran. So ask the Houthis to exercise restraint," said an Iranian official familiar with the deliberations, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. According to Reuters, the four sources indicated that Chinese officials did not make any specific comments or threats regarding how trade relations between Beijing and Tehran could be affected if their interests were harmed as a result of the Houthi attacks.

The Iranian sources said that Beijing made clear that it would feel very disappointed towards Tehran if any ships linked to China were attacked, or the country's interests were affected in any way. An informed Iranian source pointed out that although China is important to Iran, Tehran has “agents” in Gaza , Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, in addition to the Houthis in Yemen, and that its regional alliances and priorities play a major role in its decision-making.

The attacks - which the Houthis say are aimed at supporting the Palestinians in Gaza in the face of the raging Israeli war on the Strip - have led to an increase in the cost of shipping and insurance as a result of the disruption they caused to a major trade route between Asia and Europe that is widely used by ships sailing from China.

Yesterday, the leader of the Ansar Allah group, Abdul Malik Al Houthi, said that operations in the Red Sea will continue until food and medicine reach the entire Gaza Strip. Al-Houthi added - in a televised speech - that the Red Sea battle "is linked to what is happening in Gaza, and is not separate as the Americans portray it, and it will stop with the cessation of Zionist crime." Al-Houthi confirmed that his forces "have so far used more than 200 drones and more than 50 ballistic and winged missiles in this battle, which aims to support the Palestinian people, and has no other goals," he said.

Maps

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. Indeed, by late January 2024 mappers were rather less exuberant in their depictions of IDF advances. While by the end of 2023 maps suggested that it was "mission accomplished" in North Gaza which was depicted as entirely pacified, by late January 2024 enclaves of IDF elements were depicted at the margins of Gaza City, much of North Gaza was now depticted as either HAMAS-controlled, or "contested". Another noteworthy cartographic ambiguity is found to the south of Khan Yunis in the stretch of Salah Al-Deen avenue running north from Al-Nasr through al-Fukhari to the vicinity of Tawhid Mosque in the environs of Khan Yunis proper. By the end of 2023 some cartographers indicated that a large swath of territory centered on this avenue had been liberated by the IDF, while other cartographers professed no knowlege of an IDF presence in that part of the Strip. By late January 2024 there are suggestions that while the avenue itself is an IDF permissive corridor for nearly the full length of the Strip, much of adjacent territory is not.

Bystanders

The spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, said that the Secretary-General, António Guterres, will immediately transmit the notification of the interim measures of the International Court of Justice to the UN Security Council. Dujarric added in a press conference that Guterres affirms that the decisions of the International Court of Justice are binding and he is confident that all parties will abide by them in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the system under which the court was established.

World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus slammed comments from Israeli authorities accusing the WHO of colluding with Hamas. “WHO refutes Israel’s accusation at the Executive Board meeting yesterday that WHO is in collusion’ with Hamas and is ‘turning a blind eye’ to the suffering of hostages being held in Gaza,” Ghebreyesus said in a social media post. “Such false claims are harmful and can endanger our staff who are risking their lives to serve the vulnerable. As a United Nations agency, WHO is impartial and is working for the health and well-being of all people.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society says that for the fifth day in a row, Israeli forces are targeting the vicinity of its headquarters in al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis with “intense shelling and gunfire”. The PRCS also said that for the past three days, Israeli forces have imposed a complete curfew in the hospital vicinity, preventing the movement of ambulance teams to and from the hospital. “The Palestine Red Crescent expresses deep concern for the safety of its teams besieged in Al-Amal Hospital and calls on the international community to urgently act to protect its personnel working there,” the organisation said.

Othman Muqbil, CEO of Action for Humanity - the largest non-profit organization in Britain - drew attention to the methods used by Israel to end all aspects of life in Gaza , and called for a response in innovative ways to support the Palestinians who are subjected to unprecedented levels of suffering. As a Palestinian by origin who has lived all his life through the atrocities committed against his people, Muqbel believes that the current war is worse than any previous war, as the people of Gaza are now bearing acts the likes of which modern history has never witnessed in terms of the ability of humans to inflict death and destruction on others. He added that we are witnessing a catastrophic famine in which people deliberately Israel is starving the people of Gaza by depriving them of the basic necessities that humans need to survive.

Moqbel believes, in an article published by the British website Middle East Eye, that these inhumane acts must be confronted with measures similar to what France and Jordan did when they airdropped several tons of medical aid to hospitals unable to deal with the influx of injured people. He added that if the world's cries to ensure humanitarian aid reaches the people of Gaza across the land borders are ignored, then the world bears responsibility for transporting aid by any other means, "and if they do not allow us to help by land or sea, then we must try by air."

Mokbel cited airdrops of supplies in previous humanitarian crises, as happened recently to save lives in besieged areas in Syria, and earlier Bosnian residents under siege in Mostar, and South Sudanese communities cut off from aid due to the conflict. The CEO of Action for Humanity denounced the argument that flour, water bottles or food items - designed for malnourished people or tents - could be used as a weapon against Israelis.

The international press continued to highlight developments in the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip , and the latest developments about the possibility of a new exchange deal between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ). The American Wall Street Journal said that Israel's moving forward with its plans to build a buffer zone in Gaza threatens a new rift in relations with the United States. It added that American officials are feeling increasingly frustrated about the project, warning that it reinforces Palestinian fears of Israel's occupation of their lands, and makes the task of convincing Arab governments to help rebuild the destroyed Strip difficult.

An article in the British newspaper The Guardian concluded that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on rejecting the two-state solution, which US President Joe Biden constantly talks about, reflects a feeling on the part of Netanyahu that he can escape punishment, a feeling that was strengthened with Netanyahu’s realization that the flow of American aid Continuous as well as diplomatic support.

In turn, an article in the Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" considered that Netanyahu's description of the Qatari mediation role as problematic took his wartime behavior to a new low, strongly criticizing what he called Netanyahu's attempt to hold Qatar responsible for what he should bear. The article added, "It is clear that Netanyahu, through his leaks, wanted to disrupt a possible deal," revealing that "Netanyahu this time went too far with his lies and is thus creating enemies to wage an endless war in the Middle East."

As for the French newspaper Le Monde, it said that the adherence of political leaders in Israel to denying the right of the Palestinian people to exist and the overwhelming desire to continue the disastrous war on the Gaza Strip “may prompt the International Court of Justice to acknowledge the plausibility of the genocide case and take temporary measures based on recent judicial rulings related to it” in Myanmar and Ukraine.

For its part, the American newspaper "Washington Post" raised the issue of Israel preventing foreign journalists from covering the war in Gaza, and noted that an Israeli journalist answered when asked about the reason that the entry of Western reporters into Gaza "will cause a headache for Israel and affect its propaganda." The article pointed out that the world was nevertheless able to follow the horrific events in Gaza “thanks to the brave Gazan journalists who did everything in their power to document the events, but the price for this was high.”

Axis of Resistance

The representatives of Iran, Russia, and Turkey, acting as guarantor countries in the Astana Format, released a joint statement outlining the outcomes of the 21st International Meeting on Syria held in Astana on January 24-25, 2024. The comprehensive joint statement addresses various aspects related to the Syrian crisis, underlining the commitment of the three nations to finding lasting solutions.

The representatives began by examining the latest international and regional developments, emphasizing the vital role of the Astana Process in promoting a lasting settlement to the Syrian crisis. They acknowledged the negative impact of the developments in Palestine on the situation in Syria, expressing deep concern over the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip. The statement called for an end to Israeli aggression and the implementation of UNGA Resolution A/ES/-10/L.27 (2023) for an immediate ceasefire.

Reaffirming their commitment to Syria's sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity, the representatives highlighted the importance of restoring Turkey-Syria relations. They emphasized the need for combating terrorism, facilitating the safe return of Syrians, revitalizing the political process, and ensuring humanitarian aid flow, all within the framework of the Astana format. Examined the latest international and regional developments and emphasized the leading role of the Astana Process in promoting the lasting settlement of the Syrian crisis.

Moscow called on the UN Security Council to take steps to cease fire in the Gaza Strip. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, commenting on the initial decision of the United Nations court regarding the Gaza Strip, said on Friday, “The court recognized in principle that the dimensions of the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza make it justifiable to raise the issue of genocide.” She continued: "This confirms once again the justice of the Russian position regarding the need to stop violence immediately, and it is based on both recognized norms of international law and general human morals." She added that Moscow is counting on "appropriate steps by the UN Security Council and a return to diplomatic efforts in accordance with the general international legal rule for the settlement in the Middle East."

The Iranian president lauded South Africa’s “courageous” move to lodge a genocide case against the Zionist regime at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In a telephone conversation with his South African counterpart on Thursday night, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi hailed the African government’s initiative and courageous move to file a complaint at the ICJ against the Israeli regime for its crimes in Gaza. “This measure, taken by a country that has experienced the bitterness of racism and genocide for years, has been hailed and applauded not only by the Islamic world, but the whole free and freedom-seeking nations,” the Iranian president said.

The Zionist regime and its cohorts will definitely seek to deflect the judicial processes in the ICJ case, he noted, adding, “The humanitarian community and all nations expect the court (ICJ) to exercise justice and indict the criminal Zionist regime.” Reaffirming Iran’s support for South Africa’s brave action, President Raisi said while the international organizations have remained passive and idle regarding the Israeli atrocities in Gaza, the name of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will go down in history, along with Nelson Mandela, as a figure combating racism and advocating justice in the world.

The military spokesman for Ansar Allah Houthis, Yahya Saree, announced today, Friday, that a British oil ship in the Gulf of Aden was targeted with a number of missiles, while a US Department of Defense ( Pentagon ) official confirmed to Al Jazeera that an oil tanker was damaged and hit by an anti-ship ballistic missile launched by the Houthis in Yemen. Saree added that the hit was direct and led to the burning of the oil ship.

For his part, a Pentagon official told Al Jazeera that an oil tanker was attacked in the Gulf of Aden, and a ship of the Guardian of Prosperity coalition was on its way to provide assistance.

In a related development, the British maritime security company Ambrey reported that a fire broke out on board a commercial ship after it was hit by a missile southeast of Aden, and confirmed that the ship’s crew were fine. It explained that the accident occurred about a nautical mile southeast of Aden and led to a fire. This came after British sources announced earlier today that two missiles exploded at sea near a ship off the port of Aden without causing any damage.

For his part, the leader of the Ansar Allah Houthi group, Abdul Malik Al Houthi, confirmed the continuation of operations in the Red Sea until food and medicine reach the entire Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to Israeli aggression since the Al-Aqsa flood. The Houthi attacks are impeding navigation in the Red Sea, through which 12% of global trade passes, and have caused the cost of transportation to double as a result of shipping companies diverting their ships to the Cape of Good Hope in the far south of Africa, which prolongs the journey between Asia and Europe for about a week.

Allied for Democracy

In repeated scenes broadcast by Israeli occupation soldiers as they systematically destroy dozens of Palestinian buildings and homes in the eastern and northern regions of the Gaza Strip, the true intentions of the Israeli occupation state to create a new reality for the demographic and urban map of the Gaza Strip appear. The recent raid operation , which led to the killing of 21 IDF soldiers, raised controversy about the nature of the war effort undertaken by the occupation forces in the eastern areas bordering the security fence, which indicates practical steps imposed by the Israeli occupation to create a buffer zone within the Strip.

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby announced that the United States sees no evidence of Israel committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Kirby said during a press conference on Friday, commenting on the International Court of Justice’s decision regarding Israel: “We have not seen any evidence to substantiate the allegations about intent to commit genocide or any such acts on the part of the Israeli army.”

He continued: "We have no evidence that this is happening. We do not have evidence that they are deliberately trying to exterminate the people in Gaza." Kirby pointed out that the court did not reach the conclusion that genocide was committed in Gaza. At the same time, Kirby criticized statements by some Israeli politicians about the "collective responsibility" of Palestinians in Gaza for Hamas attacks. He said, "Such statements are unconstructive, without a doubt."

Hussein Mouanes, the head of the Rights Movement party and member of the Iraqi Parliament, emphasized the necessity of the United States withdrawing its forces from Iraq so that the country could be liberated from Washington's hegemony. Mouanes has been at the forefront of voices demanding that all foreign armies withdraw from Iraq, on top of which are the US personnel. The Iraqi legislator had been recently placed under US Treasury sanctions. In an exclusive interview for Al Mayadeen, Mouanes said the sanctions are a source of "pride and honor." He also pointed out that the US resorting to imposing sanctions reflects "American arrogance and disregard for Iraq and a violation of its sovereignty."

On US forces leaving the country, Mouanes pointed out that there may not necessarily be a consensus on the withdrawal of US forces, but a majority is required. This majority was achieved through a resolution passed by the Iraqi Parliament on January 5, 2020, which directed the government to demand their withdrawal. "There will be no sovereignty in the country as long as there is power with authority higher than that of the government." He also confirmed that through the Iraqi-American bilateral committee and elsewhere, the US forces must be withdrawn from Iraqi territory one way or another.

Mouanes pointed out that the United States nurtured and developed terrorist threats and groups such as ISIS, while they were investors in this terrorism. They used the group as a pretext to bring their forces into Iraq so they could safeguard their interests and the security of "Israel", he continued.

Regarding the US Embassy in Iraq, he reiterated that it has turned into a military barracks, describing it as the largest embassy and the largest diplomatic mission in the world. Mouanes pointed out that the embassy, while housing the diplomatic mission, functions as a military barracks and hosts spying and espionage devices.

Butcher's Bill / Oasis of Martyrs

On 7 October 2023, Hamas and other armed groups present in the Gaza Strip carried out an attack in Israel, killing more than 1,200 persons, injuring thousands and abducting some 240 people, many of whom continue to be held hostage. It was the second largest loss inflicted on the Israeli forces after the 1973 war. Palestinian armed groups launched thousands of missiles at Israel Following this attack, Israel launched a large-scale military operation in Gaza, by land, air and sea.

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."

The HAMAS Ministry of Health in the besieged sector announced that the number of victims of the Israeli operation its beginning had risen to 26,083 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 64,487. 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.

With the Israeli army announcing the killing of 24 soldiers, the total number of occupation deaths has risen to 559 since the start of the war on October 7, including 229 killed since the ground invasion as a result of the ongoing clashes with the Palestinian resistance [other sources report the total number of deaths of the army had risen to 222 since the start of the ground invasion]. 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 had 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 2,710 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. The Israeli army also said 26 January 2024 that since the beginning of the ground attack on Gaza, 258 soldiers have been seriously injured. There are 423 moderate injuries, compared to 577 minor injuries.

At least 13,599 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

At a time when the Islamic Resistance Movement ( Hamas ) confirms its refusal to discuss any deal with Israel without stopping the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists on continuing the war until Hamas is eliminated, news continues about political movements and leaks indicating the possibility of reaching... Agreement between the two sides.

Al Jazeera's correspondent reported that the Ministers in the War Council, Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, confirmed that the return of detainees in the Gaza Strip is a top priority, during a meeting with the families of the prisoners. The statements of the two ministers who joined the Netanyahu government after the aggression on Gaza come at a time when mediation efforts are increasing to conclude a deal between the Hamas movement and the Netanyahu government.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz quoted an informed source as saying that Hamas and Israel had reached understandings on most of the terms of the prisoner exchange agreement, and the outstanding issue is whether or not there will be a ceasefire at the end of the truce, as it will last for 35 days and will include the release of all Israeli prisoners.

Israeli Channel 12 reported Hamas’ conditions for a new prisoner exchange deal:

• 100 Palestinian prisoners for every Israeli prisoner.
• Complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip.
• A lull of 10-14 days before releasing any Israeli prisoner.
• A two-month cooling-off period between each stage of the deal.

CIA Director William Burns, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, Mossad chief David Barnea, and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel are scheduled to meet in Europe in the coming days to discuss efforts to obtain an agreement to release the kidnapped people. It is expected that Burns' discussions in Europe will depend on his phone conversations with his counterparts, in addition to the work of the White House's chief official in the Middle East, Brett McGurk, who this week held related meetings in the Qatari capital, Doha, and Cairo.

The American newspaper The Washington Post revealed that Burns was being sent to Europe to help reach an “ambitious” agreement that includes the release of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip and a ceasefire for the longest period since the start of the war. According to the newspaper, the talks will address the longest period of cessation of the conflict in Gaza, and the release of all prisoners, while the newspaper did not address the duration of the expected cessation of the conflict.

Burns being sent by US President Joe Biden to help reach an agreement, according to what was reported by the Israeli Kan channel, indicates American pressure to complete a deal for the prisoners and a ceasefire in Gaza, specifically linked to what is happening on the Lebanese border. According to the channel, “The American administration believes that only a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip can lead to a diplomatic solution in the north.” The United States declares that there will be no war with the Lebanese Hezbollah , especially since the party has always said that the tension in southern Lebanon and northern Israel is due to the Israeli aggression against Gaza.

Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed have been held as hostages in Gaza since 2014 and 2015, respectively. Unlike the roughly 240 people kidnapped in the Hamas October 7 terrorist attacks, the campaign for the release of Mengistu and al-Sayed has received little publicity. Mengistu is known to suffer from what HRW deemed "serious" mental health issues. "Avera crossed one of the safest borders in the world, under the eyes of the security services," recalled Gil Elias, a relative. "We're talking about a mentally ill person who got lost." The calls for the release of Mengistu and al-Sayed have been barely audible during the many years they have been held captive 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. Palestinian prisoner institutions said more than 3,290 administrative detainees, which is the highest percentage since the years of the 1987 Intifada, and 661 who were classified as “unlawful combatants” from Gaza, and this is the number available only as a clear given. 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.

Israel said on 14 January 2024 that, since the beginning of the war, approximately 2,700 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.

The institutions added in the statement that “the occupation arrested 210 women during the aforementioned period, and this statistic includes women who were arrested from the territories in 1948, and more than 355 children,” pointing out that “the outcome of the arrest campaigns includes all those who were arrested from homes, and through military checkpoints, Those who were forced to surrender themselves under pressure, and those who were detained.” It explained that "the number of arrests among journalists reached 50, of whom 35 remain in detention, and 20 of them were transferred to administrative detention."